Spotlight – The Ultimate Betrayal

05 Tuesday Jan 2021

Posted by romanticreadsandsuch in Blog Tour, Contest, Sneak Peek

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Kat Martin, Maximum Security series, The Ultimate Betrayal

In case you missed this one in all the holiday fuss, it is definitely worth talking about again.

*****

The Ultimate Betrayal

A Maximum Security Novel

by Kat Martin

Blurb:

When investigative journalist Jessie Kegan’s father, a colonel in the army, is accused of treason, Jessie is determined to clear his name. Reluctantly, she turns to former Special Ops soldier, Brandon Garrett, her late brother’s best friend–a true heartbreaker, according to her brother.

With danger coming from every angle, time is running out and the game being played is deadly. Working together, Bran and Jessie must risk everything to solve the riddle and confront the threat–before it’s too late.

Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Betrayal-Maximum-Security/dp/1335483756

B&N

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-ultimate-betrayal-dwayne-t-martin/1125832346?ean=9781335483751

Indiebound

https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781335483751

Kobo

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-ultimate-betrayal-26

Google

https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Kat_Martin_The_Ultimate_Betrayal?id=GqmqDwAAQBAJ

Itunes

https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-ultimate-betrayal/id1477473206

*****

Excerpt:

They ordered-in Chinese and Bran turned the TV on in the living room, but neither of them were in the mood to watch. Jessie knew exactly what she was in the mood for. She hadn’t thought about sex this much in the last three years. Now, every time she looked at Bran, having sex with him was all she could think of.

Everything about him turned her on. The cadence of his voice, the way he laughed, the way he moved. Just watching him amble across the living room sent a curl of heat into the pit of her stomach.

What would it be like to kiss him? Run her hands over all the lean, hard muscles she had seen and couldn’t get out of her head? What would it be like if he made love to her?

Would she ruin it the way she had when she had tried before? Start thinking about Ray Cummings and the intimate way he had touched her? Conjure images of the rape he had planned to carry out the third night if she hadn’t managed to escape?

Fidgety and unable to relax, she headed for the pool, Bran reluctantly accompanying her. Exercising in the warm water was the perfect stress reliever. She glanced over to where he paced the deck at the opposite end of the pool, tall and lean-muscled, blue-eyed, and built. Nothing better than swimming–except for hours of erotic sex with the man of her fantasies.

It seemed so outrageous she found herself grinning as she stroked to the far end of the pool. She was still smiling when she came up out of the water, dripping and adjusting her swimsuit, just a few feet away from him.

“What’s so funny?” Bran asked, as grumpy tonight as he had been the night before.

She looked into his hard, handsome face and some little devil made her say it. “If you really want to know, I was thinking what it might be like to have wild, uninhibited sex with you.”

Hunger flashed in his eyes so quickly she took a step back. “Is that so,” he drawled