tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22711728859105724892024-03-04T21:31:25.909-08:00More Romance PleaseMore Romance Pleasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03067013070124300379noreply@blogger.comBlogger248125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2271172885910572489.post-24431201650164426142019-07-10T01:30:00.000-07:002019-07-10T01:30:09.921-07:00Rare Sale on Great Summer Series from Morgan O'Neill<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhoQhes3SjtQ5viFwMic-4bz4bqqWgPs7qtirBYzWhS-ZGor0kOM_j7GzWVgALpn8RHaibuHBZxGaOUDsEImo12clDSYBMM_FhVOCehDaM3SBAyB-ZflmE8VnTLpa3y3TlD4Ozi2OIoXpo/s1600/Love%252C+Eternally.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="333" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhoQhes3SjtQ5viFwMic-4bz4bqqWgPs7qtirBYzWhS-ZGor0kOM_j7GzWVgALpn8RHaibuHBZxGaOUDsEImo12clDSYBMM_FhVOCehDaM3SBAyB-ZflmE8VnTLpa3y3TlD4Ozi2OIoXpo/s400/Love%252C+Eternally.jpg" width="266" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>Love, Eternally</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>by Morgan O'Neill</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Book One of the </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Roman Time Travel Series</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Published: 2015</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Publisher: Time's Arrow Productions</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Page Count: 214</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>TRILOGY SALE JULY 10-16</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>.99ea. US/UK</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>About the Book:</b></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">A witch's ancient curse propels talented
flutist Gigi Perrin back to A.D. 408, to the court of the depraved Roman
Emperor Honorius and his admirable sister, Princess Galla Placidia. There, Gigi
grapples with her disbelief about what has happened, and with the strange, new
world of violent politics, social upheaval and barbarians straining at the very
gates of an empire. Through it all, she must struggle with her powerful
attraction to a pagan senator and military commander, Quintus Magnus, a man
exotically different from anyone she has ever known. On the brink of a dark and
war-torn age, Gigi joins forces with Magnus, battling to save a princess and
her people, and ultimately finding love amid the chaos, before the fall of Rome.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"><span style="background: white;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"><span style="background: white;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00TRQESOM/ref=series_rw_dp_sw" target="_blank">BOOK ONE</a></span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxPnpfSgC9hgrbXwMtzz5zN9xJ2XuQf_bqxdtTHnIXIEukv8815jWC4yVYgR0b4uvikd4XwC2vQtc8CYxI21F9sK-94SD5TJF7BlliPWZhh57gd0K0qjM_G_qdRlnvpWDq3zxbW8T1cYDS/s1600/After+the+Fall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="333" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxPnpfSgC9hgrbXwMtzz5zN9xJ2XuQf_bqxdtTHnIXIEukv8815jWC4yVYgR0b4uvikd4XwC2vQtc8CYxI21F9sK-94SD5TJF7BlliPWZhh57gd0K0qjM_G_qdRlnvpWDq3zxbW8T1cYDS/s400/After+the+Fall.jpg" width="266" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b>After the Fall</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b>by Morgan O'Neill</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Book Two of the</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b>Roman Time Travel Series</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Published: 2015</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Publisher: Time's Arrow Productions</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Page Count: 212</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b>About the Book:</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">After the Fall ratchets up the tension as time
traveler Gigi Perrin and her husband, the Roman warrior Quintus Magnus, join
forces with the Visigoth King Alaric to march on Rome. There waits Princess
Galla Placidia, the admirable sister of the despicable Emperor Honorius. About
to be forced into an arranged marriage by her brother, Placidia fears a bleak
future, trapped in a loveless union. </span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
<span style="background: white;">In an attempt to save Rome from barbarian invasion, Placidia
puts aside her troubles and meets with Alaric’s delegation, which includes Gigi
and Magnus, and the king’s second-in-command, the Visigoth prince, Athaulf. The
attraction between Placidia and Athaulf is instantaneous and overwhelming, but
theirs is a forbidden love, destined to fail because of implacable politics and
impending war. </span><br />
<span style="background: white;">Bound by a friendship that transcends time, Gigi and Placidia
must do whatever they can to protect the men they love, after the fall of Rome.<span style="font-size: 10.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="background: white;"><b><a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00TQJJ0HK/ref=series_rw_dp_sw" target="_blank">BOOK TWO</a></b></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwpq5Tug9aBCNcQL0qVjsAdET_pvnqYwrHK3ojAsheUkrMg6YKIRfnHw_dXBg5DdFvUBNkVBhyphenhyphenn50ECm0EFIAtGAMCOntZUBK3lowtkRpx3v0cTIa8FfrGjIiPdFitG3tLeFF26jl8Ni6Y/s1600/Return+to+Me.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="333" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwpq5Tug9aBCNcQL0qVjsAdET_pvnqYwrHK3ojAsheUkrMg6YKIRfnHw_dXBg5DdFvUBNkVBhyphenhyphenn50ECm0EFIAtGAMCOntZUBK3lowtkRpx3v0cTIa8FfrGjIiPdFitG3tLeFF26jl8Ni6Y/s400/Return+to+Me.jpg" width="266" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b>Return to Me</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b>by Morgan O'Neill</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Book Three of the</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b>Roman Time Travel Series</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Published: 2015</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Publisher: Time's Arrow Productions</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Page Count: 220</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b>About the Book:</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Return to Me finds time traveler Gigi Perrin
happily settled into twenty-first century life with her husband, the former
Roman senator and military commander, Quintus Magnus. Gigi has resumed her
successful musical career, playing the flute for her adoring fans, while making
her first foray into Hollywood by creating the musical score for a feature film
about the Roman emperor Nero. </span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
<span style="background: white;">At the film’s wrap party, Gigi is presented with a gift to
commemorate her work: an ancient Roman ring depicting the goddess Victoria.
Stunned, she and Magnus recognize it as the very ring that brought them
together, and the one subsequently stolen from her and lost in A.D. 410. How
did it make its way back to them? Magnus believes the answer is clear; Victoria
sent it as a warning about their dear friend, Princess Galla Placidia. They
start researching what happened to Placidia after Gigi and Magnus time traveled
from the barbarous fifth century. To their shock, they discover Placidia's life
took a series of terrible turns, culminating with the murders of her children. </span><br />
<span style="background: white;">Realizing they have no other choice, Gigi and Magnus prepare
to embark on a perilous quest to go back in time and rescue them. But one
ominous question remains – how can they save the children without altering the
course of history?<span style="font-size: 10.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="background: white;"><b><a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00TQJVG9A/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i4" target="_blank">BOOK THREE</a></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b>About the Authors:</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSpbKjIaFPziqlYK-jQI3R5E6RpSME48sDoi-zlam5Ng4Pj5l7PP2ZTuH9lj6uFwlPLWMTLOoHpAbxrIpvSOWLT5u5g9oMU1xyf8pcUW0w4T1RgeKOyDCUtTs9CcRkb7EbfGDjyClLK8Hj/s1600/Morgan+O%2527Neill.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="313" data-original-width="251" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSpbKjIaFPziqlYK-jQI3R5E6RpSME48sDoi-zlam5Ng4Pj5l7PP2ZTuH9lj6uFwlPLWMTLOoHpAbxrIpvSOWLT5u5g9oMU1xyf8pcUW0w4T1RgeKOyDCUtTs9CcRkb7EbfGDjyClLK8Hj/s200/Morgan+O%2527Neill.jpg" width="159" /></a></b></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #111111; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">A chance meeting at a writers' conference
brought Cary Morgan and Deborah O'Neill Cordes together, two award-winning
authors who connected because of a mutual love of time travel fiction.
Collaboration ensued, the search for a pen name the first step in their working
relationship. Their maiden names provided the solution - and "Morgan
O'Neill" was born. </span><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />
<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />
<span style="background: white;">Cary and Deborah's backgrounds are uniquely suited to writing
stories steeped in atmosphere and history: Deborah has a master's degree in
history and is a dedicated genealogist; Cary is a talented linguist in French
and is currently a student of Latin. They've traveled to Europe's ancient and
medieval sites many times, with Cary living on the Continent for five years. </span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />
<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />
<span style="background: white;">The Morgan O'Neill time travel novels have received a number
of literary awards, including two finalist wins in the Booksellers' Best
Awards, two semifinalist wins in the William Faulkner-William Wisdom Creative
Writing Competition, first, second, and third place wins for the Mainstream
Novel with Strong Romantic Elements category of the Golden Rose Contest, a top
ten finalist award in the Pacific Northwest Writers' Conference Zola Awards
Literary Contest, and a top ten finalist win in the Orange Rose Contest</span><span style="background: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">.</span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #111111; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><a href="http://morganoneill.com/default.html" target="_blank">MORGAN O'NEILL WEBSITE</a></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b></b></span>More Romance Pleasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03067013070124300379noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2271172885910572489.post-55459072287064244182018-03-05T00:30:00.000-08:002018-03-05T00:30:25.868-08:00SALE! THE THORNLESS ROSE by Morgan O'Neill<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaGd4k_9ByUw0-4aDyWN71CMngPh3fyDwboWK0rnd8yu_fj2rUaKcHTnWb2RKTj30vRdSNKSb7TwKVUVDSBts7mL998Gwf0qbOmucXpPSbT9Nlo2ONlLgUMeLOGZOhB_mZ6atMn_BmP84a/s1600/The+Thornless+Rose.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="333" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaGd4k_9ByUw0-4aDyWN71CMngPh3fyDwboWK0rnd8yu_fj2rUaKcHTnWb2RKTj30vRdSNKSb7TwKVUVDSBts7mL998Gwf0qbOmucXpPSbT9Nlo2ONlLgUMeLOGZOhB_mZ6atMn_BmP84a/s400/The+Thornless+Rose.jpg" width="266" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>The Thornless Rose</b></span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">by Morgan O'Neill</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Book One of the</span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Elizabethan Time Travel Trilogy</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Date of Publication: April 2017</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Publisher: Time's Arrow Productions</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Page Count: 415</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>MARCH 5-12 ONLY. GET YOURS AT - </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Thornless-Rose-Elizabethan-Time-Travel-ebook/dp/B06ZXWHWT8/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8" target="_blank">Amazon Sale .99 US/UK</a></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>About the Book:</b></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">What happened to Dr. Jonathan Brandon, a dashing RAF flight surgeon, who disappeared from London in 1945? Kidnapping? Murder? Or did Brandon merely vanish of his own free will, seeking another life? American teacher Anne Howard is stunned by a different explanation―that her British grandmother’s long-lost fiancé was unwillingly wrenched back through time, to Elizabethan England. Anne knows time travel is nonsense―until she is handed a fresh-cut thornless rose, a bloom extinct for over four hundred years! And then, when the impossible happens and Anne journeys back to 1560 London, she must somehow survive encounters with royal enemies, accusations of witchcraft and the possibility of never returning home. In the midst of the chaos, she meets Brandon. Drawn into the perilous web of Elizabethan court life, they must confront their growing feelings for each other, complicated by poignant familial ties, while struggling with the shared danger of knowing what the future holds.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b><i>And don't miss the other two books in the series!</i></b></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b><br /></b></span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b>The Prequel: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Begun-Time-Prequel-Elizabethan-Travel-ebook/dp/B0725JGWH2/ref=pd_sim_351_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=1T6JAR6XNXGPBAGP531N" target="_blank">Begun by Time</a></b></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaajeIZSlqT80zdBGmtBCAShYjOClmwBvXTI7qHtaSM_3dTTSL1V6m7xFYineE3JPUXs6bo3j5EkM7KeGvNpeCWrbjhGWCF34m4ytxGnQ5q0LG7AZnlKP26vAYiLTyEq9lr4n-zSCHzVWg/s1600/BBT.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="333" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaajeIZSlqT80zdBGmtBCAShYjOClmwBvXTI7qHtaSM_3dTTSL1V6m7xFYineE3JPUXs6bo3j5EkM7KeGvNpeCWrbjhGWCF34m4ytxGnQ5q0LG7AZnlKP26vAYiLTyEq9lr4n-zSCHzVWg/s320/BBT.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">In the final days of World War II, Catherine Hastings meets the man she wants to marry. Flight surgeon Jonathan Brandon isn't just handsome―he's everything Catherine could hope for in her betrothed. But her dream of a happily ever after is shattered when Jonnie vanishes before their wedding, leaving Catherine bereft, broken-hearted, and with a lifetime of unanswered questions.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">Arthur Howard is smitten with the lovely Catherine the moment he sees her. He's certain he's found the woman he wants to marry. Yet behind Catherine's sparkling green eyes is a haunted look―the look of a woman who has known loss. Can he love a woman who still grieves the loss of her fiancé? Arthur must find answers to the mystery surrounding the man Catherine intended to marry. What he discovers is a truth far stranger than fiction.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUjGPDk-5gfS-aL-4cLoemMoahfls3-0l_3m22CEFMGIWb1BYI7gmscD_xf-akZdDDVC0429-oJEdppYQEXS7X5xglk5w-EDhL35gheKnYE0FlZI3SbphsRsCUCnxPckMFZNVTyEryGOR_/s1600/ECR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="346" data-original-width="230" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUjGPDk-5gfS-aL-4cLoemMoahfls3-0l_3m22CEFMGIWb1BYI7gmscD_xf-akZdDDVC0429-oJEdppYQEXS7X5xglk5w-EDhL35gheKnYE0FlZI3SbphsRsCUCnxPckMFZNVTyEryGOR_/s320/ECR.jpg" width="212" /></a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span>
<b style="color: #333333; font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;">And the edge-of-your-seat finale: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Ever-Crave-Rose-Elizabethan-Travel-ebook/dp/B071P72MJS/ref=pd_sim_351_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=1BS8D18Q6HGDSARZ16KZ" target="_blank">Ever Crave the Rose</a></b><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">London 2014―Catherine Howard stumbles upon the tomb of her granddaughter, Anne Howard Brandon, who'd been swept back through time. Horrorstruck, she discovers Anne was murdered in the year 1562. Elizabethan England 1562―Dr. Jonathan Brandon, Anne's husband, pens a desperate message to Catherine, which gives the details of his wife's kidnapping and murder, and the plea to "find a way to undo this!"</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">Upon discovering the ancient letter, Catherine calls on a time-traveling priest, Father Daniel, to rescue her precious granddaughter. But journeying back to the sixteenth century is a dangerous undertaking, the life and death risks sobering and real. Will Daniel survive? Can anyone thwart the evil that threatens Anne, or is the timeline immutable, her fate sealed? Daniel calls upon the forces of heaven and earth―including a secret Vatican society of time travelers―to aid in this quest. Will they be able to help? Can they change the course of history? Will time rewind?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><b>About Morgan O'Neill:</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMmeZuBMT8SSeFtQwu9q5wSg49ntyilyVrp7qThRLyGNsFulhMVRKzX3wA7hyMGQPGcFjP2G4d67QRccv5WgTdzT3cvTltYAP-dWXHzS9Xb__o_iPBfAkNA6nmt5DWtgVR_CQv0d3Ve0LL/s1600/Me+n+Deb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="313" data-original-width="251" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMmeZuBMT8SSeFtQwu9q5wSg49ntyilyVrp7qThRLyGNsFulhMVRKzX3wA7hyMGQPGcFjP2G4d67QRccv5WgTdzT3cvTltYAP-dWXHzS9Xb__o_iPBfAkNA6nmt5DWtgVR_CQv0d3Ve0LL/s200/Me+n+Deb.jpg" width="159" /></a></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><b><br /></b></span></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111;">A chance meeting at a writers' conference brought Cary Morgan and Deborah O'Neill Cordes together, two award-winning authors who connected because of a mutual love of time travel fiction. Collaboration ensued, the search for a pen name the first step in their working relationship. Their maiden names provided the solution - and "Morgan O'Neill" was born. </span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111;">Cary and Deborah's backgrounds are uniquely suited to writing stories steeped in atmosphere and history: Deborah has a master's degree in history and is a dedicated genealogist; Cary is a talented linguist in French and is currently a student of Latin. They've traveled to Europe's ancient and medieval sites many times, with Cary living on the Continent for five years. </span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111;">The Morgan O'Neill time travel novels have received a number of literary awards, including two finalist wins in the Booksellers' Best Awards, two semifinalist wins in the William Faulkner-William Wisdom Creative Writing Competition, first, second, and third place wins for the Mainstream Novel with Strong Romantic Elements category of the Golden Rose Contest, a top ten finalist award in the Pacific Northwest Writers' Conference Zola Awards Literary Contest, and a top ten finalist win in the Orange Rose Contest.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b><a href="http://www.morganoneill.com/" target="_blank">Website</a></b></span></span>More Romance Pleasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03067013070124300379noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2271172885910572489.post-42979066035882380092018-02-12T03:00:00.000-08:002018-02-12T03:00:30.605-08:00Do Not Miss This! Review of Can You See Me by Joanna Lloyd<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiAmn9GCdQ2taPg9K5E8dwAaGGXo0SKpdvpFsijvwrt5U96RKa9RR7mtIrhFoO4y-wPKNu7utrtYpdDYduPnvnJbaoZbwpwRp5srYo8gUIDJuhTtEPx_7ZoAK0hJ-0SnhW6-D3zF6O4lAl/s1600/Can+you+see+me.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="333" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiAmn9GCdQ2taPg9K5E8dwAaGGXo0SKpdvpFsijvwrt5U96RKa9RR7mtIrhFoO4y-wPKNu7utrtYpdDYduPnvnJbaoZbwpwRp5srYo8gUIDJuhTtEPx_7ZoAK0hJ-0SnhW6-D3zF6O4lAl/s400/Can+you+see+me.jpg" width="266" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><b>Can You See Me</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">by Joanna Lloyd</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><br /></span></span>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">Publication Date: Jan 30, 2018</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">Amazon Digital</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><b>About the Book:</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">Layla Danforth’s is a charmed life.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">Until the morning it all goes up in smoke. Literally. A mysterious fire consumes her home, her body and her memory; and changes her life irrevocably. The once beautiful, vivacious Layla is now a pitiful creature with a wretched twist of a face. Her high flying corporate career is unravelling and her boyfriend recoils at her touch.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">Bent on obliterating this Halloween version of herself, Layla haunts a dark, soulless bar, patronised by the rejects and misfits of Sydney. Characters she would have once crossed the road to avoid; characters who invade her psyche and break down the beliefs and prejudices that ruled her existence. In the half-reality of The Black Hole bar, the obese barman, Clyde Campbell, serves up a comforting brand of psychology with his drinks, and begins to soften Layla’s self-loathing.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">But there is still the issue of her lost memory, and as it returns, so do the horrific details of the fire. A truth so shocking, it threatens to destroy the very foundations of all that went before.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><b><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Can-You-See-Joanna-Lloyd-ebook/dp/B079GMRGVM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1518321937&sr=8-1&keywords=can+you+see+me+joanna+lloyd" target="_blank">Amazon </a></b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><b>My Review: </b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Flawless.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Ms. Lloyd never, ever disappoints. <i>Can You See Me</i> is a powerful portrait of human nature – with all
its flaw and triumphs – from the very first moment. Her characters are complex,
well-drawn, and interesting; the pathos, compassion, and insight rich beyond
words.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">If you read the blurb and wonder if the theme might be too much,
fear not. Deep though the subject is, it is handled with so much dexterity,
humor, and clarity, you will be forever glad you took the ride. So then, are
you ready for some self-searching? Yea or Ney, you will get it here, unless,
that is, you have a heart of stone. But never fear, you will search with joy,
understanding, and even cheer-leading.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">As with all of Ms. Lloyd’s writing, the prose is fluid and
captivating. This is a page-turner, not due to suspense, but due to
intellectual captivation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The images of horror and despair, of determination and triumph, are
wonderfully wrought and moving, and will linger in my mind as a standard by
which I hope to pattern my life. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Extremely
well done. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><b>About the Author:</b></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><b></b></span></span>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHLJ5LMXrvv8sm2N-sT9FmhjpUFFCU0ugolCCj1jD2d9CMCHNWs5Fqx7TY0pO9u3GQ2uI5nMGb2c_ukZcED41Swd2UToKORcuLD_Hk9TVP4uGS_E7klWsgjtvhtyqEKUyU68U9tnKGa3qt/s1600/Joanna+Lloyd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="175" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHLJ5LMXrvv8sm2N-sT9FmhjpUFFCU0ugolCCj1jD2d9CMCHNWs5Fqx7TY0pO9u3GQ2uI5nMGb2c_ukZcED41Swd2UToKORcuLD_Hk9TVP4uGS_E7klWsgjtvhtyqEKUyU68U9tnKGa3qt/s200/Joanna+Lloyd.jpg" width="175" /></a></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Joanna Lloyd was born in Papua New Guinea and attended boarding school in Sydney, Australia. With a background in Psychology, she trained to be a mediator and conducted workplace and family law mediations for many years. After muscular dystrophy caused her to be wheelchair bound, she transferred her fascination with human behaviour from real people to the written word. She now lives and writes in tropical Far North Queensland, Australia - her version of paradise.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/JoannaLAuthor" target="_blank">Facebook </a>| <a href="http://www.joannalloyd.net/" target="_blank">Website </a>| <a href="http://www.twitter.com/JoLloydAuthor" target="_blank">Twitter </a>| <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/JoannaLloydAuthor" target="_blank">Goodreads</a></span></span>More Romance Pleasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03067013070124300379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2271172885910572489.post-10681725643876533632017-12-05T00:30:00.000-08:002017-12-05T00:30:14.741-08:00Kindle Countdown Sale - Book 1 Morgan O'Neill's Epic Elizabethan Trilogy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg99z6SGuMkGAYnGA-CZ2OoTSXQLy4aaZX6pIhyphenhyphenFSL2Ax6gorR2cbzNaxANW-PMwV__hQlXW1gBA0hwglh_q84N5P6gqWCZOlifugnPnU3CqxJNuf7TgamA0RJTG9ZL5PbGHjKJgvbVkRVy/s1600/TR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="250" data-original-width="167" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg99z6SGuMkGAYnGA-CZ2OoTSXQLy4aaZX6pIhyphenhyphenFSL2Ax6gorR2cbzNaxANW-PMwV__hQlXW1gBA0hwglh_q84N5P6gqWCZOlifugnPnU3CqxJNuf7TgamA0RJTG9ZL5PbGHjKJgvbVkRVy/s400/TR.jpg" width="267" /></a></div>
<b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The Thornless Rose</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">by Morgan O'Neill</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Book One of the</span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Elizabethan Time Travel Trilogy</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Date of Publication: April 2017</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Publisher: Time's Arrow Productions</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Page Count: 415</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>DEC 5-11 ONLY. GET YOURS AT - </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Thornless-Rose-Elizabethan-Time-Travel-ebook/dp/B06ZXWHWT8/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8" target="_blank">Amazon Sale .99 US/UK</a></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>About the Book:</b></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">What happened to Dr. Jonathan Brandon, a dashing RAF flight surgeon, who disappeared from London in 1945? Kidnapping? Murder? Or did Brandon merely vanish of his own free will, seeking another life? American teacher Anne Howard is stunned by a different explanation―that her British grandmother’s long-lost fiancé was unwillingly wrenched back through time, to Elizabethan England. Anne knows time travel is nonsense―until she is handed a fresh-cut thornless rose, a bloom extinct for over four hundred years! And then, when the impossible happens and Anne journeys back to 1560 London, she must somehow survive encounters with royal enemies, accusations of witchcraft and the possibility of never returning home. In the midst of the chaos, she meets Brandon. Drawn into the perilous web of Elizabethan court life, they must confront their growing feelings for each other, complicated by poignant familial ties, while struggling with the shared danger of knowing what the future holds.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b><i>And don't miss the other two books in the series!</i></b></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b><br /></b></span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b>The Prequel: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Begun-Time-Prequel-Elizabethan-Travel-ebook/dp/B0725JGWH2/ref=pd_sim_351_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=1T6JAR6XNXGPBAGP531N" target="_blank">Begun by Time</a></b></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaajeIZSlqT80zdBGmtBCAShYjOClmwBvXTI7qHtaSM_3dTTSL1V6m7xFYineE3JPUXs6bo3j5EkM7KeGvNpeCWrbjhGWCF34m4ytxGnQ5q0LG7AZnlKP26vAYiLTyEq9lr4n-zSCHzVWg/s1600/BBT.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="333" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaajeIZSlqT80zdBGmtBCAShYjOClmwBvXTI7qHtaSM_3dTTSL1V6m7xFYineE3JPUXs6bo3j5EkM7KeGvNpeCWrbjhGWCF34m4ytxGnQ5q0LG7AZnlKP26vAYiLTyEq9lr4n-zSCHzVWg/s320/BBT.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">In the final days of World War II, Catherine Hastings meets the man she wants to marry. Flight surgeon Jonathan Brandon isn't just handsome―he's everything Catherine could hope for in her betrothed. But her dream of a happily ever after is shattered when Jonnie vanishes before their wedding, leaving Catherine bereft, broken-hearted, and with a lifetime of unanswered questions.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">Arthur Howard is smitten with the lovely Catherine the moment he sees her. He's certain he's found the woman he wants to marry. Yet behind Catherine's sparkling green eyes is a haunted look―the look of a woman who has known loss. Can he love a woman who still grieves the loss of her fiancé? Arthur must find answers to the mystery surrounding the man Catherine intended to marry. What he discovers is a truth far stranger than fiction.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUjGPDk-5gfS-aL-4cLoemMoahfls3-0l_3m22CEFMGIWb1BYI7gmscD_xf-akZdDDVC0429-oJEdppYQEXS7X5xglk5w-EDhL35gheKnYE0FlZI3SbphsRsCUCnxPckMFZNVTyEryGOR_/s1600/ECR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="346" data-original-width="230" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUjGPDk-5gfS-aL-4cLoemMoahfls3-0l_3m22CEFMGIWb1BYI7gmscD_xf-akZdDDVC0429-oJEdppYQEXS7X5xglk5w-EDhL35gheKnYE0FlZI3SbphsRsCUCnxPckMFZNVTyEryGOR_/s320/ECR.jpg" width="212" /></a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<b style="color: #333333; font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;">And the edge-of-your-seat finale: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Ever-Crave-Rose-Elizabethan-Travel-ebook/dp/B071P72MJS/ref=pd_sim_351_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=1BS8D18Q6HGDSARZ16KZ" target="_blank">Ever Crave the Rose</a></b><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">London 2014―Catherine Howard stumbles upon the tomb of her granddaughter, Anne Howard Brandon, who'd been swept back through time. Horrorstruck, she discovers Anne was murdered in the year 1562. Elizabethan England 1562―Dr. Jonathan Brandon, Anne's husband, pens a desperate message to Catherine, which gives the details of his wife's kidnapping and murder, and the plea to "find a way to undo this!"</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">Upon discovering the ancient letter, Catherine calls on a time-traveling priest, Father Daniel, to rescue her precious granddaughter. But journeying back to the sixteenth century is a dangerous undertaking, the life and death risks sobering and real. Will Daniel survive? Can anyone thwart the evil that threatens Anne, or is the timeline immutable, her fate sealed? Daniel calls upon the forces of heaven and earth―including a secret Vatican society of time travelers―to aid in this quest. Will they be able to help? Can they change the course of history? Will time rewind?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><b>About Morgan O'Neill:</b></span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMmeZuBMT8SSeFtQwu9q5wSg49ntyilyVrp7qThRLyGNsFulhMVRKzX3wA7hyMGQPGcFjP2G4d67QRccv5WgTdzT3cvTltYAP-dWXHzS9Xb__o_iPBfAkNA6nmt5DWtgVR_CQv0d3Ve0LL/s1600/Me+n+Deb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="313" data-original-width="251" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMmeZuBMT8SSeFtQwu9q5wSg49ntyilyVrp7qThRLyGNsFulhMVRKzX3wA7hyMGQPGcFjP2G4d67QRccv5WgTdzT3cvTltYAP-dWXHzS9Xb__o_iPBfAkNA6nmt5DWtgVR_CQv0d3Ve0LL/s200/Me+n+Deb.jpg" width="159" /></a></b></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><b><br /></b></span></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111;">A chance meeting at a writers' conference brought Cary Morgan and Deborah O'Neill Cordes together, two award-winning authors who connected because of a mutual love of time travel fiction. Collaboration ensued, the search for a pen name the first step in their working relationship. Their maiden names provided the solution - and "Morgan O'Neill" was born. </span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111;">Cary and Deborah's backgrounds are uniquely suited to writing stories steeped in atmosphere and history: Deborah has a master's degree in history and is a dedicated genealogist; Cary is a talented linguist in French and is currently a student of Latin. They've traveled to Europe's ancient and medieval sites many times, with Cary living on the Continent for five years. </span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111;">The Morgan O'Neill time travel novels have received a number of literary awards, including two finalist wins in the Booksellers' Best Awards, two semifinalist wins in the William Faulkner-William Wisdom Creative Writing Competition, first, second, and third place wins for the Mainstream Novel with Strong Romantic Elements category of the Golden Rose Contest, a top ten finalist award in the Pacific Northwest Writers' Conference Zola Awards Literary Contest, and a top ten finalist win in the Orange Rose Contest.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b><a href="http://www.morganoneill.com/" target="_blank">Website</a></b></span></span>More Romance Pleasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03067013070124300379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2271172885910572489.post-39458532984946894222017-10-10T00:00:00.000-07:002017-11-14T18:49:23.629-08:00RARE SALE for Book One of Morgan O'Neill's Elizabethan Time Travel Series!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGlSH40pyjOpHMUQWGMzYT9kfYH6AEPSeD02y3S5efzJWLRjNUFR-_8xqfuUvPEwVu5N1WjGNhdf1llBRpSSvkYeV2yzSqST4zn50-8uR91xE8B19dXpmMddJy0MEE1mmCpiSY_LVaO0ev/s1600/TR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="250" data-original-width="167" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGlSH40pyjOpHMUQWGMzYT9kfYH6AEPSeD02y3S5efzJWLRjNUFR-_8xqfuUvPEwVu5N1WjGNhdf1llBRpSSvkYeV2yzSqST4zn50-8uR91xE8B19dXpmMddJy0MEE1mmCpiSY_LVaO0ev/s400/TR.jpg" width="267" /></a></div>
<b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The Thornless Rose</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">by Morgan O'Neill</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Book One of the</span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Elizabethan Time Travel Trilogy</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></b>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Date of Publication: April 2017</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Publisher: Time's Arrow Productions</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Page Count: 415</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Thornless-Rose-Elizabethan-Time-Travel-ebook/dp/B06ZXWHWT8/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8" target="_blank">Amazon Sale .99 US/UK</a></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>About the Book:</b></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">What happened to Dr. Jonathan Brandon, a dashing RAF flight surgeon, who disappeared from London in 1945? Kidnapping? Murder? Or did Brandon merely vanish of his own free will, seeking another life? American teacher Anne Howard is stunned by a different explanation―that her British grandmother’s long-lost fiancé was unwillingly wrenched back through time, to Elizabethan England. Anne knows time travel is nonsense―until she is handed a fresh-cut thornless rose, a bloom extinct for over four hundred years! And then, when the impossible happens and Anne journeys back to 1560 London, she must somehow survive encounters with royal enemies, accusations of witchcraft and the possibility of never returning home. In the midst of the chaos, she meets Brandon. Drawn into the perilous web of Elizabethan court life, they must confront their growing feelings for each other, complicated by poignant familial ties, while struggling with the shared danger of knowing what the future holds.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b><i>And don't miss the other two books in the series!</i></b></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b>The Prequel: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Begun-Time-Prequel-Elizabethan-Travel-ebook/dp/B0725JGWH2/ref=pd_sim_351_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=1T6JAR6XNXGPBAGP531N" target="_blank">Begun by Time</a></b></span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaajeIZSlqT80zdBGmtBCAShYjOClmwBvXTI7qHtaSM_3dTTSL1V6m7xFYineE3JPUXs6bo3j5EkM7KeGvNpeCWrbjhGWCF34m4ytxGnQ5q0LG7AZnlKP26vAYiLTyEq9lr4n-zSCHzVWg/s1600/BBT.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="333" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaajeIZSlqT80zdBGmtBCAShYjOClmwBvXTI7qHtaSM_3dTTSL1V6m7xFYineE3JPUXs6bo3j5EkM7KeGvNpeCWrbjhGWCF34m4ytxGnQ5q0LG7AZnlKP26vAYiLTyEq9lr4n-zSCHzVWg/s320/BBT.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">In the final days of World War II, Catherine Hastings meets the man she wants to marry. Flight surgeon Jonathan Brandon isn't just handsome―he's everything Catherine could hope for in her betrothed. But her dream of a happily ever after is shattered when Jonnie vanishes before their wedding, leaving Catherine bereft, broken-hearted, and with a lifetime of unanswered questions.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">Arthur Howard is smitten with the lovely Catherine the moment he sees her. He's certain he's found the woman he wants to marry. Yet behind Catherine's sparkling green eyes is a haunted look―the look of a woman who has known loss. Can he love a woman who still grieves the loss of her fiancé? Arthur must find answers to the mystery surrounding the man Catherine intended to marry. What he discovers is a truth far stranger than fiction.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUjGPDk-5gfS-aL-4cLoemMoahfls3-0l_3m22CEFMGIWb1BYI7gmscD_xf-akZdDDVC0429-oJEdppYQEXS7X5xglk5w-EDhL35gheKnYE0FlZI3SbphsRsCUCnxPckMFZNVTyEryGOR_/s1600/ECR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="346" data-original-width="230" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUjGPDk-5gfS-aL-4cLoemMoahfls3-0l_3m22CEFMGIWb1BYI7gmscD_xf-akZdDDVC0429-oJEdppYQEXS7X5xglk5w-EDhL35gheKnYE0FlZI3SbphsRsCUCnxPckMFZNVTyEryGOR_/s320/ECR.jpg" width="212" /></a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<br />
<b style="color: #333333; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">And the edge-of-your-seat finale: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Ever-Crave-Rose-Elizabethan-Travel-ebook/dp/B071P72MJS/ref=pd_sim_351_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=1BS8D18Q6HGDSARZ16KZ" target="_blank">Ever Crave the Rose</a></b><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">London 2014―Catherine Howard stumbles upon the tomb of her granddaughter, Anne Howard Brandon, who'd been swept back through time. Horrorstruck, she discovers Anne was murdered in the year 1562. Elizabethan England 1562―Dr. Jonathan Brandon, Anne's husband, pens a desperate message to Catherine, which gives the details of his wife's kidnapping and murder, and the plea to "find a way to undo this!"</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">Upon discovering the ancient letter, Catherine calls on a time-traveling priest, Father Daniel, to rescue her precious granddaughter. But journeying back to the sixteenth century is a dangerous undertaking, the life and death risks sobering and real. Will Daniel survive? Can anyone thwart the evil that threatens Anne, or is the timeline immutable, her fate sealed? Daniel calls upon the forces of heaven and earth―including a secret Vatican society of time travelers―to aid in this quest. Will they be able to help? Can they change the course of history? Will time rewind?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><b>About Morgan O'Neill:</b></span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMmeZuBMT8SSeFtQwu9q5wSg49ntyilyVrp7qThRLyGNsFulhMVRKzX3wA7hyMGQPGcFjP2G4d67QRccv5WgTdzT3cvTltYAP-dWXHzS9Xb__o_iPBfAkNA6nmt5DWtgVR_CQv0d3Ve0LL/s1600/Me+n+Deb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="313" data-original-width="251" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMmeZuBMT8SSeFtQwu9q5wSg49ntyilyVrp7qThRLyGNsFulhMVRKzX3wA7hyMGQPGcFjP2G4d67QRccv5WgTdzT3cvTltYAP-dWXHzS9Xb__o_iPBfAkNA6nmt5DWtgVR_CQv0d3Ve0LL/s200/Me+n+Deb.jpg" width="159" /></a></b></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111;">A chance meeting at a writers' conference brought Cary Morgan and Deborah O'Neill Cordes together, two award-winning authors who connected because of a mutual love of time travel fiction. Collaboration ensued, the search for a pen name the first step in their working relationship. Their maiden names provided the solution - and "Morgan O'Neill" was born. </span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111;">Cary and Deborah's backgrounds are uniquely suited to writing stories steeped in atmosphere and history: Deborah has a master's degree in history and is a dedicated genealogist; Cary is a talented linguist in French and is currently a student of Latin. They've traveled to Europe's ancient and medieval sites many times, with Cary living on the Continent for five years. </span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111;">The Morgan O'Neill time travel novels have received a number of literary awards, including two finalist wins in the Booksellers' Best Awards, two semifinalist wins in the William Faulkner-William Wisdom Creative Writing Competition, first, second, and third place wins for the Mainstream Novel with Strong Romantic Elements category of the Golden Rose Contest, a top ten finalist award in the Pacific Northwest Writers' Conference Zola Awards Literary Contest, and a top ten finalist win in the Orange Rose Contest.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b><a href="http://www.morganoneill.com/" target="_blank">Website</a></b></span></span>More Romance Pleasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03067013070124300379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2271172885910572489.post-37826431215254818642017-07-14T03:00:00.000-07:002017-07-14T03:01:01.775-07:00COVER REVEAL! Time Changes Everything by Melinda Dozier<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWuM0pgnizVZbYiWSXIpNwygOnPVjRw_1qmzKDIDuCFDMyU1_dlsLTEV42QFe7xWpvZYoozXUrSEd20QIErp5QG2sZsP8_VJNWYGAJr5HQN6eUrID7GEF0AYIoYuPthIlTYRqAwkIEK9Be/s1600/Time+Changes+Everything.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1000" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWuM0pgnizVZbYiWSXIpNwygOnPVjRw_1qmzKDIDuCFDMyU1_dlsLTEV42QFe7xWpvZYoozXUrSEd20QIErp5QG2sZsP8_VJNWYGAJr5HQN6eUrID7GEF0AYIoYuPthIlTYRqAwkIEK9Be/s400/Time+Changes+Everything.jpg" width="250" /></span></a><b><i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Time Changes Everything</span></i></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Melinda Dozier</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Release Date: August 3, 2017</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Genre: Contemporary Romance</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">He loved knowing he was the only one who could make her lose.</span></i><br />
<i><b><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></b></i>
<b><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">About the Book:</span></b><br />
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<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Amanda Larson is dedicated to her job and doesn't want to make time for anything else. Until she runs into Jake Edwards. He used to be the cute boy next door; now he's a sexy, big shot lawyer.</span></span></div>
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<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Jake Edwards isn't interested in commitment. He's successful, sexy, and single--and that's how he likes it. When he reconnects with Amanda, Jake realizes he might have to rethink his philosophy on the carefree, bachelor lifestyle.</span></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">But, is it too late for them? Or can he convince her that he's ready to give her his heart?</span></span></div>
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<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">In high school, Amanda was someone special. Hell, even before then. Their parents were best friends, which had forced Jake and Amanda together. At first, he’d thought it was a hindrance. Later, when she developed longer legs and a bigger bust, he found himself around her more. After discovering her quirkiness, her love of art and her sense of humor, he actually enjoyed being around her. But he never touched her.</span></span></div>
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<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">He contemplated running his fingers through her hair like he did his first year of college –– the last time they were alone –– the night he left town and never saw her again.</span></span></div>
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<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Did she remember the night he left? Of course she did. Seven years ago, he’d ruined their friendship. He knew Amanda almost as well as he knew himself. Well, he’d known her. Now she was a different woman.</span></span></div>
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<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Jake leaned in closer, running his hand down her arm. “Know what I’m thinking?”</span></span></div>
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<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Amanda fiddled with her coaster and smiled at him. “I’m not sure I want to know.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“I’m thinking we should spend a lot more time together.” He reached over and held her chin. “It’s been way too long.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Amanda licked her lips, and damn it, it actually turned him on. Sweet little Mandy Larson wasn’t so sweet anymore. She was driving him crazy.</span></span></div>
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<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">She moved closer bridging distance. “Why wait? There’s no time like the present.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Exactly.” He drank the last of his beer as the waiter returned with her martini sans olive.</span></span></div>
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<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Jake leaned on the table with his elbows, folded his hands together and studied her. </span></span></div>
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<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Look at you, drinking a martini, living the life in New York City.” He examined her from head to toe. “A sexy skirt. Tall boots.” He ran a finger down her cheek. “A beautiful face.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Amanda hiccupped and put down her glass. “Now, wait a minute. I know it’s been a while, but some things never change, including you.” She wagged her finger at him. “No smooth talking with me. Don’t forget I used to know you better than anybody.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Because his fingers actually ached with the need to touch her again, he reached over and held her hand. “Yeah, but things have changed, Mandy. We’re two different people now, and I can’t wait to get to know who you are now.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Melinda Dozier did a fabulous job with this story. It was incredibly well written, and even though it was a quick read, it still had a lot of emotional depth.” - Harlequin Junkie, 4-1/2stars</span></span></div>
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<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“I love books like this. Short, sweet, and just what every romantic wishes for.” - Waves of Fiction, 5 stars</span></span></div>
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<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“I loved this story and can't wait to read more from this great author.” - Romance BookWorm, 5 stars</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15990302-time-changes-everything" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: 700;" target="_blank">Preorder</a><span style="font-style: normal; font-weight: 700;"> </span><i>Time Changes Everything</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Other books by Melinda Dozier:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.booksbymelindadozier.com/p/new-york-minute.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; text-decoration-line: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">New York Minute</span></a><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> | </span><a href="http://www.booksbymelindadozier.com/p/breaking-rules.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; text-decoration-line: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Breaking the Rules</span></a><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> | </span><a href="http://www.booksbymelindadozier.com/p/time-out-valentine.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; text-decoration-line: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Time Out, Valentine</span></a><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> | </span><span style="color: #1155cc; text-decoration-line: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://www.booksbymelindadozier.com/p/one-lucky-night.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;">One Lucky Night</a> </span></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">About the Author:</span></b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7q_i15xwNEud1rEX3AGqtbiuCYmKrKXqIlh1F0kqNksatiEvQqPRVI3zQ03Gv27QbiH8cVwgC17eg0qBtvndcbosPkanbBjQ7zgFIJibBnoidfz5b3fRbBd_kVnHvGGy6ma1Nw2dqz-Rh/s1600/MelindaDozier.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1068" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7q_i15xwNEud1rEX3AGqtbiuCYmKrKXqIlh1F0kqNksatiEvQqPRVI3zQ03Gv27QbiH8cVwgC17eg0qBtvndcbosPkanbBjQ7zgFIJibBnoidfz5b3fRbBd_kVnHvGGy6ma1Nw2dqz-Rh/s200/MelindaDozier.jpg" width="133" /></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Reading romance has always been at the top of Melinda's favorite past times. You can always find a book in her hands no matter where she is. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Melinda is Louisiana born, New Mexico raised, Guatemala adopted, and recently a newcomer to Houston, Texas. So, it's only natural that her stories take place all across the world.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Melinda loves reading, reality TV, traveling, blogging, and playing Words with Friends. </span></span></div>
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<br />More Romance Pleasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03067013070124300379noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2271172885910572489.post-1962665475066211262017-05-10T03:00:00.000-07:002017-05-10T03:00:00.326-07:00My Commander by Alanea Alder<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXRzDtnYrsc9_4oPDNvsVLdPSf1if5SCBHNRuFfGOS44nJktOxMXZO_R5Ih02xK81MoGAU1TCVBEdHoKsvyqaoCyzUTwKvfxtnyrhlWphhI1WEM3aaKbiqi3k_dsgnRXmJNxI9VS15Nb0K/s1600/My+Commander.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXRzDtnYrsc9_4oPDNvsVLdPSf1if5SCBHNRuFfGOS44nJktOxMXZO_R5Ih02xK81MoGAU1TCVBEdHoKsvyqaoCyzUTwKvfxtnyrhlWphhI1WEM3aaKbiqi3k_dsgnRXmJNxI9VS15Nb0K/s400/My+Commander.jpg" width="266" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">My Commander</span></b></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Bewitched and Bewildered</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Book One</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Alanea Alder</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Genre: Paranormal Romance</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Publisher: Sacred Forest Publishing</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Date of Publication: October 3, 2014</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Number of pages: 282</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Cover Artist: Kim Killion</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><i><b>She’s been Bewitched, he’s Bewildered</b></i></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><b>Book Description</b>:</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">When the topic of grandchildren comes up during a weekly sewing circle the matriarchs of the founding families seek out the witch Elder to scry to see if their sons have mates. They are shocked to discover that many of their son’s mates are out in the world and are human!</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Fearing that their future daughter in laws will end up dead before being claimed and providing them with grandchildren to spoil, they convince their own mates that something must be done. After gathering all of the warriors together in a fake award ceremony the witch Elder casts a spell to pull the warrior’s mates to them, whether they want it or not.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Aiden McKenzie is adamant that he doesn’t need a mate and that she would only get in the way. He doesn’t have time to coddle a female. He likes his world run with military precision. Little does he realize, Fate is sending him his mate first! He meets his destined mate Meryn Evans and things go downhill from there. She is the embodiment of chaos. In the first twenty-four hours she kicks, screams and knocks her bear shifting mate unconscious.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Eventually they discover that life before finding each other may have been good, but life afterwards is perfect, even if it involves super soaker battles and accidentally discharging hand grenades.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Unfortunately, the joy of their mating is overshadowed when Aiden and Meryn find themselves embroiled in a missing persons case assigned to Aiden by the Lycaonian Council. By assisting Aiden, Meryn finds herself the focus of a demented killer.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Can Aiden and the elite warriors from the Alpha Unit keep Meryn safe? Or did Fate bring her to Lycaonia to die?</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=be1126c09a&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Amazon </a>|</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"> <a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=a46b9c8bb9&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">iTunes </a>| </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=16b0046a5c&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Kobo </a>|</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"> <a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=9a33e39cae&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">BN </a></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><b>About the Author</b>:</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYu8ljG0WECGwHhBP0-taSR1UiAolqUb-sap6fXGuOsP9IqdmDWJumxILRnhhhQ-zUy2ufkweXzSFer2pDjdHGVFdCsDeCh8O0Nex8PHfgC_mwVEed1flsJScgPl0RkvxOr67imulOTO4r/s1600/Alanea.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYu8ljG0WECGwHhBP0-taSR1UiAolqUb-sap6fXGuOsP9IqdmDWJumxILRnhhhQ-zUy2ufkweXzSFer2pDjdHGVFdCsDeCh8O0Nex8PHfgC_mwVEed1flsJScgPl0RkvxOr67imulOTO4r/s200/Alanea.jpg" width="169" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">USA Today Best Selling Author, Alanea loves reading almost as much as she loves writing. She began writing at a very young age, some of her first scribblings are treasured in a keepsake box and written in green marker. She started when she was still in grade school and continued on through college.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">She believes that love truly conquers all and that everyone no matter what, deserves a chance at that love and a place they can call home. She absolutely loves to hear from her readers so don’t hesitate to reach out to her. As always, her promise to her readers remains, “If you keep reading, I’ll keep writing!”</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Author Links:</b><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=2d8b493e4e&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Website</a> | </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=66d8165c50&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">FAQ </a>| </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=d5752099b8&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Newsletters </a>| </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=4b89a115e7&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Short Stories</a> | </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=aa5d6bf57b&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Alanea's Asylum </a> | </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=99ba79fde3&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Facebook Page</a> </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=70f82fea68&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Twitter</a> | </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=13e24e9c45&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Pinterest </a>| </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=f668c7d960&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Tumblr</a> | </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=6e64e2ef97&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">YouTube</a> | </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=04e9a36880&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Goodreads</a> | </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=d9d711508e&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Amazon</a> </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Enter special giveaway <a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=6b94ca89c4&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">here</a></span></span>More Romance Pleasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03067013070124300379noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2271172885910572489.post-88362767734672506012017-04-23T20:33:00.001-07:002017-04-23T20:57:05.264-07:00Awesome Cover Reveal - The Thornless Rose by Morgan O'Neill<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6UXVpslFAvcwjZ0JgnCgqb2tzEBpR8fhl78guO34VkOhvIS4RUHAz1NgebD2WmqwyMFiqKk8S5Ch-_n2yDk1RH4XFD_bfg8VyP0X3SQ00BmpdhyphenhyphenhFHYlcMyh5VSK4u97BZ0tMU2mkeihA/s1600/ThornlessRose_CVR_LRG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6UXVpslFAvcwjZ0JgnCgqb2tzEBpR8fhl78guO34VkOhvIS4RUHAz1NgebD2WmqwyMFiqKk8S5Ch-_n2yDk1RH4XFD_bfg8VyP0X3SQ00BmpdhyphenhyphenhFHYlcMyh5VSK4u97BZ0tMU2mkeihA/s400/ThornlessRose_CVR_LRG.jpg" width="266" /></a></div>
<b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The Thornless Rose</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Book One</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The Elizabethan Time Travel Trilogy</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">by Morgan O'Neill</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Historical Romance</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Re-release Date: April 2017</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>About the Book:</b></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">What happened to Dr. Jonathan Brandon, a dashing RAF flight surgeon, who disappeared from London in 1945? Kidnapping? Murder? Or did Brandon merely vanish of his own free will, seeking another life? American teacher Anne Howard is stunned by a different explanation―that her British grandmother’s long-lost fiancé was unwillingly wrenched back through time, to Elizabethan England. Anne knows time travel is nonsense―until she is handed a fresh-cut thornless rose, a bloom extinct for over four hundred years! And then, when the impossible happens and Anne journeys back to 1560 London, she must somehow survive encounters with royal enemies, accusations of witchcraft and the possibility of never returning home. In the midst of the chaos, she meets Brandon. Drawn into the perilous web of Elizabethan court life, they must confront their growing feelings for each other, complicated by poignant familial ties, while struggling with the shared danger of knowing what the future holds.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Thornless-Rose-Elizabethan-Time-Travel-ebook/dp/B06ZXWHWT8/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>About the Co-Authors:</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPlCmfB6pQwYWJcxpwhqZ2Bq3_m3qNoKQK8cZAjqsjkprUAlX05PSWBOrat3FxWdXujrhz7OQPvdQxUM33Rbtvjo46NEQPeKBGQLHl3YAorZYmskwInUK5PMBlxt7sQWtvQ0WKWmhO9eVu/s1600/Morgan+O%2527Neill.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPlCmfB6pQwYWJcxpwhqZ2Bq3_m3qNoKQK8cZAjqsjkprUAlX05PSWBOrat3FxWdXujrhz7OQPvdQxUM33Rbtvjo46NEQPeKBGQLHl3YAorZYmskwInUK5PMBlxt7sQWtvQ0WKWmhO9eVu/s200/Morgan+O%2527Neill.jpg" width="159" /></a></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111;">A chance meeting at a writers' conference brought Cary Morgan and Deborah O'Neill Cordes together, two award-winning authors who connected because of a mutual love of time travel fiction. Collaboration ensued, the search for a pen name the first step in their working relationship. Their maiden names provided the solution - and "Morgan O'Neill" was born. </span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111;">Cary and Deborah's backgrounds are uniquely suited to writing stories steeped in atmosphere and history: Deborah has a master's degree in history and is a dedicated genealogist; Cary is a talented linguist in French and is currently a student of Latin. They've traveled to Europe's ancient and medieval sites many times, with Cary living on the Continent for five years. </span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111;">The Morgan O'Neill time travel novels have received a number of literary awards, including two finalist wins in the Booksellers' Best Awards, two semifinalist wins in the William Faulkner-William Wisdom Creative Writing Competition, first, second, and third place wins for the Mainstream Novel with Strong Romantic Elements category of the Golden Rose Contest, a top ten finalist award in the Pacific Northwest Writers' Conference Zola Awards Literary Contest, and a top ten finalist win in the Orange Rose Contest.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Author Contacts:</b></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="http://www.morganoneill.com/" target="_blank">Website</a><span style="color: #111111;"> | </span><a href="http://www.twitter.com/AuthorMONeill" target="_blank">Twitter</a><span style="color: #111111;"> | </span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/morgan.oneill.books.12" target="_blank">Facebook</a><span style="color: #111111;"> | </span><a href="https://goo.gl/GixwNF" target="_blank">Amazon</a> | <a href="https://madmimi.com/signups/125219/join" target="_blank">Newsletter</a> | </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://www.pinterest.com/authormoneill/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a></span></span>More Romance Pleasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03067013070124300379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2271172885910572489.post-72188192125413389012017-03-27T03:00:00.000-07:002017-03-27T03:00:04.614-07:00Release Day - Building Celebration House by Annette Drake<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxfKEGGKMNCaUKCjCYenJHLQBJkmNvalcL0Nmtm_bVEae6gxzWisHflT585y3wcC1_TXihQc_2G6mM8It3ct4kJDCdrdHfm2e-yKk7FNryIFP5B8L-9LIGRDMDqc5XKvG3FFrphrL6Yqjy/s1600/CelebrationHouse_Book1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxfKEGGKMNCaUKCjCYenJHLQBJkmNvalcL0Nmtm_bVEae6gxzWisHflT585y3wcC1_TXihQc_2G6mM8It3ct4kJDCdrdHfm2e-yKk7FNryIFP5B8L-9LIGRDMDqc5XKvG3FFrphrL6Yqjy/s400/CelebrationHouse_Book1.jpg" width="266" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Building Celebration House</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">The Celebration House Trilogy</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Volume 1</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Annette Drake</span></b><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Genre: Women’s fiction/paranormal romance</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Publisher: Baskethound Books</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Number of pages: 234</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Cover Artist: Elizabeth Mackey</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><i>How can she plan a future with a man who has only a past?</i></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><b>About the Book:</b></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Carrie Hansen spent her life caring for cardiac patients. Little did she know she would become a patient herself.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">After recovering from her own heart surgery, she learns she has a special talent: the ability to see and talk with the dead.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Now, with her health failing, she leaves the bustle of Seattle behind and returns to Lexington, Missouri, the small town where she spent her childhood. Here, she sets out to restore an abandoned antebellum mansion and open it as a venue for celebrations.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Carrie’s unique gift allows her to build relationships with the mansion’s ghostly occupants, especially Major Tom Gentry, the handsome Civil War soldier who died 100 years before Carrie was born. He encourages and comforts her, though not in the physical way they both desire.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Will Carrie finish restoring the celebration house or will it finish her? And how can she plan a future with a man who has only a past?</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=1c81363c90&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Amazon </a> |</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"> <a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=423b48f6ee&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Nook </a> | </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/(http://blogspot.us4.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=5be729ddbf&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Kobo </a> | </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=3675aee67a&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Smashwords </a></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><b>Excerpt:</b></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When Carrie opened the door and stepped inside, sunlight streamed in through the dirty windows. Even though the barn had been vacant for years, the air smelled of hay and horses.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Looking to her left, she saw a man shaving. He’d glanced up when Carrie opened the doors, but returned his gaze to the small mirror tacked to the wooden beam. He was bare from the waist up. His chest was lean and muscular, with dark brown hair from mid-chest to his waistline. His arms were powerfully built, and his right hand was steady as he scraped the white soap from his angular jaw with a razor. His dark blue uniform pants with gold braid down the side were tucked into knee-high black leather boots. He stood at least six feet tall, and though Carrie hadn’t made her living in the carnival, she guessed he was probably younger than her, likely in his mid to late twenties. He peered at the small mirror, tilting his chin to swipe away the shaving soap. Carrie waited to speak until after he’d finished with the ivory-handled straight blade and dipped it into the basin of soapy water.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Good morning,” she said.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">His expression was an equal mix of surprise and annoyance. He dropped the razor and grabbed his shirt off a nearby nail. He turned his back to Carrie and pulled it on.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“You can see me, madam?” he asked, buttoning his shirt and stuffing it into his pants.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Yes. Can you see me?”</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“I can, but I believe I have the advantage. I’m dead. You are not.” He turned and glared at her. His eyebrows furrowed as though he wasn’t quite sure how they’d arrived at the point of introductions.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“I’m sorry to intrude. I’m Carrie. Carrie Hansen.” She extended her hand.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He reached to shake her hand, but his fingers passed through hers. They both jerked back.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“I’m sorry. I really didn’t mean to intrude,” she said.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“You surprised me. That’s all. We seldom receive visitors, especially living ones who can see us.” He put on his blue uniform coat and fastened the long row of brass buttons. “I’m Major Thomas Gentry, at your service.” He bowed. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“I’m sorry I startled you. I sometimes forget ghosts aren’t accustomed to being seen.”</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">His eyes narrowed and he frowned. “How may I be of service to you, Miss Hansen?”</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Where can I find Colonel Stratton? I need to speak with him.”</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">His dark blue eyes showed his increasing puzzlement. “The living do not go looking for Colonel Stratton. What business have you with him?”</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“I bought this house, and I intend to live here.”</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“You bought Stratton House?”</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“And I need to speak with the colonel.”</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Major Gentry shook his head as though to sort through the details. “Please forgive me. You bought Stratton House, you intend to live here, and you wish to speak with the home’s proprietor, Colonel Stratton?” </span></div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-18a68a43-c4cb-d404-94d7-a42f597f7e53"><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“I thought we’d covered that,” she said. “You don’t get many visitors, do you?”</span></span><br /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><b>About the Author:</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv1vhu1sRfYmmsUv1JHb-wotfRhLGAHn6c8DWNlgI7aPdyzxbFudoJQQYVdsZXWDHxV9gpGzeSRgiRfy5pz3ExPQAIpX4p5E_uXwRiFA8M5NXdvGgqaLfHTp2Xhdz6cZhKd53V-MT02Ff6/s1600/Annette+Drake+%2528Color%2529+for+TRR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv1vhu1sRfYmmsUv1JHb-wotfRhLGAHn6c8DWNlgI7aPdyzxbFudoJQQYVdsZXWDHxV9gpGzeSRgiRfy5pz3ExPQAIpX4p5E_uXwRiFA8M5NXdvGgqaLfHTp2Xhdz6cZhKd53V-MT02Ff6/s200/Annette+Drake+%2528Color%2529+for+TRR.jpg" width="150" /></a></b></span></div>
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<script src="https://widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js"></script>More Romance Pleasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03067013070124300379noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2271172885910572489.post-26197053741636911712017-03-20T03:00:00.000-07:002017-03-20T03:00:03.882-07:00Release Day for The Eyewitness by Nancy Weeks<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><b>The Eyewitness</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><b>Nancy Weeks</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: times, times new roman, serif;">Release Date: March 20.2017</span><br />
<span style="font-family: times, times new roman, serif;">Publisher: Crimson Romance</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;"><strong>About</strong> <strong>The Eyewitness</strong>: </span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Fans of TV’s Blue Bloods will love this dynamic new suspense series.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Maryland PD forensic scientist Emersyn D’Azzo has an explosive past with her father’s younger, sexy partner, Detective Alec Pearce. Then an ill-timed kiss destroys the thin line of trust between her and her dad, just before tragedy strikes and someone guns down her father.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The fatal bullet turns out to be tied to the ongoing spree of random sniper kills across the state, but Emersyn knows this wasn’t a random act of violence and is determined to find the killer. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">To do so, she’ll need to rely on help from Alec, whom she doesn’t quite trust but just can’t resist. When they discover a connection to a decades-old disappearance of a college student, their investigation takes a deadly twist. Can they learn to trust each other with their hearts to save their lives?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="text-align: center;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.newsletterbroadcast.net/i/l/1/14d975752321ff145ca0ccf8f21e07d6/2/289743ea67fec4798c57a211a1c91722&source=gmail&ust=1488241973707000&usg=AFQjCNHqHOkCHkAM68w3JourzZmrCzYnGg" href="https://www.newsletterbroadcast.net/i/l/1/14d975752321ff145ca0ccf8f21e07d6/2/289743ea67fec4798c57a211a1c91722" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">AMAZON </a> | </span><span style="text-align: center;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.newsletterbroadcast.net/i/l/1/35bd6f55a36f64a4e93d1828ca325e25/2/289743ea67fec4798c57a211a1c91722&source=gmail&ust=1488241973707000&usg=AFQjCNEedRWHp6bVc9KUsXxZetmzC4mH1Q" href="https://www.newsletterbroadcast.net/i/l/1/35bd6f55a36f64a4e93d1828ca325e25/2/289743ea67fec4798c57a211a1c91722" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">BARNES AND NOBLE</a> | </span><span style="text-align: center;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.newsletterbroadcast.net/i/l/1/3c8c8baa10661f9cf17b59e0097f2e08/2/289743ea67fec4798c57a211a1c91722&source=gmail&ust=1488241973707000&usg=AFQjCNGPJkjmZcvgrKLHNhyctGB_3xby7A" href="https://www.newsletterbroadcast.net/i/l/1/3c8c8baa10661f9cf17b59e0097f2e08/2/289743ea67fec4798c57a211a1c91722" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">KOBO</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Excerpt:</b></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ted edged in closer. “You can take a few moments for one dance.” He eyed Tessa. “You don’t mind if I borrow your sister, do you?”</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“But I do.”</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The deep, masculine voice sent an arousing jolt right into Emersyn’s core. And damn it to hell, her mouth went dry, making it impossible to swallow. She fingered her straw then took a deep drink. This time she welcomed the burning chill against her lungs. Detective Alec Pearce had a knack for showing up at her worst moments. Why the hell was he here?</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ted moved away from her as if he’d been burned. “Alec, good to see you.”</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“You do know you’re hitting on my partner’s daughter, right, Ted?”</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Just asking her for a dance.”</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Emersyn glanced between the two; she actually preferred Ted’s company to the man who seemed to go out of his way to make her crazy.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Alec reached for her hand and set it in his palm. “Actually, she promised this dance to me. They’re playing our song.”</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The muscles in her body tensed as her fingernails dug into his skin. “I don’t—”</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Music is on, Em. Shall we?” His other hand went around her waist, and he gave her a swift yank.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Jerkball, let go,” she hissed in his ear.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">His grip tightened. “It’s just one dance. Play nice.”</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Alec escorted Emersyn to the small dance floor near the bandstand. Every instinct in her wanted to slap his arrogant expression right into next week, but that would make a scene. It was what half the bar expected the instant he got within striking distance. They were all waiting for her to let loose. But this was a new day, a new diploma, new job, new Emersyn. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Emotions in check.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“My name is Emersyn. I would think you would remember something so simple.”</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Alec’s face lit with a grin as his arms brought her close and their bodies began to move to the music. She shot a glare at Tessa, pleading for her to do something. Instead, her sister, the traitor, took another sip of Emersyn’s drink, lifted it in a toast, and rotated in her seat.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A chuckle came from deep in Alec’s throat. “Tessa likes me. You can thank me now.”</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“I can also knee you where the sun doesn’t shine.”</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He lifted her chin with his thumb. “Now that wasn’t nice. I sacrificed a night with that blonde”—he nodded to a beautiful woman sitting at the end of the bar—“just to keep Lecher Ted from hitting on you … again.”</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“What makes you think I needed rescuing?”</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Oh please, Tessa, make the creep go away. I’m ever so sweet and don’t want to hurt the poor jerk’s feelings.”</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">She yanked out of Alec’s hold, but he was ready and moved her back into his arms without missing a beat.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Relax. I’m teasing.”</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“You are such an ass.”</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">His lips brushed over her ear. “Enjoy our moment, Em.”</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Impossible.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> They had more layers of misunderstanding between them than her mother’s chocolate cake, heated words that couldn’t be unheard and arguments with no closure.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">After her father had mentioned at dinner that Alec was joining them for dessert, she’d jumped at Tessa’s offer to buy her a drink at the tavern. It was the perfect place to hide out. A lone wolf like Alec wouldn’t be caught dead in the crowded, noisy bar. But here he was. She’d run but not far enough.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“I’m sorry I missed your graduation ceremony, but I have a little something for you,” he whispered.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“You didn’t need to do that.”</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“I’m proud of you.”</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The words sounded so genuine. “Dad seems resigned to the idea of me at least working alongside cops, if not as a cop.”</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Joe doesn’t want you anywhere near the job. But you found a way around that. Instead of crawling in the gutter looking for the worst mankind has to offer, you’re picking through what they left behind.”</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">She halted in the middle of the dance floor. “You think that’s why I became a forensic scientist?”</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“I didn’t mean it like that.”</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Then what did you mean?”</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The music stopped, and they stood still, glaring at each other. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Our thing</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. “I can’t do this tonight,” she said, dropping her hand to her sides. “Thanks.”</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“For?”</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Saving me from another go-around with Ted.”</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Do you want me to talk to him?”</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“I can take care of myself.”</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For once, there was no comeback. Instead, he eased her against him and tucked her hand over his heart. “Dance with me, Emersyn.”</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That sexy, got-to-have-you-now voice was back, and her other four senses came out to play. Being close to Alec Pearce, taking in his spicy, clean soap scent, feeling the strength of his arms around her wasn’t an awful feeling. Confusing? Hell yes, but her body sure enjoyed it. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s just a dance, right?</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">She lowered one hand to his hip and brought the other around his neck, her cheek resting against his. Alec tightened his grip around her waist as he spun them around the dance floor. The move put their bodies in sync, and there was no mistaking the effect she had on him. Her lips brushed against his skin, sending shock waves through her.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-afafc5e6-8b00-eaa9-6f95-adb927378c16"></span></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He sucked in a breath and tilted his head. Their gazes held for what seemed like an eternity. He was so damn gorgeous, his deep brown eyes with a hint of gold, lush lashes, and a dusting of five-o’clock shadow on his square jaw that she ached to feel rubbed against all her soft places. As if he read her mind, his mouth caressed her bottom lip. He waited, expecting her to pull back. Need took over, and she lost her mind.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Readers are already talking about the <em>The Eyewitness. </em></span></div>
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<strong><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">From Goodreads:</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"This is an intense story, heavy on the suspense and the romance. Emersyn and Alec are circling each other for the entire book, each with strong personalities and past issues with trust and forgiveness. And even when they start to come together, to give into the chemistry, Weeks does an excellent job at keeping them true to their characters and personalities. She set the stage for their back-and-forth on the first page and it never let up. As they tracked down clues and secrets and tried to figure out who the sniper is, Weeks managed to keep me on the edge of my seat trying to sort it out with them. I can't wait for Tessa and Nathan's stories! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I was given a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review."</span></div>
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<em><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">~~~</span></em></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>About the Author:</b></span><br />
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<em><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge94f7UZIk3wQaYCqURDXKgKim031o66bTV1_kmoKsxm33cv5WZdiM3xRjscsTaalAswIbhdCAobnQYOFa-sn-fl6sT4mrw2Rgzhyphenhyphen2lJZZGW-Qi7K7L15WTgW6UE2R7oIKSvZL-LeEFd9F/s1600/Nancy+Weeks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="146" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge94f7UZIk3wQaYCqURDXKgKim031o66bTV1_kmoKsxm33cv5WZdiM3xRjscsTaalAswIbhdCAobnQYOFa-sn-fl6sT4mrw2Rgzhyphenhyphen2lJZZGW-Qi7K7L15WTgW6UE2R7oIKSvZL-LeEFd9F/s200/Nancy+Weeks.jpg" width="200" /></a></b></span></em></div>
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</b></span></em></div>
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<em><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><br /></b></span></em></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: #f5f8fa; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Nancy C. Weeks has loved happy-ever-after romances since her early teens. While still in college, she met and married her hero. She spent the next several years honeymooning and working overseas. Today, she lives in suburban Maryland with her husband of more than thirty years. With her two grown children out of the nest, she </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">enjoys spending her days writing suspenseful happily-ever-after adventures outside on the deck</span><span style="background-color: #f5f8fa; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> as the local bird population keeps her company. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When she is not writing, Nancy loves to blog about fascinating people, both real and fictional. The one quote that kept her dream alive</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up. </span></div>
<span id="docs-internal-guid-afafc5e6-8b02-25e5-10a3-06c913a56e5d"></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">~Thomas Edison~</span></div>
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14px;"><b>Author Contacts:</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="http://nancycweeks.com/" target="_blank">Website </a>| <a href="http://blogspot.nancycweeks.com/p/newsletter.html" target="_blank">Newsletter </a>| <a href="https://www.facebook.com/NancyCWeeksAuthor" target="_blank">Facebook </a>| <a href="https://twitter.com/NancyCWeeks" target="_blank">Twitter </a>| <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7009278.Nancy_C_Weeks" target="_blank">Goodreads</a> | <a href="http://www.pinterest.com/nancycweeks/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a> | <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/1867808583434262/" target="_blank">Nancy's Corner</a></span><br />
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<b>Giveaway!</b><br />
<span id="docs-internal-guid-afafc5e6-8b04-7adb-4f5d-d3135b375839"><span style="font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ANY DIGITAL COPY FROM MY BACKLIST TO ONE LUCKY VIEWER WHO LEAVES A QUESTION OR COMMENT!</span></span><br />
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More Romance Pleasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03067013070124300379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2271172885910572489.post-7148558534185294242017-03-13T03:00:00.000-07:002017-03-13T03:00:22.457-07:00A pair of MUST reads for any Tudor Enthusiast ~ by author JoAnn Spears<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgShEOp-OHFkD6qTGbOZ2PQhtBBhDatm-A_IMlTBTA_SGv0bZjNbWB-PIjTAPRWOl-JIhVo1PhMcTYMyuA3NBU4iFlgPUAGn-j6pxNmza34HwtzV8DoHS-bfhcUh0XMS3nP6kuj6atIQx4p/s1600/Six+of+One.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgShEOp-OHFkD6qTGbOZ2PQhtBBhDatm-A_IMlTBTA_SGv0bZjNbWB-PIjTAPRWOl-JIhVo1PhMcTYMyuA3NBU4iFlgPUAGn-j6pxNmza34HwtzV8DoHS-bfhcUh0XMS3nP6kuj6atIQx4p/s400/Six+of+One.jpg" width="265" /></span></a></div>
<span style="color: #111111; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b>Six of One:</b></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #111111; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b>A Tudor Riff</b></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #111111; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b>JoAnn Spears</b></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #111111; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111;"><b>About the Book:</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">“Six of One” is the ultimate ‘girls’ night in’…with the six wives of Henry VIII. It’s the most fun you can have with your nightdress on! Join Dolly, the Tudor-obsessed heroine of “Six of One”, on a Yellow Brick Road journey to the alternate reality of an all-girl Tudor court.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">It all begins when Dolly loses consciousness on the eve of her marriage to the six-times- divorced Harry. She awakens in the company of the Tudor women she’s studied all her life. They have a mission to accomplish, and Dolly may be just the girl who can help them do it.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">As a warm-up to her life-changing interview with the six wives of Henry VIII, Dolly gets to dish with lots of the other fascinating females of the Tudor era. She learns things she never guessed about the Princes in the Tower from their sister, Elizabeth of York…Henry VIII’s mom. She talks sex with Henry’s sisters and scholarship with his daughters. She even gossips with the help, since Kat Ashley and Bess of Hardwicke are among the ladies on hand.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">Of course the heart of the story is in Dolly’s interview with the six wives of Henry VIII. It turns out there’s something to each of the wives’ stories that’s been held back all this time. You won’t believe what really happened…or will you?</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">“Six of One” offers no tragedy, no excuses, and no apologies. It does have lots of broad humor, not to mention tons of puns. And—for a change—a happy ending.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">"The novel is an enthusiastic, well-researched, fictional account of what happened to the infamous wives of Henry VIII." Kirkus Indie Review</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Six-One-Tudor-JoAnn-Spears-ebook/dp/B00DT9DG64/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8" style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;" target="_blank">Amazon</a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoZCozyfrNQXw8CK-ysyqZ4yMZhe006bfyhJPBhRQd6M05Yb6NbAAClCUe11RY8Kxban3Tm6UZkaNSH3pwgvA2EctIDZhNHXZgpDvMuu0YO7KLFQyhKDSuBgz4_AiLpux5tn5TYB4TuyO9/s1600/Seven+Will+Out.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoZCozyfrNQXw8CK-ysyqZ4yMZhe006bfyhJPBhRQd6M05Yb6NbAAClCUe11RY8Kxban3Tm6UZkaNSH3pwgvA2EctIDZhNHXZgpDvMuu0YO7KLFQyhKDSuBgz4_AiLpux5tn5TYB4TuyO9/s400/Seven+Will+Out.jpg" width="265" /></a></div>
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Seven Will Out:</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">A Renaissance Revel</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">JoAnn Spears</span></b><br />
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<b>About the Book:</b><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">If you thought "Six of One: A Tudor Riff" was the most fun you could have with your nightdress on, wait until you see what "Seven Will Out: A Renaissance Revel" has in store for Tudors fans and Shakespeare and Marlowe conspiracy theorists. Get ready for one 'ruff' night!</span><br style="background-color: white;" /><br style="background-color: white;" /><span style="background-color: white;">Tudorphile Dolly thought that the night she spent on an astral plane with Henry VIII's six wives, learning their heretofore unknown secrets, was a one-time thing. Not so! In "Seven Will Out", Dolly finds herself back in the ether with the women of later Tudor times: Elizabeth I, 'Bloody' Mary, Bess of Hardwick, Mary, Queen of Scots, and Anne Hathaway Shakespeare, to name a few. They too have secrets that will turn history on its head, and comic sass that will keep you laughing. And if that isn't enough, there is even a cameo appearance by Anne Boleyn.</span><br style="background-color: white;" /><br style="background-color: white;" /><span style="background-color: white;">You've read all of the traditional, serious and romantic takes on the legendary characters of the English Renaissance. Why not try your Tudors and your Shakespeare with a new and different twist?</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Seven-Will-Out-Renaissance-Revel-ebook/dp/B017TCUYHA/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>My Reviews:</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b>Six ~</b> </span><span style="background-color: white;">My head is exploding with rockets of awe and reverence and delight. As soon as I read the book blurb my fingers were so firmly crossed I worried circulation would be cut off. Could she pull it off, this JoAnn Spears? I mean, I LOVE Tudor history. I’ve read and studied those crazy folk all of my life, and it was my dearest hope…</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">The answer is YES! In spades YES! This story is a tour de force (farce??).</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;" /><span style="background-color: white;">Now, I adore my Kindle, and through it books come and go, and once in a while, memories remain. But when I come across a book that literally (almost) blows my mind, I get online and buy the physical version, for I must have it with me, like a very dear friend, for the rest of my life. I wasn’t half way through <i>Six of One</i> before I had a paperback winging its way to my door.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;" /><span style="background-color: white;">Some of you may recall <i>O Brother Where Art Thou?</i>, a comedic re-telling of The Odyssey by Homer, in which Odysseus spends ten years trying to get back home after the Trojan War. George Clooney gives the movie some added eye-candy interest, but the point is that the retelling honors, and yet is so brilliantly original, admirers of the Homer’s version could but stand up and cheer. And that is where I find myself with Six of One.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;" /><span style="background-color: white;">While not strictly a paranormal story, <i>Six</i> is certainly extra-normal, since Dolly, the heroine, travels to another plane, where she has extended conversations with most of the Tudor, and Tudor-affiliated women. The interviews begin with Henry VIII’s grand-mum Margaret, and go on to include many characters, including both of his female children, and, yikes, each of his wives.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;" /><span style="background-color: white;">Six of One is funny, insightful, thought provoking and absolutely brilliant. Thank you, JoAnn Spears! Extremely well done.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;" /></span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Seven ~ </b></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Yes! Yes! Yes, there is more! Okay, life and deadlines took me away from all things reading/blogging/reviewing for a while, so think of my delight when I found that JoAnn Spears had followed up <i>Six</i> with <i>Seven</i> while I had my focus elsewhere. Oh, the joy! And wow - what?? Per usual, she will have you chuckling and wishing for your own time slot in that tower, but she goes far beyond the funny and literally</span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> turns the literary world on its ear! Not only that, but her reasoning flawless, insightful in its reasoning, and impressive. Her knowledge of the many characters that populate the Tudor era and its surrounds is astounding and spot on! </span><div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGz3UJMbxhE8GphjoYuwGwDA-7AeRWvkfTXPV-ePwUnsl_yIyZbfX4KalgWkqzzZkEQ3wjCKZvUEaRLOIcXZ94_0-TbjsG6QTWPXULMGvup6AO226j74rlI64oN2QOZyiJYmh1X-Xph2OP/s1600/My+Bookshelf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGz3UJMbxhE8GphjoYuwGwDA-7AeRWvkfTXPV-ePwUnsl_yIyZbfX4KalgWkqzzZkEQ3wjCKZvUEaRLOIcXZ94_0-TbjsG6QTWPXULMGvup6AO226j74rlI64oN2QOZyiJYmh1X-Xph2OP/s200/My+Bookshelf.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I love to read a good book. When the threshold of "love" leaves me slack-jawed it MUST come to live with me in the real, touchable world. E-life on my Kindle just won't do. So, as after reading <i>Six</i>, I went back to Amazon and bought the solid, you'll-be-with-me-forever version and here they are to prove it. Fun. Interesting. Brilliant. I want to get invited to the tower!! Again, extremely well done.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111;"><b>About the Author:</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS1xOlkBfwdYertOz9xpnYDsdzN4Yo_xwps48Ws2O5Aw5c2PeSWJltz3x2NklUhgI-SFaGiKTLxRcht6oFmIM86biXH4KjVHzRNDZvTezOyLwMLDUvSGQtswSHXKksqAkMl84eB264AoCe/s1600/JoAnn+Spears.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS1xOlkBfwdYertOz9xpnYDsdzN4Yo_xwps48Ws2O5Aw5c2PeSWJltz3x2NklUhgI-SFaGiKTLxRcht6oFmIM86biXH4KjVHzRNDZvTezOyLwMLDUvSGQtswSHXKksqAkMl84eB264AoCe/s1600/JoAnn+Spears.jpg" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">JoAnn Spears couldn't decide whether to major in English or History in college. Life stepped in, and she wound up with a Master's Degree in Nursing instead. A twenty-five year nursing career didn't extinguish that early interest in books and history-especially Tudor history. It did, however, stoke a decidedly gallows sense of humor. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111;">Eventually, JoAnn read just about every spin there was on the stories of Henry VIII and the extended Tudor family. Every spin, that is, except the one with the gallows humor. The Tudors certainly qualified for it, but it just wasn't out there. JoAnn decided that with gallows humor to spare, she would do her best to remedy the Tudor comedy gap. A little inspiration from the classic "Wizard of Oz" showed her the way to go, and "Six of One", a new kind of Tudor novel, was born. </span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111;">JoAnn thought "Six of One", her story about Henry VIII's six wives, would be an only literary child. Then, two years after its birth, she was caught by surprise with the idea for a sequel. In October, 2015, "Seven Will Out" made its debut and bought the latter-day Tudors into the comedy mix.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111;">JoAnn enjoys writing but maintains her nursing license because a) you never stop being a nurse and b) her son thinks she should be sensible and not quit her day job. She also enjoys life in the beautiful mountains of northeast Tennessee, where she gardens, embroiders antique reproduction samplers, and teaches yoga in her Methodist church basement. JoAnn shares her home with three cats and the works of Jane Austen, Barbara Pym, Louisa May Alcott, and of course, Alison Weir.</span></span><br />
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More Romance Pleasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03067013070124300379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2271172885910572489.post-74090939356561804922017-02-20T03:00:00.000-08:002017-02-20T03:00:15.672-08:00Release Day! Only a Duke Will Do by Tamara Gill<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIfJcTiUvQAYjiA_Pojrcj59DCQXZXrs-SKbBVKe_N8IPkNdSKpWaP5orWvYRe65fNtavEGYb6dD3KOkKsapOHwMx8yIwptHCy156j8da5sLuPImg25-xUB_Ox6UrM8U8SQQIQQ6h5ICXr/s1600/OnlyADukeWillDo_Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIfJcTiUvQAYjiA_Pojrcj59DCQXZXrs-SKbBVKe_N8IPkNdSKpWaP5orWvYRe65fNtavEGYb6dD3KOkKsapOHwMx8yIwptHCy156j8da5sLuPImg25-xUB_Ox6UrM8U8SQQIQQ6h5ICXr/s400/OnlyADukeWillDo_Cover.jpg" width="266" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-size: large;">Only a Duke Will Do</span></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">To Marry a Rogue Series</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Book Two</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Tamara Gill</span></b><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Genre: Regency Historical Romance</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Publisher: Entangled - Select Historical</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Cover Artist: Erin Dameron-Hill</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><b>Book Description:</b></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Without a Season, Lady Isolde Worthingham captured the Duke of Moore’s heart at a country dance. But on the eve of her wedding, a scandal that rocked the ton and sent her fleeing to Scotland alone and unwed, leaves her perfectly planned future in a tangle of disgrace and heartbreak.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Merrick Mountshaw, the Duke of Moore loathes the pitiful existence he hides from the ton. With a scandalous wife he never wanted, who flaunts her many indiscretions, life is a never-ending parade of hell. When the one woman he loved and lost returns to London, he knows he can no longer live without her.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">But vows and past hurts are not easily forgotten. Love may not win against the ton when a too proper Lord and Lady play by the rules.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><b>About the Author:</b></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Tamara is an Australian author who grew up in an old mining town in country South Australia, where her love of history was founded. So much so, she made her darling husband travel to the UK for their honeymoon, where she dragged him from one historical monument and castle to another. A mother of three, her two little gentleman in the making, a future lady (she hopes) and a part-time job keep her busy in the real world, but whenever she gets a moment’s peace she loves to write romance novels in an array of genres, including regency, medieval and time travel.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=db2f194a01&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Website</a> | </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=11a4e0be1b&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Newsletter</a> |</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"> <a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=2b7c58b8bd&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Facebook </a> | </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=95fb4068d1&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Blog </a> | </span></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=58143512a6&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Street Team</a> | </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=9f9cef754d&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Goodreads </a></span></span>More Romance Pleasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03067013070124300379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2271172885910572489.post-88494668319143818052017-01-24T07:44:00.000-08:002017-02-05T16:19:12.290-08:00Don't miss this Italian Time Travel Duo by Morgan O'Neill!<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>~ Two Exquisite Love Stories. </b></span><br />
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>One is History, </b></span><br />
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>the Other a Witness to It ~</b></span><span style="color: #990000;"> </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrULxALCF5LnaMnLgfI82bNRAibiPtTOyqdoeX0um5cs7CV3E8L5cYeG0uFeZud-_Xb0ngm9o3QYZsuqN414-YWXxLIxyi4b6yvGEy-6T5JLo9FT-ltTyIZlLCaa2ypwGY9v2kfJRXCtAw/s1600/OSH.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrULxALCF5LnaMnLgfI82bNRAibiPtTOyqdoeX0um5cs7CV3E8L5cYeG0uFeZud-_Xb0ngm9o3QYZsuqN414-YWXxLIxyi4b6yvGEy-6T5JLo9FT-ltTyIZlLCaa2ypwGY9v2kfJRXCtAw/s400/OSH.jpg" width="265" /></a></div>
<b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The Other Side of Heaven</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">(Part One)</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">by Morgan O'Neill</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Californian Gwendolyn Godwyn seeks to learn her family’s history and hopes to restore the bond that once existed between her Italian forebears and those who live in America. While visiting her ancestral Italian town, Gwen is caught in a violent earthquake and inexplicably thrust through time. </span></span></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14px;">At first refusing to believe what has happened, she nevertheless uses her wits to survive, donning a monk’s cowl to hide her identity as a woman. Ripped apart from all she has ever known, Gwen finds herself in the midst of brutal territorial battles in an era she once blithely called “The Dark Ages.” When the golden Italian summer of 951 emerges from the strife and gloom, Gwen joins forces with a cadre of gallant men, allies in the struggle against the evil nobles, Willa of Tuscany and Count Berengar, kidnappers of Italy’s rightful queen, Adelaide. Along with Father Warinus and Lord Alberto Uzzo, Gwen seeks to rescue Adelaide and restore her kingdom. In the midst of this great adventure, Gwen falls in love with the complex and passionate Alberto, to whom she reveals her identity as a woman. But can Alberto learn to love her strong and independent nature and help Gwen in her quest to discover her rightful place in time?</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "roboto" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><a href="https://goo.gl/9NYGqm" target="_blank">Amazon US</a> </span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "roboto" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><a href="https://goo.gl/0Ffb79" target="_blank">Amazon UK</a></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlzrUgKGq7BKbJoKe9rMnS2Q0A70bRyKuvvhNS7OkktRvdY19KzdEFr6uu1xu-kAV0K8A8srQWnfGGvd1FUkvyIZNdhhOz9uiPOsCpFiJFM8u5WOzgGq8R2ncc6JZlGGzcOUzejyK-wZ4e/s1600/TEL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlzrUgKGq7BKbJoKe9rMnS2Q0A70bRyKuvvhNS7OkktRvdY19KzdEFr6uu1xu-kAV0K8A8srQWnfGGvd1FUkvyIZNdhhOz9uiPOsCpFiJFM8u5WOzgGq8R2ncc6JZlGGzcOUzejyK-wZ4e/s400/TEL.jpg" width="266" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Time Enough for Love</span></b></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b>(Part Two)</b></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b>by Morgan O'Neill</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Through dark magic, Californian Gwendolyn Godwyn has been swept back in time to medieval Italy. There, she finds herself in the midst of a war between Italy’s rightful queen, Adelaide, and those who have kidnapped her and seek to usurp her crown. Risking her life, Gwen elects to play a pivotal role in the planned rescue. In the midst of the chaos, she is drawn to the queen’s champion, Lord Alberto Uzzo, who battles not only their military foes, but also his personal demons. Tested to the limit when he discovers Gwen’s true identity as a time traveler, Alberto nevertheless fights through his doubt and the whirl of superstition that surrounds this intriguing and strong-willed woman. Time is of the essence as the lovers seek to overcome the evil forces rallying against the queen they’ve vowed to save. Will Gwen and Alberto be able to overcome the groundswell of danger to find time enough for love?</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://goo.gl/5XD2d9" target="_blank">Amazon US</a></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://goo.gl/miYJLu" target="_blank">Amazon UK</a></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><b>Morgan O'Neill</b></span><br />
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">A chance meeting at a writers' conference brought Cary Morgan Frates and Deborah O'Neill Cordes together, two award-winning authors who connected because of a mutual love of time travel fiction. Collaboration ensued, the search for a pen name the first step in their working relationship. Their maiden names provided the solution - and "Morgan O'Neill" was born. <br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Cary and Deborah's backgrounds are uniquely suited to writing stories steeped in atmosphere and history: Deborah has a master's degree in history and is a dedicated genealogist; Cary is a talented linguist in French and is currently a student of Latin. They've traveled to Europe's ancient and medieval sites many times, with Cary living on the Continent for five years. <br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />The Morgan O'Neill time travel novels have received a number of literary awards, including two finalist wins in the Booksellers' Best Awards, two semifinalist wins in the William Faulkner-William Wisdom Creative Writing Competition, first, second, and third place wins for the Mainstream Novel with Strong Romantic Elements category of the Golden Rose Contest, a top ten finalist award in the Pacific Northwest Writers' Conference Zola Awards Literary Contest, and a top ten finalist win in the Orange Rose Contest.</span></span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="http://www.morganoneill.com/" target="_blank">Website</a> | <a href="http://www.twitter.com/AuthorMONeill" target="_blank">Twitter</a> | <a href="http://www.facebook.com/morgan.oneill.books.12" target="_blank">Facebook</a> | <a href="https://goo.gl/GixwNF" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>More Romance Pleasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03067013070124300379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2271172885910572489.post-85578327176519578572016-03-08T03:00:00.000-08:002016-03-08T03:00:21.485-08:00Spotlight: Oath of a Scottish Warrior by Sky Purington<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2wV_fZVkKDp8vsKDuSh71Lf3pKd__U6jMMVIIvNP_b9Z69EHMetA0EDN7gj39hdYAoVHvOxF-GNzHAgItGPsp6jwzLy46EY6OdUebCXQSzYIQnbRrRlnkTAQ69tK7u_kfeXY8sJlG8d1i/s1600/oath.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2wV_fZVkKDp8vsKDuSh71Lf3pKd__U6jMMVIIvNP_b9Z69EHMetA0EDN7gj39hdYAoVHvOxF-GNzHAgItGPsp6jwzLy46EY6OdUebCXQSzYIQnbRrRlnkTAQ69tK7u_kfeXY8sJlG8d1i/s400/oath.jpg" width="266" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-size: large;">Oath of a Scottish Warrior</span></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">The MacLomain Series</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Later Years</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Book 3</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Sky Purington</span></b><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Genre: Time-travel Fantasy Romance</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Date of Publication: February 23, 2016</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Number of pages: 280</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Cover Artist: Tamra Westberry</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><b><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /></b><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><b>Book Description</b>:</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Haunted by childhood memories and the fact she is likely going mute, Erin embraces a quiet life in Vermont away from all the mistakes she has made and the people she’s hurt. A peaceful existence with her horses. A cynic by nature, she doesn’t buy into what she soon learns. Apparently she’s part of an unending connection between twenty-first century Broun women and medieval MacLomain men. When a Claddagh ring crosses her path, she’s compelled to steal it. A bad move because the ring is meant to find true love. Something Erin feels she stopped deserving a long time ago.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Of dragon blood, Chieftain Rònan MacLeod is by birth, half MacLomain. While raised to protect the future King of Scotland, he lives life with an open mind. The idea of a ring binding him to one lass seems far-fetched. However, when a woman named Jackie calls to him from the dark edges of the Celtic Otherworld, he swears an oath to save her. That means traveling to the future to protect her before she’s taken by the enemy. The only problem? She is not where she should be. Instead, he finds a beautiful, defiant lass named Erin. Now he must make a choice. Continue seeking out Jackie or protect the one he’s with.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Thrust back in time to ninth-century Scandinavia, Rònan and Erin find sanctuary with his Viking ancestors. With help from not only King Naðr Véurr Sidgir but his offspring, they learn more than anticipated. Something that will either damn them or set them free. Drawn to one another, heat flares. A fire neither could have imagined. Scorching. Searing. Unavoidable. One they must fight if they want to save those they care for most.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Will they be able to protect wee Robert the Bruce from evil when they end up back in Scotland? Or will their repressed feelings be their ultimate doom? After all, it’s supposed to take the oath of a Scottish warrior to save a future king. Not the oath of a warrior who ended up forsaking all because he lost his heart along the way.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=60f39a91d9&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Amazon </a> | </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=1feab0d69a&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">iTunes</a> |</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"> <a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=4bd06f226d&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Kobo </a> | </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=423b3e5bd4&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">BN </a></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><b>About the Author</b>:</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPKvKFm8cy9vnm18pnIpdPiEw8tzuBD9q99VwvecUlTFOrvnr_GoT7TQoXr1cOHocJ1TtTlKcd1dGnTya9gAhZjlBZGP05EjK-F9TAbZ_ooLlEavdedoiiKOSHykYbuEK0lxTbUOFeDhu4/s1600/Sky+Purington.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPKvKFm8cy9vnm18pnIpdPiEw8tzuBD9q99VwvecUlTFOrvnr_GoT7TQoXr1cOHocJ1TtTlKcd1dGnTya9gAhZjlBZGP05EjK-F9TAbZ_ooLlEavdedoiiKOSHykYbuEK0lxTbUOFeDhu4/s200/Sky+Purington.jpg" width="122" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Sky Purington is the best-selling author of over twenty novels and several novellas. A New Englander born and bred, Sky was raised hearing stories of folklore, myth and legend. When combined with a love for nature, romance and time-travel, elements from the stories of her youth found release in her books.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Author Links</b>:<br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Purington loves to hear from readers and can be contacted at:</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="mailto:Sky@SkyPurington.com" target="_blank">Email</a> | <a href="http://www.skypurington.com/" target="_blank">Website</a> | </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://www.skypurington.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Blog</a> | </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://www.twitter.com/skypurington" target="_blank">Twitter</a> | </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=b2bf722217&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Facebook</a> | </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://www.pinterest.com/skypurington" target="_blank">Pinterest</a> | </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=e57382045a&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Newsletter</a></span></span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Tour
giveaway:</span></b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">$25 gift card to winner’s choice of
Amazon or Barnes & Noble.</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
More Romance Pleasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03067013070124300379noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2271172885910572489.post-14406694595231647292016-03-03T03:00:00.000-08:002016-03-03T03:00:14.292-08:00Spotlight & Guest Blog: Secrets of Successful Virtual Book Tours by Roxanne Rhoads<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRV3ZKm0Me5_KA_lk9ScIOQlMNGN870rpXeDH4XOd9YJoeRpA-042oIBu3DeV9DihIsRE-PY9c8Tm6ne4Zf9oPBM-4aWpGkkZ9KI3XBlmdmlDoq8vob3IO8kJayqHnGOXVb0RxfRzQyB0a/s1600/secrets+print+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRV3ZKm0Me5_KA_lk9ScIOQlMNGN870rpXeDH4XOd9YJoeRpA-042oIBu3DeV9DihIsRE-PY9c8Tm6ne4Zf9oPBM-4aWpGkkZ9KI3XBlmdmlDoq8vob3IO8kJayqHnGOXVb0RxfRzQyB0a/s400/secrets+print+cover.jpg" width="255" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-size: large;">Secrets of Successful </span></span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-size: large;">Virtual Book Tours</span></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Quick Tips for Authors Guide</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Roxanne Rhoads</span></b><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><b>Book Description</b>:</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Are you considering a virtual book tour?</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Not sure where to start or exactly what an online tour will entail?</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Roxanne Rhoads, book publicist and owner of Bewitching Book Tours, shares her virtual tour expertise in this Quick Tips for Authors Guide.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Secrets of Successful Virtual Book Tours will guide you in utilizing the best marketing tool available- a virtual book tour, which can create online exposure for your book, jumpstart your book sales, help build your author brand, and expand your network.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">In this guide you’ll learn:</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">· what you should do before a tour</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">· the components of a great author website</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">· the best social media outlets for authors to utilize</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">· tips for building your author brand</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">· how to write great guest blogs</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">· what to expect from an online book tour</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">· the secrets of successful book tours</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">· how to schedule your own virtual book tour</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">And you’ll receive in-depth details about what to do during a virtual book tour to guarantee success.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">I've worked with Roxanne for several years. In addition to being an awesome lady, she is professional, hard working, and dedicated to all facets of her craft. She is tireless in helping and promoting fellow authors, and is a great author in her own right. I'm happy to host her today, and look forward to gleaning from her wisdom.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Thank you for joining us today, Roxanne!</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">~Cary Morgan</span></span><br />
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<b>Quick Tips for Authors- Guide to Using a Pen Name<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<b>By Roxanne Rhoads<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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Many, many professional writers use pen names. Kim Harrison
and Nora Roberts are two NYT Bestselling Authors that instantly come to mind.<o:p></o:p></div>
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For years I wrote under both my real name and a pen name. At
times it was really confusing, especially in the beginning when I had no idea
when I should use both names and when I should just use my pen name. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Throughout the years of operating Fang-tastic Books, a book
review and promotion site for paranormal authors, I found that many new writers
are just as confused as I was in the beginning. <o:p></o:p></div>
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One time an author, who is man but writes as a woman, sent
me all his promo info for his book under his pen name and his bio under his
real name. His email and web sites were also under his real name. So I assumed
that he had no problem with both names being used to promote his book (since he
didn’t specify otherwise). As a reviewer and promoter I publish what authors
send me, I don’t change their words except for misspellings.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Well, the author contacted me a few days later very upset
because I used his real name and the pen name. I explained to him the problem
and suggested a few ways to stop any confusion in the future.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The things I suggested to him are ways to keep writing names
separate while making your professional life much easier.<o:p></o:p></div>
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First of all, set up an email account in your pen name. Many
email servers like gmail offer this for free. Use this email account for all
writing transactions and submissions under your pen name. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Create a signature line for your email. For a long time I
wondered after I sent an email if I accidentally signed the wrong name. Now I
use signatures with my email accounts that include my name, email address, and
web addresses so I never have to worry about signing the wrong name.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Create a bio for your pen name. This bio should not include
any writing credits, jobs, degrees or memberships that are under any other name.
When someone tries to verify the info in your bio and can’t find anything under
your pen name you’ll look like a liar. So keep your names and bios separate unless
you have no problem with both names being linked or being public knowledge.
Some authors use different pen names for different genres, not because they are
“hiding” or trying to keep their real name from the public eye. In that case
you can include something like this at the end of your bio: “Suzanne Case also
writes as Susannah Monroe”.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Set up separate social media accounts for your pen name.
That way all your promotion can be done through those networking sites under
that name alone. This is extremely helpful when you want to remain anonymous
plus it helps build your author brand.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Set up a blog using only your pen name. This is extremely
easy to do, especially with Blogger, WordPress or Weebly and it will help with
promotion as you can publish all your book covers and publishing information on
the blog, entertain readers and draw people in. Try to get the URL with your pen
name in it, such as <a href="http://www.jadedesire.blogspot.com/">www.JadeDesire.Blogspot.com</a>
or grab a custom domain name from GoDaddy.com and point your blog to the domain
<a href="http://www.jadedesire.com/">www.JadeDesire.com</a>. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The last and most important thing to remember when using a pen
name…don’t ever give anyone your real name unless absolutely necessary. Book
reviewers, bloggers, book promoters- none of these people have any reason to
know your real name. Publishers and agents are the only ones that ever need to
know your real name and sometimes there are ways around that as well.<o:p></o:p></div>
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In some localities you can file a DBA (doing business as) under
your pen name. This is the same as filing for a business name. Some
cities/counties/states won’t allow you to file a DBA under a person’s name
while others do. If you can, this will allow you to legally use that name for
all transactions. You can even open a bank account using your business/pen
name. To get around the use of a social security number you can file for a
taxpayer id number. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The only drawback to going this route is that it leaves a
paper trail that anyone can have access to if they know where to look but you
won’t have to give your real name to publishers, editors or agents.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Decide which route works best for you then stick to your guns
and keep your names as far away from each other as possible.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Successful-Virtual-Tours-Authors-ebook/dp/B019ELW7O2/%22" target="_blank">Amazon </a>| <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/secrets-of-successful-virtual-book-tours-roxanne-rhoads/1123140615" target="_blank">BN </a>| <a href="https://store.kobobooks.com/en-ca/ebook/secrets-of-successful-virtual-book-tours" target="_blank">Kobo </a>| <a href="https://www.scribd.com/book/293382801/Secrets-of-Successful-Virtual-Book-Tours-Quick-Tips-for-Authors" target="_blank">Scribd </a>| <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1068359530" target="_blank">iBooks </a>| </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/609866?ref=fangtasticbooks" target="_blank">Smashwords</a> | <a href="http://www.inktera.com/store/title/ef928107-62e2-4521-ac43-d85e8f7c38c5" target="_blank">Inktera </a>| <a href="https://www.createspace.com/6018491" target="_blank">Createspace</a></span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">About the Author:</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirIR74ATlD3OwK30JuzNm4SeCWP0eLzwvFPy6CPvEzb8BQZsZNcfPR7uo4cXpW-qhlYNFwEuGOMf4L1vTFS8x1HgG8NKghGvf1AfoLOvKHU1weCSF2Q1FnFSYFsN91Nh3SS1T8p3SkW6MB/s1600/Roxanne.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirIR74ATlD3OwK30JuzNm4SeCWP0eLzwvFPy6CPvEzb8BQZsZNcfPR7uo4cXpW-qhlYNFwEuGOMf4L1vTFS8x1HgG8NKghGvf1AfoLOvKHU1weCSF2Q1FnFSYFsN91Nh3SS1T8p3SkW6MB/s200/Roxanne.jpg" width="200" /></a></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Roxanne Rhoads has been working in the world of online book promotion since 2005. She has worked as a freelance writer, author, book reviewer, book blogger, editor, self-publisher and book publicist. She has a unique advantage of knowing how multiple sides of book publishing and promotion operate.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Roxanne understands how book bloggers work and what they want to make their jobs easier while also understanding that authors need promotion to be streamlined, easy, and less time consuming.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Roxanne shares some of her knowledge in her latest release, Secrets of Successful Virtual Book Tours.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Author Links:</b><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=edcaa832cc&e=f5815cdc35(http://blogspot.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=ab7a75f3c9&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Website</a> | </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://www.bewitchingbooktours.com/" target="_blank">Bewitching Book Tours</a> | </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=5107988cda&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Bewitching Blog</a> | <a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=b62f5b238c&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Facebook</a> | <a href="http://www.twitter.com/RoxanneRhoads" target="_blank">Twitter</a> | <a href="http://www.bewitchingbooktours.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Blog</a></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Tour Giveaway</b>:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><br />
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<h2 style="color: #555555; font-size: 20px; font-style: italic; font-weight: normal; line-height: 20px; margin: 0 0 10px; padding: 0; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/" target="_new">Goodreads</a> Book Giveaway
</h2>
<div style="float: left;">
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28795952"><img alt="Secrets of
Successful Virtual Book Tours by Roxanne Rhoads" src="https://s.gr-
assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/111x148-bcc042a9c91a29c1d680899eff700a03.png" title="Secrets of Successful Virtual Book
Tours by Roxanne Rhoads" width="100" /></a>
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<h3 style="font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 20px; margin: 0; padding: 0;">
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28795952">Secrets of Successful
Virtual Book Tours</a>
</h3>
<h4 style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0 0 10px; padding: 0;">
by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2742715.Roxanne_Rhoads" style="text-decoration: none;">Roxanne
Rhoads</a>
</h4>
<div class="giveaway_details">
Giveaway ends March 28, 2016.
<br />
See the <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/172845" style="text-decoration: none;">giveaway details</a>
at Goodreads.
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<script charset="utf-8" src="https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/widget/172845" type="text/javascript"></script>More Romance Pleasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03067013070124300379noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2271172885910572489.post-40444890561858616562016-03-02T03:00:00.000-08:002016-03-02T03:00:23.512-08:00Spotlight: Traveller by Abigail Drake<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMcl_LRJm6Uk6a18btcpf3AyzK5w5XfFSajcXQJcrle5u3XfwvVDd4IpCGjLaWAb1OzFvJj1VjRyaKPpS0v2VeD_rjy4fPYHdMU589FdsyMYJ16AkhROlTgQDwCVDYb1dZzlHNAUpPk9C-/s1600/Traveller_w10221_750.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMcl_LRJm6Uk6a18btcpf3AyzK5w5XfFSajcXQJcrle5u3XfwvVDd4IpCGjLaWAb1OzFvJj1VjRyaKPpS0v2VeD_rjy4fPYHdMU589FdsyMYJ16AkhROlTgQDwCVDYb1dZzlHNAUpPk9C-/s400/Traveller_w10221_750.jpg" width="266" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-size: large;">Traveller</span></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Abigail Drake</span></b><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Genre: Paranormal Romance</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Publisher: The Wild Rose Press</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Date of Publication: February 26, 2016</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Number of pages: 250</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Cover Artist: Debbie Taylor</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><b>Book Description</b>:</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Former Junior Miss Kentucky Emerson Shaw won pageants using martial arts as her talent and Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War” as her guide, but a painful secret leads her to the University of York, and puts her in the path of tattooed and pierced bad boy, Michael Nightingale.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Michael is a Traveller, part of an ancient line of mercenary gypsies who protect the world from vicious monsters called the Moktar. When Emerson gets attacked, she has no choice but accept Michael’s offer of protection or face certain death.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Traveller society, full of outdated rules and ridiculous superstitions, isn’t a good fit for the headstrong Emerson. Traveller women aren’t allowed to fight. Traveller women aren’t allowed to win. Traveller women aren’t allowed to leave. But Emerson will do what she must, even if it means losing the one person who matters most.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst">
<b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">Excerpt:
<span style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Who are you and
what do you want from me?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I took a deep
breath. It probably wouldn’t be a good start to tell him he occupied my every
waking thought and most of my dreams, too. I decided to go with a more
conventional approach.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“You’re here every
morning, and I thought I’d say hello.” I stuck out my hand. “Emerson Jane
Shaw.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">He surprised me by
reaching for my extended hand and holding it firmly. His hand, large, warm and
rough, had cuts and bruises all over the knuckles. He had faint bruises on his
face, too, and some small wounds still in the process of healing. He’d been in
some kind of fight recently.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">It didn’t surprise
me. He had the look of a warrior about him, the lean strength and watchful eyes
of a predator, and he was lethal. Sun Tzu would have seen it, too. He would
have recruited him without a moment’s hesitation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Michael
Nightingale.” He stared at me with those hypnotic eyes as he continued to hold
my hand, using it to pull me nearer to him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“I know. Mrs.
Burke told me.” I couldn’t focus on what I was saying while he touched me, not
that I’d done such a great job up until now with my witty repartee. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">He tilted his head
to one side, studying me the way a lion studies a gazelle before he eats it.
His face was only inches away from mine. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"> “Do you like to flirt with danger, Emerson
Jane Shaw?” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Not usually, but
today I can make an exception.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The touch of his
hand sent an electric current through my body that made my heart speed up and
my brain slow down. He was intoxicating. I almost had to fan myself. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Abruptly, Michael
let go of me and stood up, shoving his books into his backpack. I stood up,
too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">“What’s wrong?” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Michael glared at
me, threw some bills on the table and stomped out of the shop. Like an idiot, I
grabbed my backpack and followed him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">He walked quickly
through The Shambles, dodging pedestrians and umbrellas with ease. I wasn’t
quite as lucky. The rain poured down, filling the street with puddles. Michael
wore combat boots and jeans. I had on a useless pair of flats and no jacket. It
only took seconds for me to be soaked to the skin and miserable. In minutes, I
looked like a little blonde drowned rat.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I’m pretty fast,
even in slippery shoes, and I was motivated. I kept him in my sights until he
reached a side street at the end of The Shambles that led down a narrow lane. I
was only half a block away when he turned and looked at me, his eyes locking
with mine, and disappeared.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">He hadn’t walked
away. He hadn’t moved. He’d been there one second, and gone the next. Running
as fast as I could, I reached the spot where I’d last seen him and looked down
the lane and on either side of the street. My ribbon flew out of my hair,
blowing away in the wind as I slid on the wet cobblestones and nearly fell. I
skidded to a halt, realizing I hadn’t been fast enough. It was a dead end, and
he was gone.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">
<br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=98ca4a4115&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Amazon </a> | </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/(http://blogspot.us4.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=fc824097f5&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Barnes and Noble</a> | </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=60e043e5d0&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Kobo</a> | </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=387ed519eb&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">The Wild Rose Press </a></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><b>About the Author</b>:</span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1apqD9ubTzH4hyphenhypheniNi_RWuxhgakZNTakc5woWEvfwdn9kSsGPTgIADxSO5f29_d28Ago4GM-46EVSz822GsAbtgzRCeLB3F8eFMju_6pSwE0FS2EyySf847_8c0JQGq6MyK1gk9xC3Y3ot/s1600/Abigail+Drake.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1apqD9ubTzH4hyphenhypheniNi_RWuxhgakZNTakc5woWEvfwdn9kSsGPTgIADxSO5f29_d28Ago4GM-46EVSz822GsAbtgzRCeLB3F8eFMju_6pSwE0FS2EyySf847_8c0JQGq6MyK1gk9xC3Y3ot/s200/Abigail+Drake.jpeg" width="133" /></a></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Abigail Drake has spent her life traveling the world, and collecting stories wherever she visited. She majored in Japanese and International Economics in college and worked in import/export and as an ESL teacher before she committed herself full time to writing. She writes in several romance genres, and her books are quirky, light, fun, and sexy. Abigail is a trekkie, a book hoarder, the master of the Nespresso machine, a red wine addict, and the mother of three boys (probably the main reason for her red wine addiction). A puppy named Capone is the most recent addition to her family, and she blogs about him as a way of maintaining what little sanity she has left.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Author Links</b>:<br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=b071d5add0&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Facebook </a>| <a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=6ea0bbb47e&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Goodreads</a> | <a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=50c046d080&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Twitter </a> | <a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=4828f5ba49&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Pinterest</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst">
<b><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Tour
giveaway:</span></b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="https://madmimi.com/signups/181796/join" target="_blank">Sign up</a> for Abigail’s newsletter
and be entered to win a $25 Amazon gift card.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">
</span>More Romance Pleasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03067013070124300379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2271172885910572489.post-49546527179260377272016-02-29T03:00:00.000-08:002016-02-29T03:00:04.526-08:00Spotlight: The Asset by Anne del Mar<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhddUQkK4dgIdA4-IxcWFYCh7foJ8Qgex0l0RgaLyEbPejKw-eIAQI5UaTwkq_Sc7GNs8RxmyXUxuq3RwtRj9YajeEIB_GFbqOR0lH2hJkf9F55fdZ1u1u3YlpjCg5dhgZC6H4dH_E8zoR/s1600/The_Asset_High+Res.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhddUQkK4dgIdA4-IxcWFYCh7foJ8Qgex0l0RgaLyEbPejKw-eIAQI5UaTwkq_Sc7GNs8RxmyXUxuq3RwtRj9YajeEIB_GFbqOR0lH2hJkf9F55fdZ1u1u3YlpjCg5dhgZC6H4dH_E8zoR/s400/The_Asset_High+Res.jpg" width="252" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Asset</span></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Wounded Warrior Series</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Book One</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Anna del Mar</span></b><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Genre: Romantic suspense,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Contemporary romance,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Military romance, SEAL romance.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Publisher: Carina Press</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Date of Publication: Feb 22, 2016</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Number of pages: 336 pages</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><i>Anna del Mar’s explosive, sexy debut novel in the Wounded Warrior series, perfect for fans of Lisa Marie Rice and Lora Leigh—the story of a woman desperate to escape her dangerous past and the navy SEAL who would lay down his life to save her.</i></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><b>Book Description:</b></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Ash Hunter knows what it is to run. A SEAL gravely injured in Afghanistan, he’s gone AWOL from the military hospital. Physically and mentally scarred, he returns home to his grandmother’s isolated cottage—and finds a beautiful, haunted stranger inside.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Like recognizes like.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Lia Stewart’s in hiding from the cartel she barely escaped alive, holed up in this small Rocky Mountain town. Surviving, but only just. Helping the wounded warrior on her doorstep is the right thing to do…it’s loving him that might get them both killed.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Soon, Ash realizes he’s not the only one tormented by the past. Pushing the limits of his broken body, testing the boundaries of her shattered soul, he’ll protect Lia until his last breath.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=34ad3b1e4d&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Amazon </a> | </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=9c626a9bba&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Carina Press</a> | </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=3e299b65bb&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Barnes and Noble</a> | </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=3c171052de&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Kobo </a> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=81b4a98163&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Google Play</a></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><b>About the Author:</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Anna del Mar writes hot, smart romances that soothe the soul, challenge the mind, and satisfy the heart. Her stories focus on strong heroines struggling to find their place in the world and the brave, sexy, kickass, military heroes who defy the limits of their broken bodies to protect the women they love. She is the author of The Asset (Carina Press), the first novel of her Wounded Warrior series and three other novels scheduled for release during 2016.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">A Georgetown University graduate, Anna enjoys traveling, hiking, skiing, and the sea. Writing is her addiction, her drug of choice, and what she wants to do all the time. The extraordinary men and women she met during her years as a Navy wife inspire the fabulous heroes and heroines at the center of her stories. When she stays put—which doesn’t happen very often—she lives in Florida with her indulgent husband and two very opinionated cats.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Author Links:</b><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=85efc8f2aa&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Website </a>| <a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=0dc0485fd3&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Facebook </a>| <a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=ad2d732cf4&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Twitter</a><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /></span>More Romance Pleasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03067013070124300379noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2271172885910572489.post-24071935484797228662016-02-24T03:00:00.000-08:002016-02-24T03:00:12.403-08:00Spotlight: Magic Moment by Angela Adams<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifnPV-9AYzVsqH7SyHm0KW1K4PAEhleLjlGI7GfGjXZhL5qJI0vqFddFp1nnmrbqIbY1k18UH8gyh1oL3SbJq-sVbEUmLXOWHDAGLFKtD64snB6zdus44PXxxH8TFA7Mc9eKUH3WloMtHL/s1600/Magic_Moment_Kindle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifnPV-9AYzVsqH7SyHm0KW1K4PAEhleLjlGI7GfGjXZhL5qJI0vqFddFp1nnmrbqIbY1k18UH8gyh1oL3SbJq-sVbEUmLXOWHDAGLFKtD64snB6zdus44PXxxH8TFA7Mc9eKUH3WloMtHL/s400/Magic_Moment_Kindle.jpg" width="261" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-size: large;">Magic Moment</span></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Angela Adams</span></b><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Genre: Romantic Suspense</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Publisher: Amazon Encore</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Date of Publication: August 5, 2015</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Number of pages: 264</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><b>Book Description</b>:</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">When the FBI brings Laura Roberts - a quiet, reserved bookkeeper - in for questioning regarding activities at the warehouse where she works, an uneasy Laura resigns her job - only to be attacked by thugs.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Chase Donovan intends to spend a few peaceful days on his boat getting his head together - and finds a woman being assaulted by two men who say his father told them to do it.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Chase doesn't want to believe his father could hurt anyone. Laura doesn't understand why she's a target. Can they learn to work together to discover the truth - before someone dies?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst">
<b><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Excerpt:
<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Laura is having
lunch at the local diner when two FBI agents approach her and insist she come
down to headquarters and answer a few questions. A bewildered Laura finds Chase
Donovan, her boss’s son, coming to her aid.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Laura works for
my father,” Chase said. “If I don’t see some identification, she’s not going
anywhere with you.” To prove his point, his hand moved downward and his fingers
wrapped gently around her forearm.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Chase also worked
for his father, although what his role was within the business was generally
debatable among the clientele. This was so embarrassing. In the three years
Laura had worked as Dick Donovan’s bookkeeper, her conversations with his son
had been work-related or cordial exchanges about the weather. If there was any
chance of the floor opening up and swallowing her, she considered now the
perfect time. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">She turned to
Chase. “Thank you for your concern. I’ve seen their identification.” She didn’t
mention the hasty badge flip. “They have me confused with someone else. I’ll
take care of the error, and get back to the office as soon as I can.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Let me go with
you.” Chase tossed the men a wary glance. He still held her arm. “You should
have an attorney.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Laura winced,
truly mortified. There was no need for an attorney or involving Chase Donovan
in calling one. She had done nothing illegal. “I’m fine.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">
<br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=805798b47b&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Amazon </a></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><b>About the Author</b>:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Angela Adams writes and reviews contemporary romances. Her work has appeared in Romance at Heart, Oysters and Chocolate, Whipped Cream Reviews and The Long and Short Reviews. Her short story, "Burgers and Hot Chocolate" appeared in the Whimsical Publications' anthology, Winter Wonders. Magic Moment is her first novel.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Angela is a member of Romance Writers of America, and its chapters From the Heart Romance Writers and Elements of RWA.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Author Links:</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=6625fe2f6c&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Facebook </a>| <a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=ebde7a63c0&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Blog </a>| <a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=88bc6faeb6&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Google+</a></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Tour Giveaway:</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">$25 Starbucks Gift Card<br style="background-color: white;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /></span></span>More Romance Pleasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03067013070124300379noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2271172885910572489.post-20031643908568154882016-02-18T03:00:00.000-08:002016-02-18T03:00:04.735-08:00Spotlight: A Hold On Me by Pat Esden<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY1AjtfPrY4H4HnT_eU5t7ohurkPVxUT_an0ubRGizH4OgDZN6L5YTk8KHbdlWWEz5JIxBxNkj0A7XhtIHcnzmHbIjSmkf1SMU9rz6KFcNJdk5ym1S99uj1NLwwyyex2y_iYNZEkIeY8LI/s1600/A+hold+on+me.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY1AjtfPrY4H4HnT_eU5t7ohurkPVxUT_an0ubRGizH4OgDZN6L5YTk8KHbdlWWEz5JIxBxNkj0A7XhtIHcnzmHbIjSmkf1SMU9rz6KFcNJdk5ym1S99uj1NLwwyyex2y_iYNZEkIeY8LI/s400/A+hold+on+me.jpg" width="266" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-size: large;">A Hold on Me</span></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Dark Heart Series</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Book One</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Pat Esden</span></i></b><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Genre: New adult gothic/paranormal romance</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Publisher: Kensington Books</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Date of Publication:February 23, 2016</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Number of pages: 320</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><b><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><br /></span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><br /></span></b></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Book Description:</span></b><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">She never wanted to return.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">He wants nothing more than for her to leave.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">But the fire between them is as strong as the past that haunts them.</span></i><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Annie Freemont grew up on the road, immersed in the romance of rare things, cultivating an eye for artifacts and a spirit for bargaining. It’s a freewheeling life she loves and plans to continue until her dad is diagnosed with dementia. His illness forces them to return to Moonhill, their ancestral home on the coast of Maine and to the family they left behind fifteen years ago, after Annie’s mother died in a suspicious accident.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Once at Moonhill, Annie is shocked when her aunt separates her from her father. The next time Annie sees him, he’s a bizarre, violent shadow of his former self.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Confused, she turns to an unlikely ally for support Chase, the dangerously seductive young groundskeeper. With his dark good looks and powerful presence, Chase has an air of mystery that Annie is irresistibly drawn to. But she also senses that behind his penetrating eyes are secrets she can’t even begin to imagine. Secrets that hold the key to the past, to Annie’s own longings and to all of their futures. Now, to unlock them, she’ll have to face her greatest fears and embrace her legacy...</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Excerpt</b>:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0in;">
<b>Chapter 1</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0in;">
<i>“There are things darker than night,
darker than the souls of wicked men or a woman of unchained passions. Believe
me, for I have known them well.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: center; text-indent: 0in;">
Josette Savoy Abrams<o:p></o:p></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: center; text-indent: 0in;">
Beach Rose House. Bar Harbor, Maine<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
Most people went to church to save their souls,
but not Dad and I. We went there to see the priest about treasure. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
It was a cold day in February and the church was
an abandoned stone chapel on a back road near our home in Vermont. With its
gloomy stained-glass windows and carvings of gargoyles under its sagging eaves,
the chapel was exactly the kind of place where antique pickers like Dad and I
could find the weird treasures and the gothic furniture our customers loved to
buy. And, as luck would have it, the bishop had given the local priest
permission to sell the entire contents as he saw fit.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
The priest glanced once more at the grungy pews
and the statue of St. Anthony with its chipped fingers and peeling paint. “Now
that you’ve seen everything, are you still interested?” <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
Dad gave my shoulder a squeeze. “What do you
think, Annie?” <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
“Ah--” I let my voice crack as if my jitteriness
was nerves instead of excitement, then I met the priest’s eyes. “One price for everything, right?” <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
“For all the contents. That doesn’t include
anything that’s part of the structure. No windows, attached light fixtures,
doors, none of those sorts of things.” His tone left no room for debate.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
Dad looked down, scratching his elbow while I took
a scrap of paper and a pen from the turned up sleeve of my bulky sweater. I
jotted down the offer he and I had covertly agreed on when the priest had
turned away for a moment, then handed it to the priest. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
The priest’s brow furrowed as he studied the
paper. He ran a finger under his collar,
cleared his throat, and finally glanced at Dad. “Perhaps you should look at
this before we agree?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
Dad waved off his suggestion. “This was her idea. The offer is hers to
make.” <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
“All right, then,” the priest said. “We have a
deal.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
I counted out a thin stack of hundreds and gave
them to him. In turn, he passed Dad the
church keys, all neatly labeled. The
truth was, he wasn’t the sort of person who would have ever believed a twenty-year-old
girl with ripped jeans and a stud in her nose could know the first thing about
valuing antiques—as Dad and I had hoped.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
“Sorry I can’t stay and help,” he said, “but I
have to get back to St. Mary’s in time for Mass. When you’re finished taking
what you want, leave the keys in the box outside the door. I hope you find enough
to make this worth your effort.” <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
“I hope so too,” Dad said, without cracking a
smile. But, as soon as the priest went out the front door, he did a little
victory dance and gave me a kiss on the cheek. “Perfectly played. If I’d given
him an offer that low, he’d have thought I was up to something for sure.” <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
Every inch of me tingled with anticipation. “So,
where do you want to begin?” I asked. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
Dad jangled the keys. “It appears the priest
neglected to give us one very specific key. The one to the only room he didn’t
take us into or even mention. I don’t
know about you, but that makes me curious.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
“The sacristy?”
I said.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
“That would be the one. Did you notice how he
fidgeted with his collar, too?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
“I figured he thought everything was junk—that he
was nervous I’d offered too much and that you’d back out.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
“That’s possible. But don’t ever underestimate
your opponent. There could be something else behind his uneasiness. Perhaps he
hid something in the sacristy, something of value he hoped the diocese would
forget. Priests are men, after all. They come in all shades of honesty, like
the rest of us.” He stroked his chin, a sure sign that he was about to launch
into one of his home-brewed tales. “You remember the story about my wicked
great-uncle Harmon and the Canary Island sirens? He always claimed to be a
spiritual man, forthright and faithful to his wife. . . .”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
I loved listening to Dad’s crazy stories. But, as
he began an abridged version of a tale that easily could have gone on for an
hour, the word <i>faithful</i> sent my mind
veering in a different direction--to me and Taj and a matinee of <i>Romeo and Juliet</i>, to his practiced
fingers slipping under my skirt, up my inner thighs. The rush of desire. His
words hot and moist against my neck: <i>“Oh, baby, c’mon. I want you so bad.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
Men come in all shades of honesty for sure. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">
<br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=f7aee830dc&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Indiebound </a> | </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=1811bac372&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Amazon </a> | </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=80a8434fce&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">BN </a> | </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=fd7afb9588&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Books a Million</a> </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><b><br /></b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><b>About the Author</b>:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Pat Esden would love to say she spent her childhood in intellectual pursuits. The truth is she was fonder of exploring abandoned houses and old cemeteries. When not out on her own adventures, she can be found in her northern Vermont home writing stories about brave, smart women and the men who capture their hearts. An antique-dealing florist by trade, she’s also a member of Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America, Romance Writers of America, and the League of Vermont Writers. Her short stories have appeared in a number of publications, including Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show, the Mythopoeic Society’s Mythic Circle literary magazine, and George H. Scither’s anthology Cat Tales.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Author Links</b>:<br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=529071d66c&e=f5815cdc35(http://blogspot.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=6524e62b48&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Website</a> | </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=84cf04ea26&e=f5815cdc35(http://blogspot.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=6be78deeaf&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Blog</a> | </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=87864d135c&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Facebook</a> | </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=6e38725cc8&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Twitter</a> | </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=6ca11d2480&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Goodreads</a> | </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=5ea959e293&e=f5815cdc35(http://blogspot.us4.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=37e7becbd3&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Tumblr</a> | </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=442ad83629&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Pinterest</a> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Tour giveaway:</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> $20 Amazon gift </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;">card</span><br />
<a class="rcptr" data-raflid="ba112ffc1284" data-template="" data-theme="classic" href="http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/ba112ffc1284/" id="rcwidget_0ipryegb" rel="nofollow" style="font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;">a Rafflecopter giveaway</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: times, 'times new roman', serif;"> </span>More Romance Pleasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03067013070124300379noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2271172885910572489.post-8180265043469557422016-02-12T03:00:00.001-08:002016-02-12T03:00:08.780-08:00Spotlight: The Strength of Love by G.L. Ross<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyO-_zU_SPatHKiYpQ0HB6SBCrrrf2oa285SCZJbRFSbq4RO881vNHHFTmbNzJ_po_1irCT79wg0IVflGBgg_oqqz6FQVSoSi1omV4SOzjzpSn6b6N8YoOOtFqilscsBfsTq-lm61xd3Xk/s1600/Strength+of+Love+-+High+Resolution+-+Version+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyO-_zU_SPatHKiYpQ0HB6SBCrrrf2oa285SCZJbRFSbq4RO881vNHHFTmbNzJ_po_1irCT79wg0IVflGBgg_oqqz6FQVSoSi1omV4SOzjzpSn6b6N8YoOOtFqilscsBfsTq-lm61xd3Xk/s400/Strength+of+Love+-+High+Resolution+-+Version+1.jpg" width="250" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">The Strength of Love</span></i></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">G.L. Ross</span></b><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br /><br /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Genre: Contemporary Romance,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Inspirational Romance, General Fiction</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Date of Publication: December 14, 2015</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Number of pages: 224</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Cover Artist: James at GoOnWrite.com</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br /><br /><br /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><b><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Book Description:</span></b><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Thankfully, some love stories are so strong they never die. "The Strength of Love" is a tale of love, loss, and second chances. This inspiring love story shares how several men influenced one woman’s life and showered her with love in different ways. Experience love, friendship, faith, suspense, tragedy, humor, and a super-natural element...always and forever.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">A tale of love, loss, and second chances. This inspiring love story shares how several men influenced one woman’s life and showered her with love in different ways. Experience love, friendship, faith, suspense, tragedy, humor, and a supernatural element…always and forever.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Always the bridesmaid, but never the bride, Rachel Thompson is ready to give up on love, before rodeo cowboy Brooks Reynolds rides into the arena and lassos her heart. His smoldering looks and strong yet tender nature sweep her off her feet.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Life is pinch-worthy and picture-book perfect, except on the eve of her wedding Rachel’s love story is ripped from the pages. After two months of grieving, she discovers her nightmare is never-ending. In order to escape her heartbreaking past, the middle-school counselor relocates to a new city for a fresh start and a second chance at happiness and perhaps even love. Through her faith and the support of her family and friends she discovers sought after answers during an unexpected journey.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=59d4ebd1d6&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Amazon </a> | </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=6e5604f2a0&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Kobo </a> | </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=94ac5b4ab6&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">BN </a> |</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"> <a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=5408fbd049&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">iTunes </a> | </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=15b60ff9de&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Smashwords </a></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><b>Review</b>:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">“As a blogger I read a lot of books, but I can honestly say that I have never read a more compelling and beautiful story than this one." ~</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Tabitha Stokes, Amazeballs Book Addicts.</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><br /></span></i></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst">
<b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Excerpt:
<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">More teams
compete, until finally team ten enters the starting box.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“This is them,
Rachel. Oh, my gosh, aren’t they smokin’?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Rachel’s eyes
shoot in the direction of the commanding man sitting tall in the saddle. His
jet-black hair curls slightly against the collar of his royal blue
western-style shirt. The short sleeves are rolled to fit snugly against his
massive, bulging biceps. It’s obvious where he spends his free time, from the
fine-tuned muscles and the dark tan encompassing his fit frame. Oh my, she
mumbles as he sits his buck-colored hat firmly on his head. He secures his
boots in his stirrups. His long fingers toy with the coiled rope. Sam
acknowledges him with a nod and the steer is released. They’re off. Like
bullets the three of them skillfully dart one after another. The steer runs for
its’ life as Sam’s rope lunges into action. He twirls his lasso with the style
and grace of a ballerina demonstrating pirouettes. As if he has mind reading
skills, Brooks instinctively releases his rope. The twisted twine skims
perfectly under the steer’s hooves and is brilliantly tightened to prevent the
two hundred plus pound animal from moving forward. The two riders face each
other backing their horses until the steer is air born. Everything is magically
timed and over-the-top exhilarating. The ladies are on their feet screaming as
the announcer exclaims team number ten has the best time of eight and a half
seconds, with only one more team left to compete. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Sam waves his hat
at Courtney who shouts and blows him a kiss. Brooks’ eyes dart toward the
high-pitched squeal. Even from the distance, Rachel notices the brilliant blue
eyes aimed her direction. Her chest heaves as though she ran a half-marathon.
She catches her breath and continues applauding the skilled ride. How could a
sporting event be so exhilarating and sexually satisfying? Brooks tips his hat
toward her, with a crooked grin, and follows Sam to the exit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">With bated breath,
Rachel and Courtney watch the next ride. The team is quite skilled, but can’t
beat team ten’s ride. The guys are victorious. All eleven teams enter the
arena. Team ten smiles proudly as they are awarded their trophy and belt
buckles. Sam hurdles the wall and makes his way into Courtney’s welcoming arms.
Brooks laughs at his exuberant teammate and hollers for him to get his ass back
to the stables. Once again the announcer broadcasts congratulations to team ten
the new Smith County team-roping champions. Rachel enjoys the view of the faded
jean clad butts exiting the arena. She’s savoring one fine set of firm ass
cheeks when the beholder glances back over his shoulder catching her in the
act. He winks. She blushes, prior to catching her breath and smiling. Brooks
relishes catching her in the act. He turns and tosses an arm over his partner’s
shoulders. Sam lifts the trophy into the air. They turn the corner and
disappear. Courtney proudly exclaims, “Team ten wins!”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Rachel smiles and
says, “A ten—yes, he definitely is a ten.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><b>About the Author</b>:</span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-KYFK3qDomCSi96EAkjeh2w3kgd3dApgLZ3GZnQO8IgvDSUgSZGTn3G1VKnRWCOenmCFk6x5QWdoijDdTdnY0w9SF2CW5QKETgj4h4YL41IPE5-i0X64sYW-K10Qvc1nFacsjq4PXThNo/s1600/G.L.+Ross+head+shot1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-KYFK3qDomCSi96EAkjeh2w3kgd3dApgLZ3GZnQO8IgvDSUgSZGTn3G1VKnRWCOenmCFk6x5QWdoijDdTdnY0w9SF2CW5QKETgj4h4YL41IPE5-i0X64sYW-K10Qvc1nFacsjq4PXThNo/s200/G.L.+Ross+head+shot1.jpg" width="150" /></a></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">G.L. Ross is a proud, sixth generation, native Texan. As a true Southern Belle, G.L. has always dreamt of the “happily ever after,” the prince riding in on the white horse sweeping her off her feet. She hasn’t found “Prince Charming” – yet (always an optimist) – but finds him every time she writes about her characters’ “happily ever after” endings.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Her motto in life is to “always find the good” in every person and situation. Whether through laughter, prayer, music, or a glass of wine or vodka, G.L. finds the good in life and shares her sense of humor, love, faith, and adventure in her stories.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Experience family, faith, and love in The Strength of Love. Take a steamy flight with Lance & Lisa in Turbulent Passion, and continue their sexy journey in Burning Desire. Crosswind, book three, in the Flyboy Trilogy will release in 2016. You must also meet hunky rancher, Graham Gaskin, in A Rose Has Thorns…He’s smokin’ hot!</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Author Links:</b><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://www.twitter.com/GayleL4" target="_blank">Twitter</a> | </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=ae62ffdf15&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Facebook</a> | </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=00779814c1&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Blog</a> | </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://www.glross.com/" target="_blank">Website</a></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Tour
giveaway:</b> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">1 Heart bracelet and a heart candle
open to US Shipping</span></div>
<a class="rcptr" data-raflid="ba112ffc1286" data-template="" data-theme="classic" href="http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/ba112ffc1286/" id="rcwidget_6hbfl7fa" rel="nofollow">a Rafflecopter giveaway</a>
<script src="https://widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js"></script>More Romance Pleasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03067013070124300379noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2271172885910572489.post-56784342683118640482016-02-04T03:00:00.001-08:002016-02-04T03:00:02.728-08:00Spotlight & Giveaway! The Deepest Well by Juliette Cross<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAXS2z43QYaHgQHLAFOKrCjN9mIL2vLnwZr9tAvvtLa8-24ThoEsznxvurEOdYO51iZ6iyxqooqdbOsFSUiOm35SnP_IBOXTAVcE_ccVYJepg61KwaH1x73-JEmaWV6Tp11fIBuwPRsize/s1600/DeepestWell-The300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAXS2z43QYaHgQHLAFOKrCjN9mIL2vLnwZr9tAvvtLa8-24ThoEsznxvurEOdYO51iZ6iyxqooqdbOsFSUiOm35SnP_IBOXTAVcE_ccVYJepg61KwaH1x73-JEmaWV6Tp11fIBuwPRsize/s400/DeepestWell-The300.jpg" width="266" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: large;"><i>The Deepest Well</i></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Age of Gray</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Book 1</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Juliette Cross</span></b><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Genre: historical paranormal romance</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Publisher: Samhain Publishing</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Date of Publication: Feb 2, 2016</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Cover Artist: Kanaxa</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br /><br /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><i>Love can stand the test of time. Can it rise above the taint of Hell?</i></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><b>Book Description</b>:</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Lady Katherine Blakely is married to a monster. On the same night she witnesses how low her husband can sink, she meets a charming stranger, a gentleman from top to toe. Yet even her gallant rescuer is possessed of a dark side.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Lord George Draconis Thornton, commander of the Dominus Daemonum, is on a mission to expel the demon prince Damas back to the underworld. But a golden-haired beauty derails his plans and stirs an attraction he’s never felt before, not even for his centuries-dead wife.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Discovering Lord Blakely is in league with Damas, George sweeps Katherine away from the chaos and devilry threatening her life. With every touch, their love grows by joyful leaps and bounds.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Sensing his enemy’s vulnerability, Damas kidnaps Katherine to his hellish lair, where he wages a sensual assault on her defenses. As George tears at heaven and earth to find her, he is painfully aware of only one way to save her soul. The cost will break her heart…and destroy his own.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Warning: Contains wolves in gentlemen’s clothing, a precipitous descent into Hell, and a frightening glimpse of a post-apocalyptic world where angels and demons wage war for dominion on earth.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst">
<b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Excerpt:
<span style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.5pt;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">“How do you know
about the world of demons, George? How did you move as they did? I thought I
had fainted by the pond and awakened beside the barn, but I didn’t, did I?”</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.5pt;">Had she imagined
being transported from the horses to the barn in a long blink?</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.5pt;">“No, you didn’t
faint. It’s called sifting. A power of the angels, to move from place to place
at will.”</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.5pt;">“But they weren’t
angels.”</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.5pt;">“They were once.”</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.5pt;">Fallen angels.
Could this be possible? What did that make the man standing before her? He
inhaled a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Perhaps I should define the two
realms for you.”</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.5pt;">“That would be
lovely.”</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.5pt;">His mouth quirked
at her sarcasm, though he chose not to comment. “There is the Flamma of Light
and the Flamma of Dark.”</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.5pt;">“Flamma?”</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.5pt;">“Fire, in Latin,
which is the common tongue between the heavenly and demonic hosts.”</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.5pt;">She pulled her
hand from his and stood, staring into the flames. “Why fire?”</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.5pt;">He joined her and
removed his wet coat. “I asked the same question once.” He winced as he peeled
the coat off his right arm. A pool of red had soaked through his undershirt.</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.5pt;">“Oh God, your arm,
George. You’re bleeding.”</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.5pt;">“It’s nothing.”</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.5pt;">“It’s not
nothing.”</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.5pt;">Just as he had
unbuttoned her jacket, she swiftly unfastened his waistcoat, then his shirt and
peeled them off him. Steering her gaze away from his finely sculpted chest and
broad shoulders, she examined the cut more closely. She bent over and, with a
quick rip, tore a long strip from her shift.</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.5pt;">“You needn’t do
that, Katherine.”</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.5pt;">“Be still and let
me mend you as best I can.”</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.5pt;">He held his arm
straight so that she could wrap the fabric around his arm.</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.5pt;">“Why fire?” she
asked again, busying herself with the makeshift bandage.</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.5pt;">“Flamma are all
touched by fire, an otherworldly power given to each of us.”</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.5pt;">She remembered the
way he moved, the way the demons moved, with supernatural speed and agility. A
drop of rain dripped from his tousled hair, landing on his shoulder before
rolling forward. She followed its path as it slid down and over his pectoral.
Trying to regain her composure, she inhaled a deep breath, which was a mistake.
She breathed in the heady scent of rain and beautiful man, her agitation
amplified by his proximity and the undeniable power surging through his body.
She longed to touch him, to know what all that strength would feel like under
her fingertips, but she was paralyzed by her own desire and wavered on a
dangerous precipice. When she’d cinched the bandage into a neat knot and
finally chanced a glance at him, his smile nearly buckled her knees.</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.5pt;">“There,” she
whispered. “That will stop the bleeding.”</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.5pt;">“I’m not so sure.”</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.5pt;">“What do you
mean?”</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.5pt;">His shoulders went
rigid as if he were holding himself in tight control. Katherine knew his
thoughts had wandered away from the wound in his arm. She asked again, “What do
you mean, George?”</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.5pt;">His eyes slid
closed. “I love to hear my name on your lips.” He opened his eyes again, his
jaw set in grave lines. “What I mean, my lady, is that I am bleeding inwardly,
and I know of only one way to stop it.”</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.5pt;">Katherine was well
aware of the tension filling the room, of the rise of her heart rate, of the
longing in his gaze, which surely matched her own. She realized she was
tumbling over that cliff. And she didn’t care, quite content to drown in his
aquamarine gaze.</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.5pt;">“How can I stop
it, George? Tell me.”</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.5pt;">“I’d rather show
you.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">
<br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=0edef6528d&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Amazon </a> | </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=adcc5dde28&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Barnes and Noble </a> | </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=d8e296be9c&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Kobo </a> | </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=0a79fcd6a6&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">iBooks </a></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><b>About the Author</b>:</span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUIiXADTt2UK0u0m_GJ_t9zzovNwTvZV9k2_xTuAp7kbLu3RiDVRXzw-NCaLdtRn2MzhJlmEJvPmB_8AQUAfOIHPLPuGSf55BXsQyVxOyMnNrOJzwU5vbNEc7pZHhc0mB_kTHMQFl2XFRd/s1600/Author+deepest+well.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUIiXADTt2UK0u0m_GJ_t9zzovNwTvZV9k2_xTuAp7kbLu3RiDVRXzw-NCaLdtRn2MzhJlmEJvPmB_8AQUAfOIHPLPuGSf55BXsQyVxOyMnNrOJzwU5vbNEc7pZHhc0mB_kTHMQFl2XFRd/s200/Author+deepest+well.jpg" width="133" /></a></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Juliette is a multi-published author of paranormal and urban fantasy romance. She calls lush, moss-laden Louisiana home, where the landscape curls into her imagination, creating mystical settings for her stories. From the moment she read JANE EYRE as a teenager, she fell in love with the Gothic romance--brooding characters, mysterious settings, persevering heroines, and dark, sexy heroes. Even then, she not only longed to read more books set in Gothic worlds, she wanted to create her own.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Author Links</b>:<br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=1035c48496&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Website</a> | </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=e1df7134ac&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Amazon Author Page</a> | </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Tour Giveaway</b>:</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">$25 Amazon Gift Certificate<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">$10
Amazon Gift Certificate<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Signed
Print copy of FORGED IN FIRE</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Tour giveaway:</b></span></div>
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<script src="https://widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js"></script>More Romance Pleasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03067013070124300379noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2271172885910572489.post-27680756061972399422016-01-14T03:00:00.000-08:002016-01-14T03:00:08.130-08:00Spotlight: Strange Girl by Christopher Pike<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Strange Girl</i></span></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Christopher Pike</span></b><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br /><br /><br /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Publisher: Simon Pulse</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Release Date: November 17, 2015</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Genre: Paranormal Mystery</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Paperback: 432 pages</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br /><br /><br /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><i>From #1 New York Times bestselling author Christopher Pike comes a brand-new fascinating and seductive new novel about a girl with a mysterious ability—but one that carries an unimaginable cost.</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>About the Book</b>:<br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">From the moment Fred meets Aja, he knows she’s different. She’s pretty, soft-spoken, shy—yet seems to radiate an unusual peace. Fred quickly finds himself falling in love with her.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Then strange things begin to happen around Aja. A riot breaks out that Aja is able to stop by merely speaking a few words. A friend of Fred’s suffers a serious head injury and has a miraculous recovery.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Yet Aja swears she has done nothing.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Unfortunately, Fred is not the only one who notices Aja’s unique gifts. As more and more people begin to question who Aja is and what she can do, she’s soon in grave danger. Because none of them truly understands the source of Aja’s precious abilities—or their devastating cost.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Love Aja or hate her—you will never forget her.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">In Strange Girl, #1 bestselling author Christopher Pike has created the rarest of novels—a love story that swings between a heart-pounding mystery and a stirring mystical journey.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Excerpt:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst">
<b><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">CHAPTER
ONE<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I STILL GET asked
about Aja, where she came from, what it was like to be her friend, to actually
date her, whether the stories about her were true, and who—or what—I really
thought she was.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The last question
makes me smile, probably because I understand it’s hard to talk about Aja
without sounding like a nut. That’s what I try telling people who want to know
about her. She was a mystery, a genuine enigma, in a world that has more trouble
each day believing in such things. And now that she’s gone, I think she’ll
forever remain a mystery.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">At least to those
who loved her.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">And to those who
feared her.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">My name’s Fred
Allen, and I was a seventeen-year-old senior in high school when I met Aja. I
was heading home on a hot Friday afternoon after a boring two weeks of classes
when I spotted her sitting in the park across the street from campus. I’d like
to say I saw something special about her from the start but I’d be lying,
although later I wondered if she might have been kind of strange.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">There was a
perfectly fine bench five feet off to her left but instead of sitting on it
like a normal person she was kneeling in the grass and plucking at a few
scrawny daisies, while occasionally looking up at Elder High’s sweaty student
body as they poured into the side streets or else cut across the park toward
their homes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The sweat was
because of the humidity. From June until October, it hovered around 90 percent.
But the stickiness was usually vanquished by a brief autumn that blew by in a
month or less, and was replaced by bitter winter winds that were so cold they’d
bite your ass off—even if you had the bad taste to wear long underwear to
school, which only the principal and the teachers did.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I suppose it could
have been worse. Elder could have been located in North Dakota instead of South
Dakota. Our northern neighbors were something of a mystery to most of us. I
mean, it’s not like anyone went to vacation up there. All we really knew about
them was that they were always lobbying to change their name to just plain
“Dakota.” For some reason they thought that would make their state sound more
inviting. Go figure.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Anyway, the thing
that struck me about Aja at the start, besides her love of grass and daisies,
was that she stared at many of the students who walked by. She didn’t smile at
them, didn’t say hi or bat her long lashes or anything seductive like that. She
just looked straight at them, which probably made most of them feel
uncomfortable. I noticed the majority looked away as they strode by.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I mentioned her
long lashes, and yeah, I did happen to notice she was pretty. Not beautiful in
the usual social-media way, but an easy eight or nine on Fred Allen’s
relatively generous scale of one to ten. Even at a distance of a hundred yards
I could see her hair was dark brown, shiny, and that her skin was the same
color as my favorite ice cream—Häagen-Dazs Coffee.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Yet I didn’t
equate her with ice cream because I wanted to take a bite out of her or anything
gross like that. It’s not like I felt some mad rush of seventeen-year-old
hormones and experienced first love for the twentieth time. I just sort of, you
know, noticed that she looked nice, very nice, and that her long lashes framed
a pair of large, dark eyes that were, sadly, not looking anywhere in my
direction.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">That was it; that
was my first impression of Aja. Oh, there was one other thing. I did happen to
notice that she had on a simple white dress that didn’t quite reach to her
knees. The thing that struck me about the dress was—not that it was filthy—it
looked like it could have used a wash.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Introduction to
Aja complete. I went home and didn’t give her more than a few hours of thought
all weekend. And no, honestly, my fantasies were not a hundred percent sexual.
I mainly wondered why a girl her age, if she was new to town, wasn’t going to
school. It was just a thought. Elder High, my school, was the only one in town
for someone our age.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Monday morning I
heard about Aja from my best friend, Janet Shell, five minutes before our first
period, calculus, started. I was taking calculus because it was an AP class and
my parents were obsessed that I ace as many hard classes as possible so I’d go
to college and not grow up to be as miserable as they were.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">That was sort of a
joke in our household but, unfortunately, it was mostly true. My dad sold new
and used cars at a Toyota dealership in a neighboring town of ours, Balen,
which actually had a multiplex where the speaker system didn’t sound like a
jukebox and there was a generous selection of eight movies. Unlike Elder’s sole
theater, where you had to wear 3-D glasses just to keep from squinting at the
sagging screen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">My mom also worked
in Balen as an executive secretary for a boss that couldn’t have spelled her
job title. My parents were both smart, and they loved each other, I think, but
when I asked why they hadn’t moved away from Elder—like, say, before I was
born—they just told me to pass the salt. What I mean is, the way they fell
silent whenever I asked about their past made me feel like I was somehow
rubbing salt in old wounds. I joke about it now—a bad habit, I still joke about
most things—but it did worry me that they weren’t happy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Janet Shell, on
the other hand, was super happy, or else she knew how to act the part, which
according to her was all that mattered. She was taking calculus because she was
smart and loved math. But she was cool, too. For example, although a straight-A
student, she intended to get a C in calculus simply because she didn’t want to
get elected our class valedictorian.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Besides hating the
spotlight, Janet knew if she was required to give a speech to us graduating
seniors, there was no way she’d be able to resist telling us that virtually our
whole class would still be living in Elder when our ten- and twenty-year high
school reunions rolled around—her way of saying that the majority of us were
destined to be losers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Have you seen the
new girl yet?” Janet asked before Mr. Simon showed up his usual five minutes
late. We’d had him as our math teacher three years running. The guy came into
class reeking of pot almost every morning until Halloween rolled around, when
he’d switch over to some kind of mysterious blue pill—Janet swore it was the
stimulant Adderall—and lecture us on three chapters a week instead of his
normal three pages.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Naturally, Janet’s
question about the “new girl” piqued my interest. I’d been looking for her
since I’d arrived at school. Still, I acted cool.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Nope,” I said,
adding a shrug.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Bullshit. You
must have seen her. You just blushed.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“I don’t know what
you’re talking about.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Janet looked me
over. “Her name’s Aja—A-J-A. It’s pronounced like Asia but with more of a J
sound. She’s a total fox, super exotic-looking. She just moved here from a
remote village in Brazil. Everyone’s talking about her but I hear she’s not
talking much. The word is—she’s not stuck-up, just quiet.” Janet paused. “What
do you think? Want to ask her out?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“How about I meet
her first, then decide?” I said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Okay. But I think
with this one you’re going to have to act fast. She’s no Nicole. You can’t wait
two years to get up your nerve. She’ll go quick.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I felt a stab of
pain that Janet had so carelessly brought up Nicole but hid it. “What makes you
so sure? She might be picky.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Janet wavered.
“True. But a ton of guys are going to hit on her. She’s a looker and she’s got
money and she knows how to dress.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Recalling the
plain, dusty dress Aja had been wearing in the park, that surprised me.
“Really?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Janet caught the
note in my voice. “You have seen her, you bastard. Why do you lie to me when
you’re such a shitty liar? Tell me the truth, have you talked to her?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I sighed. “I saw a
new girl last Friday while walking home from school. She was sitting in the
park, plucking flowers. I’m not sure she’s the same person you’re talking
about.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Right. Like this
town has a surplus of beautiful girls.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Hold on a sec.
You’re the one who says us guys are always judging a book by its cover. Well,
what are you doing? So she’s pretty. So she’s got expensive clothes. She could
still be a jerk.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“She’s not, she’s
cool.” Janet leaned closer, lowered her voice. “I met her, I spoke to her.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“When?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Ten minutes ago.
We only exchanged a few words but I sensed something unique about her.” Janet
paused. “You know the last time I said that, don’t you?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Ages ago. When
you met me.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“That’s right.
That’s why you need to ask her out.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“I’ll think about
it.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Mr. Simon stumbled
in right then, smelling like Colombian Gold, and told us to open our textbooks
to chapter three. It was Janet who had to remind him that we hadn’t covered
chapter two yet.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I spent most of
the class digesting what Janet had said. I’d learned long ago to take her
insights seriously. Janet was not merely smart; she had an uncanny intuition
when it came to people. She said 99.99 percent of the population were sheep. If
she liked Aja, it meant she was more than a pretty face.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I saw Aja in third
period, before lunch, in American History.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">We were in the
same class. Just my luck.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Maybe, I thought,
maybe not. My usual seat was in the corner, all the way in the back. Aja came
in two minutes after me and sat down in the first row, but the last seat, by
the windows. Basically, even though we occupied the same room, she was pretty
far away. I couldn’t help but think she’d somehow spotted me, remembered me
staring at her the previous Friday afternoon, and had gone out of her way to
keep her distance.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Of course, given
the fact that she hadn’t even glanced in my direction when she’d entered the
classroom, I was probably just being paranoid.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">She looked good,
better than good. There were plenty of heads between me and her and all I could
see was Aja’s. Her dark hair appeared a little shorter than last Friday, like
she’d gotten a trim over the weekend. But the shine was still there. And her
long eyelashes, seen in profile, were amazing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Our teacher, Mrs.
Nancy Billard, came into the room. A stuffy, old bird if you got on her wrong
side, but one of the most caring people you could meet if she happened to like
you. She taught AP English on top of history and I’d had her for English the
previous year and had won her over with a slew of wild-and-crazy short stories
I’d written. She liked students who thought outside the box.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">However, those who
landed on her wrong side were either flunked or ignored or both. In her AP
classes she enforced a strict work ethic. She said anyone who wanted to go to
college had to earn it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“I see we have a
new student today,” she said, glancing in Aja’s direction. “I was told you’d be
joining us. What’s your name?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Aja,” she replied
in a soft voice.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Is that your
first or last name?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“It’s what people
call me.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Billard cleared
her throat, a bad sign. “Then that’s what I’ll call you. But please humor the
rest of the class and tell us your full name.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Aja Smith.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Took a moment to
remember your family name?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Aja stared at her
and said nothing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Billard continued.
“Well, we’re all very happy you could join us two weeks late. Another week and
you’d have wandered in during the Civil War. Ted, fetch a textbook for Aja from
the closet and let’s all open to page forty-nine, chapter three. Time we got to
the thirteen colonies and their feud with King George the Third.” Billard
paused and glanced at Aja again. “Do you have a problem, girl?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“No.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“You’re looking at
me kind of funny. I thought maybe you did.” Aja didn’t reply, just continued to
stare at her, which didn’t sit well with Billard. “You do know something about
American history, don’t you?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“No,” Aja replied.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Billard blinked,
unsure whether Aja was sassing her or not. “Then it’s your responsibility to
catch up. This is an AP class—there are no shortcuts here. Read the first
forty-eight pages of your textbook tonight and I’ll quiz you on them tomorrow.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Aja nodded without
speaking as she accepted the textbook from Ted Weldon, a football jock with a
double-digit IQ and a gross habit of farting whenever he yawned. Some might
have wondered what he was doing in an AP class. But those who bothered to
contemplate the matter probably didn’t know that Ted’s father was best buddies
with Elder High’s Principal Levitt and that—despite what Billard had just
said—there were always shortcuts available to those students whose parents knew
the right people.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Handing Aja her
textbook, Ted didn’t simply look at her; he gloated over her face and body
before returning to his chair, eliciting a mild chuckle from the rest of the
class.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Thanks,” Aja
said. Her voice was not merely soft, it was smooth, cool, confident. She
obviously didn’t have to speak up to make a point. Plus her answers to
Billard’s questions had been at best evasive, which I naturally had to admire.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Yet I could tell
already that Billard didn’t like her and that Aja was probably going to have a
hard time in her class. That bothered me, a little, even though she was a total
stranger.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Total stranger.
Damn. Got to change that fast.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I remembered
Janet’s warning that Aja would not last when it came to Elder High’s horny
guys, and it got my adrenaline pumping. When class was over I caught up with
her outside in the hallway and walked by her side before she stopped at her
locker. Oh no, I thought. I wasn’t ready for this. Suddenly a life-changing
choice was upon me. I could either keep walking and live the rest of my days in
regret or I could stop and pretend to have a locker next to her.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I did the latter,
spinning the dial on the lock like it was preset to my favorite radio station.
Only the volume never came on and the locker never opened because I had no idea
what the combination was. Fortunately, Aja seemed to be having trouble with her
own locker and I was able to swoop in and rescue her.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“It’s not
opening?” I asked, way too casually and with a stupid grin on my face.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Aja pulled a slip
of paper from her pants pocket and stuck it out for me to take. “I was told
this is the combination,” she said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Aja didn’t have on
ordinary pants; she wore designer jeans that had clearly been purchased far
from Elder’s finest clothing stores. Up top she had on an ultrathin maroon
sweater; and if it was responsible for her subtle curves, then it was worth its
weight in gold. Her silky blouse had red in it as well—a rusty color that made
me think of desert sand dunes and romantic sunset kisses and . . .<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I was losing it, I
suddenly realized. Aja’s big brown eyes were still waiting for me to take her
slip of paper. I shook my head and took a breath. Breathing was good, I
reminded myself.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“This looks like
it might work,” I said. Duh! The piece of paper said: “LOCKER NUMBER” on top. A
sequence of three numbers followed: 12–18–24. All the locks in school—all the
combinations I’d ever seen, for that matter—worked on the right-left-right
sequence. When I dialed in Aja’s three digits, the locker immediately opened.
Amazing. I noticed her eyes following me closely and added, “You see how it
works?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Yes,” she
replied, and it was only then I realized she’d never had a locker before. She
deposited her book inside and closed it. Out of habit, I reached up and spun
the dial.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“You can’t be too
careful,” I said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Pardon?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Your lock. You
need to spin it to clear the combination.” She didn’t respond, just stared at
me. Again, I felt the need to add something. “So no one will break into your
locker.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Kids do that
here?” she asked.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Some kids do,
yeah.” Again, she seemed to wait for me to continue so I added, “Actually, the
students here don’t like being called kids.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“What should I
call them?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Girls or guys or
people. Kids—it sounds kind of young, you know.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“I didn’t know
that but thanks for telling me.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“No problem. By
the way, my name’s Fred Allen. I’m in your history class. I sit in the back.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“I saw you.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“You did?” God,
the way I asked the question, the sheer amount of wonder in my tone, it was
like she’d just told me she’d found a heart donor that could save my life. I
reminded myself again to keep breathing and try to act normal. Fortunately, Aja
didn’t appear to notice my clumsiness.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Yes,” she said
simply, adding, “I’m Aja.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“I know. I mean, I
heard what you told Mrs. Billard.” Aja nodded and again acted as if she wanted
me to keep talking. I added, “She can be a great teacher if she thinks you’re
trying. But slack off and she’ll classify you as a loser. Then you’ll be in
trouble. She was serious when she told you that she’s going to quiz you on the
first two chapters of the textbook. If I was you I’d study tonight. I’d read
chapter three as well. I wouldn’t be surprised if she quizzed you on the whole
lot.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“I will.” She
looked past me as the student body converged toward Elder High’s courtyard. We
had an indoor cafeteria but no one ventured inside before the first snow came.
The school lunch staff didn’t mind. They kept a half-dozen windows open where
you could order a decent hamburger, hot dog, or sandwich if you had the money.
Since I was on a strict budget, I usually brought a brown bag from home and
just picked up a Coke from one of the vending machines. In fact, my lunch was
waiting for me back at my real locker, although I felt in no hurry to get to
it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“The kids . . .
the girls and guys have lunch now?” Aja asked.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Yeah. It’s always
after third period. Are you hungry?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“This bod . . .”
She suddenly stopped. “Yes.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Bring anything
from home?” I knew she hadn’t because I’d seen the interior of her locker and
it had been empty. She shook her head and for the hundredth time waited for me
to go on. I added, “Then you should probably pick up something at the windows.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Are you going to
these . . . windows?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Uh-huh. I can
show you where they are if you want. If you don’t have other plans, I mean.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">She flashed a
smile. “I don’t have any plans, Fred.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I liked how she
said my name and loved her smile; nevertheless, I groaned inside thinking how
hard Janet would be laughing if she could see me now. Honestly, my nervousness
made no sense. Sure, Aja was pretty, and, sure, I liked her, or at least I
thought I did. But she was the new girl in town, a stranger from another
country, and English was obviously a second language for her. She should have
been the one stumbling all over the place.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I assumed the
language barrier was the reason she had almost referred to herself as “This
body.” I was pretty sure that’s what she’d been about to say.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I escorted her to
the windows and if I’d been forced to critique my stride I’d have to say I
looked like an extra on The Walking Dead. I was definitely taking time finding
my cool gear. But eventually I began to calm down and by the time we’d waited
in line and it was our turn to order I was feeling pretty good about myself.
Why not? I’d just met Aja and already I was taking her to lunch. Not bad for a
few minutes’ work. I’d decided to pay for whatever she ordered to show what a
gentleman I was.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Hey, Fred, how’s
the demo going?” Carlos asked from the other side of the glass. He was from
Mexico and worked three jobs to keep his family of six out of the rain. He was
also a genius when it came to playing the acoustic guitar and was helping me to
lay down tracks on a new three-song demo I was struggling to put together.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Yeah, I know, so I
wanted to be a rock star.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">But tell the
truth. Who didn’t?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“It’s getting
there,” I said honestly, turning to Aja, who was staring at Carlos and not
bothering to look at the overhead menu. To his credit, Carlos acted like I
showed up every afternoon with a pretty girl on my arm. “Know what you want?” I
asked Aja.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">She looked at me.
“It doesn’t matter.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Want a burger? A
sandwich? A salad?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“I’ll have what
you’re having,” she said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“I was going to
have a turkey sandwich with fries. And a Coke. That sound good?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Aja nodded. “That’s
good.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Carlos whipped up
our sandwiches in three minutes flat and when it was time to pay Aja pulled out
a wad of cash fat enough to buy a new car with. I hastily told her I had it
covered and she put the money back in her pocket.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Like the rest of
town, Elder High was kind of old and kind of poor, and no part of our campus
reflected those qualities more than our courtyard. It had no tables, no
umbrellas to block the sun, no drinking fountains. Only peeling wooden benches
that, if you were lucky, managed to catch the shade of a nearby tree.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Of course we had
trees, the whole state did, except for our infamous Badlands, which I,
personally, happened to love. I steered Aja toward a shady bench located
somewhere between where the jocks and the bad boys gathered. Like most schools,
Elder High had a variety of clearly defined social groups, none of which had
ever shown the slightest interest in attracting me as a member.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">For a few minutes
I had Aja all to myself but I wasted them because all I did was eat and watch
her eat. It was during this time I noticed that she seemed to be following my
lead. When I unwrapped my turkey sandwich, she unwrapped hers. When I reached
for a fry or a sip of Coke, she did the same. She didn’t take nearly as big
bites as I did, though. If anything she chewed her food more thoroughly than
anyone I’d ever met.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">But she only
mimicked me for a few minutes before quitting.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Where are you
from?” I finally asked.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Aja pointed north.
“I live with my aunt Clara. In a white house by a large pond.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I had meant where
she was from in Brazil but her answer interested me. “You don’t live in the old
Carter Mansion, do you?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Carter? Hmm. Yes,
the realtor told Aunty that was the name of the man who built the house. That’s
where this . . . that’s where I stay.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“That’s one big
house. Is it just the two of you?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Bart lives with
us.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Who’s Bart?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Bart is Bart. He
takes care of things.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Is he a
housekeeper? A butler?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Yes. He’s been
with Aunty since before I met her.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“How old were you
when you met your aunt?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“I was small.” Aja
added casually, “I ran into her in the jungle.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“The jungle?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“The town where I
was born is surrounded by jungle.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“And you just sort
of bumped into your aunt?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Yes.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Are you saying
she’s not your real aunt?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Aja sipped her
drink. “She’s as real as you and me.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I frowned. “This
was in Brazil?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Yes.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I wanted to
continue my line of questioning but we got interrupted right then by Dale
Parish and Michael Garcia, two close friends of mine. Actually, two members of
a band I’d formed—Half Life. Dale played bass and Mike was our drummer. Dale
had only been playing a year but he was a natural and kept improving in leaps
and bounds every month. Mike—he’d been banging on anything that made noise
since he’d been a kid. No joke, he was like a force of nature onstage. We were
lucky to have him. I kept expecting to lose him to a louder and more successful
group.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Yet Mike swore
he’d never leave us. He had faith in my singing and songwriting abilities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Unfortunately, he
also had a temper and was unpredictable. He missed plenty of practice sessions,
even a few paid gigs. We never knew which Mike was going to show up. If he was
loaded, on pot or beer, we knew the “Beast” was in the room and we’d better
watch out. But when he was sober he was the nicest guy. The swings could be
stressful.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Worse, Mike caused
Dale constant grief. Because Dale was in love with him and Mike didn’t have a
clue. On the surface it seemed impossible, since they’d grown up together. But
the truth was Mike didn’t even know Dale was gay. And Dale had begged me and
our keyboardist, Shelly Wilson, never to tell him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Carlos had warned
me—and Carlos never lied—that Mike often hung out with a Hispanic gang in Balen
that controlled most of the area’s drug traffic. If anything was going to tear
our band apart, I knew it was going to be the tension between our drummer and
bass player.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Who do we have
here?” Mike asked, straddling the bench beside Aja like it—or she—was a horse
he was anxious to ride. Dale nodded to me and smiled uneasily in Aja’s
direction but remained standing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Physically, the
two couldn’t have been more unlike. Mike was dark-skinned, short and stocky,
and could bench-press more than Elder’s heartiest jocks. If a swinging chick
was looking for a bad boy who could rip holes in the sheets, Mike was it. While
Dale—well, I never met a more gentle soul in my life but there was a reason his
stage name was “The Corpse.” He was way beyond skinny and pale. Onstage, under
a harsh spotlight, he almost looked transparent. But the boy sure could play.
That was all that mattered to me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I spoke up. “Aja,
these are two musician friends of mine, Mike and Dale. We’re in a band
together. Dale plays bass and Mike the drums. Guys, this is Aja. She’s from Brazil.
This is her first day at Elder High.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Aja nodded in
their direction. “I enjoy music.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“But do you like
musicians?” Mike asked, teasing. “That’s what I want to know. Besides, what the
hell are you doing with Fred? Did he tell you he’s such a wuss that he won’t go
onstage—and I’m talking practically every single gig we play—without me
swearing that I’ve got his back?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“I’m afraid it’s
true,” I admitted. In the band, during shows, once Mike got going he created
such a ferocious rhythm that he drowned out any flat notes I hit on my guitar
or with my voice.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Fred has more
talent in his little finger than the rest of us combined,” Dale added.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Mike slapped me on
the back. “Yeah, Fred’s the only one in this town that’s going places. Take my
word for it. So how did you two meet?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I assumed Aja
would remain silent, given her habit, and that I’d have to answer. However, she
stared Mike right in the eye and said, “We met last Friday in the park. He was
watching me pick flowers and I smiled at him but he ignored me. But today he’s
a lot more friendly.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Her comment caused
my heart to skip.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">She’d smiled at
me?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Mike was suddenly
curious about her accent. “¿Hablan español en el lugar de Brasil de donde
vienes?” he asked.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“No muchos. Pero
algunos,” Aja said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“¿Pero creciste
hablando portugués?” Mike asked.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Sim,” Aja said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“What the hell are
they saying?” I asked Dale. He’d taken four years of Spanish at school but his
real knowledge of the language had come from hanging around Mike’s family. Dale
leaned over and whispered in my ear.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Mike asked if
they spoke Spanish in her part of Brazil. Aja said, ‘Not many, but some.’ Then
Mike asked, ‘But you grew up speaking Portuguese?’ And Aja said, ‘Yes.’ ”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Why the sudden
interest in Aja’s background?” I said. But Mike ignored me and continued to
speak to Aja, who appeared to fascinate him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Your accent—you
remind me of my grandmother,” Mike said. “She could speak half a dozen
languages. She sounded like she was from everywhere, and nowhere, if you know
what I mean. Sort of like you.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Aja lowered her
head. “Ninguém do nada.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“What was that?” I
asked quickly.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Apparently she’d
answered in Portuguese, which neither Mike nor Dale understood. When I asked
Aja what she’d said, all she did was shake her head like it didn’t matter.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Dale flashed Mike
a sign that it was time to split and Mike, knowing my bad luck with girls, bid
us a quick farewell. When they were gone Aja and I returned to eating our
sandwiches and fries. A long silence settled between us but to my surprise it
wasn’t uncomfortable. I suspected Aja had spent most of her life alone and
wasn’t bothered by quiet.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“I apologize for
Mike,” I said. “He can be a handful when you first meet him.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“He has a fiery
spirit.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“I suppose that’s
where all the smoke comes from.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Aja turned her
big, brown eyes on me. “They look up to you. Are you that good?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I assumed she was
asking about my musical abilities and shrugged. “As far as South Dakota is
concerned, I could be the next Mozart. But if I performed at a club in Los
Angeles or New York or Seattle I’d be laughed off the stage.” I took a gulp of
Coke. “Trying to make a living as a singer/songwriter is probably the most
irrational ambition a guy can have. One in a million—no, one in ten
million—ends up making money at it.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“But it’s what you
want to do,” she said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Unfortunately.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Then you’ll do
it.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I chuckled. “You
haven’t even seen us play.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The remark was far
from subtle. I was hoping she’d bite and say she’d like to come to a show.
Also, it wasn’t by chance that I’d switched from talking about me to talking
about the band. If she didn’t bite, then she was rejecting Half Life, not me.
So went my crazy logic. The truth was I’d brought up being a musician to
impress her. It was shameless, I know, but I figured I had to play what cards I
held.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Is it fun for
you?” she asked.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Being onstage?
Sometimes—when I forget what I’m doing and that people are watching me. Then I
love it. But most of the time I’m way too self-conscious and can’t wait until
the gig is over. Seriously.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Aja continued to
stare at me and because she didn’t blink often, it was a bit disconcerting.
“Play for me sometime,” she said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">There. I’d
practically begged her to ask but now that she had I wished I’d kept my mouth
shut. I shook my head. “I’m not a solo artist. Better to see me in the band.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">She nodded but I
didn’t think she believed me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“How about you?” I
asked. “What’s your favorite hobby?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">She hesitated. “I
don’t have any hobbies. I just . . . enjoy things.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“What sort of
things?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Bart told me to
watch out for questions like that. He said they’d get me into trouble.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Her response
caught me off guard. “Huh?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“I told you about
Bart.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“I know, I heard
you. But he actually told you how to behave while you were at school today?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Aja nodded. “He
spent the weekend trying to teach me what to say and what not to say.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Isn’t that a
little weird?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">If my question
bothered her, she showed no sign. “Bart said he had to teach me so I wouldn’t
appear weird to the rest of you.” As if to reassure me, she reached out and
touched my arm. “He was trying to help.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The instant she
touched me, I felt something odd, a lapse of sorts, where I had trouble
focusing. The scene around us, the guys and girls walking back and forth across
the courtyard, they didn’t stop but they did seem to slow down. I shook my head
to clear it and the sensation eased up, somewhat. I noticed Aja had taken back
her hand. I had to struggle to get out my next remark.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“I should meet
this guy. Maybe he can help me with my weirdness.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Aja suddenly
stood, leaving what was left of her food behind on the bench. She wasn’t tall
but at that moment she could have been standing on a chair and looking down at
me. I worried that my peculiar sensation had not passed, after all. Again, I
had to remind myself that she was new to the school, the stranger in a strange
land, but right then I was certain I had it all wrong, that she was more at
home in Elder than I could ever hope to be.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“I’m glad we got
to talk, Fred. I hope I see you again soon.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">With that she
turned and walked away.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">
<br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=6c5eb61cf4&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Amazon </a> | </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=7490c8290c&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">BN </a> | </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=a8fdd2d8c8&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">BAM </a> | </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=c6de2948de&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">IndieBound </a> | </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=302a1ade27&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">iBookstore </a> | </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=489b57b50b&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Google Play</a> </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><b>About the Author</b>:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Christopher Pike is a bestselling author of young adult novels. The Thirst series, The Secret of Ka, and the Remember Me and Alosha trilogies are some of his favorite titles. He is also the author of several adult novels, including Sati and The Season of Passage.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Thirst and Alosha are slated to be released as feature films. Pike currently lives in Santa Barbara, where it is rumored he never leaves his house.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><b>Author Links</b>:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/ChristopherPikeBooks" target="_blank"> Facebook</a> | </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://blogspot.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=76c91d8a216e860d8c2acc2e7&id=3bc5332a51&e=f5815cdc35" target="_blank">Wattpad</a></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><b>Tour giveaway</b>:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">25 paperback copies of STRANGE GIRL</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">5 paperback sets of RED QUEEN and BLACK
KNIGHT</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">5 paperback sets of all 5 copies of
THIRST series (1-5) in PB.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">5 paperback copies CHAIN LETTER</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">5 paperback copies UNTIL THE END</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">5 paperback copies BOUND TO YOU</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">5 paperback copies REMEMBER ME</span></div>
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<script src="https://widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js"></script>More Romance Pleasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03067013070124300379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2271172885910572489.post-30776482966561300572016-01-02T03:00:00.000-08:002016-01-02T03:00:03.867-08:00Series Spotlight: The Roman Time Travel Series by Morgan O'Neill<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTKx9Yhwj2HwUIzXcOBXXLHl9c80khUYdIMwqY2qQGEN_hS7iZNK8ZuOCATLGQsUk8ingnXtooYCk1gKzEzeX1YRiNMf3oof0F6ePEEKd4RpLwo27n3fcKkBAMQ3o6YG4ZE48yUxUs0gCc/s1600/LoveEternally_indiCVR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; display: inline !important; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTKx9Yhwj2HwUIzXcOBXXLHl9c80khUYdIMwqY2qQGEN_hS7iZNK8ZuOCATLGQsUk8ingnXtooYCk1gKzEzeX1YRiNMf3oof0F6ePEEKd4RpLwo27n3fcKkBAMQ3o6YG4ZE48yUxUs0gCc/s1600/LoveEternally_indiCVR.jpg" width="266" /></a><b><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Love, Eternally</i></span></b></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.3999996185303px;"><b>The Roman Time Travel Series</b></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.3999996185303px;"><b>Book 1</b></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.3999996185303px;"><b>Morgan O'Neill</b></span></div>
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Genre: Time Travel/Historical Romance</div>
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Publication Date; February 2015</div>
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Publisher: Time's Arrow Productions</div>
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<b>About the Book</b>:</div>
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<span class="auto-style71"><span style="line-height: 18.3999996185303px;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">A witch's ancient curse propels talented flutist Gigi Perrin back to A.D. 408, to the court of the depraved Roman Emperor Honorius and his admirable sister, Princess Galla Placidia. There, Gigi grapples with her disbelief about what has happened, and with the strange, new world of violent politics, social upheaval and barbarians straining at the very gates of an empire. Through it all, she must struggle with her powerful attraction to a pagan senator and military commander, Quintus Magnus, a man exotically different from anyone she has ever known. On the brink of a dark and war-torn age, Gigi joins forces with Magnus, battling to save a princess and her people</span></span></span><span style="line-height: 18.3999996185303px;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">, and ultimately finding love amid the chaos, before the fall of Rome.</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.3999996185303px;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="http://goo.gl/BxeIS0" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.3999996185303px;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><i>After the Fall</i></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.3999996185303px;"><b>The Roman Time Travel Series</b></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.3999996185303px;"><b>Book 2</b></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.3999996185303px;"><b>Morgan O'Neill</b></span></div>
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Genre: Time Travel/Historical Romance</div>
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Publication Date; February 2015</div>
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Publisher: Time's Arrow Productions</div>
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<b>About the Book</b>:</div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><em><span style="line-height: 18.3999996185303px;">After the Fall</span></em><span style="line-height: 18.3999996185303px;"> ratchets up the tension as time traveler Gigi Perrin and her husband, the Roman warrior Quintus Magnus, join forces with the Visigoth King Alaric to march on Rome. There waits Princess Galla Placidia, the admirable sister of the despicable Emperor Honorius. About to be forced into an arranged marriage by her brother, Placidia fears a bleak future, trapped in a loveless union.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.3999996185303px;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">In an attempt to save Rome from barbarian invasion, Placidia puts aside her troubles and meets with Alaric’s delegation, which includes Gigi and Magnus, and the king’s second-in-command, the Visigoth prince, Athaulf. The attraction between Placidia and Athaulf is instantaneous and overwhelming, but theirs is a forbidden love, destined to fail because of implacable politics and impending war.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.3999996185303px;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Bound by a friendship that transcends time, Gigi and Placidia must do whatever they can to protect the men they love, after the fall of Rome.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.3999996185303px;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="http://goo.gl/wVwKPn" target="_blank">Amazon </a> </span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.3999996185303px;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>Return to Me</i></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.3999996185303px;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>The Roman Time Travel Series</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.3999996185303px;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Book 3</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.3999996185303px;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Morgan O'Neill</b></span></span></div>
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Genre: Time Travel/Historical Romance</div>
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Publication Date; February 2015</div>
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Publisher: Time's Arrow Productions</div>
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<b>About the Book</b>:</div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="line-height: 18.3999996185303px;">Return to Me</span></i><span style="line-height: 18.3999996185303px;"> finds time traveler Gigi Perrin happily settled into twenty-first century life with her husband, the former Roman senator and military commander, Quintus Magnus. Gigi has resumed her successful musical career, playing the flute for her adoring fans, while making her first foray into Hollywood by creating the musical score for a feature film about the Roman emperor Nero.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.3999996185303px;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">At the film’s wrap party, Gigi is presented with a gift to commemorate her work: an ancient Roman ring depicting the goddess Victoria. Stunned, she and Magnus recognize it as the very ring that brought them together, and the one subsequently stolen from her and lost in A.D. 410. How did it make its way back to them? Magnus believes the answer is clear; Victoria sent it as a warning about their dear friend, Princess Galla Placidia. They start researching what happened to Placidia after Gigi and Magnus time traveled from the barbarous fifth century. To their shock, they discover Placidia's life took a series of terrible turns, culminating with the murders of her children.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.3999996185303px;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Realizing they have no other choice, Gigi and Magnus prepare to embark on a perilous quest to go back in time and rescue them. But one ominous question remains – how can they save the children without altering the course of history?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.3999996185303px;"><a href="http://goo.gl/ccWzr6" target="_blank">Amazon </a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.3999996185303px;"><b>About the Authors</b>:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmLa2sSpxddz42s7mBqFXg-A_ubwajt0Ffqh02D1r8DR75Hu7uWZE8d_pXiU8isFtcrl3VYS1XATFvTOy368i110lm_JeIzzKF8NhrSAe_6BpdvNNRQIeL6jIhOZerASFPukfVyp9jBzLq/s1600/Morgan+O'Neill%2B1.9%2BMB.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmLa2sSpxddz42s7mBqFXg-A_ubwajt0Ffqh02D1r8DR75Hu7uWZE8d_pXiU8isFtcrl3VYS1XATFvTOy368i110lm_JeIzzKF8NhrSAe_6BpdvNNRQIeL6jIhOZerASFPukfVyp9jBzLq/s1600/Morgan+O'Neill%2B1.9%2BMB.jpg" width="160" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="background: white;">A chance meeting at a writers' conference brought Cary Morgan Frates and Deborah O'Neill Cordes together, two award-winning authors who connected because of a mutual love of time travel fiction. Collaboration ensued, the search for a pen name the first step in their working relationship. Their maiden names provided the solution - and "Morgan O'Neill" was born.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
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<span style="background: white;">Cary and Deborah's backgrounds are uniquely suited to writing stories steeped in atmosphere and history: Deborah has a Master's Degree in history and is a dedicated genealogist; Cary is a talented linguist in French and is currently a student of Latin. They've traveled to Europe's ancient and medieval sites many times, with Cary living on the Continent for five years.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">The Morgan O'Neill time travel novels have received a number of literary awards, including two finalist wins in the Booksellers' Best Awards, two semifinalist wins in the William Faulkner-William Wisdom Creative Writing Competition, first, second, and third place wins for the Mainstream Novel with Strong Romantic Elements category of the Golden Rose Contest, a top ten finalist award in the Pacific Northwest Writers' Conference Zola Awards Literary Contest, and a top ten finalist win in the Orange Rose Contest.</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.3999996185303px;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.3999996185303px;"><b>Author Links</b>:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.3999996185303px;"><a href="http://www.morganoneill.com/" target="_blank">Website </a>| <a href="https://www.facebook.com/morgan.oneill.books.12" target="_blank">Facebook</a> | <a href="http://www.twitter.com/authormoneill" target="_blank">Twitter</a> | <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23723313-the-thornless-rose?from_search=tru" target="_blank">Goodreads</a> | <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/authormoneill/" target="_blank">Pinterest </a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.3999996185303px;">Sign up for Morgan O'Neill's Newsletter, <a href="https://madmimi.com/signups/125219/join" target="_blank">Timely Tidbits</a></span></span></div>
More Romance Pleasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03067013070124300379noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2271172885910572489.post-88772488224280092472016-01-01T00:00:00.000-08:002016-01-01T00:00:15.329-08:002016!<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;"><b>Welcome to </b></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">2016!</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;"><b>May your year be full of blessings and great books!</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;"><b>Happy New Year from <i>More Romance Please!</i></b></span></div>
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More Romance Pleasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03067013070124300379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2271172885910572489.post-49182768381458526252015-12-31T03:00:00.000-08:002015-12-31T03:00:05.962-08:00Happy New Year!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYv2rPfZJ1S4KuvsiXspBqk7TCXbaL61fad-0pMvjNPyGSmThXtWnB4xHax246nsrtDSOEt32-O7Hlcn-PxVieKgIng3QQ2RV_yleXhW9Ja4k-0XP9JTfdLiPTxRMnV3A0lrThbVHFXV8k/s1600/seattle-fireworks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYv2rPfZJ1S4KuvsiXspBqk7TCXbaL61fad-0pMvjNPyGSmThXtWnB4xHax246nsrtDSOEt32-O7Hlcn-PxVieKgIng3QQ2RV_yleXhW9Ja4k-0XP9JTfdLiPTxRMnV3A0lrThbVHFXV8k/s400/seattle-fireworks.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #45818e; font-size: large;">Happy New Year from Seattle and <i>More Romance Please</i>!</span></div>
More Romance Pleasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03067013070124300379noreply@blogger.com0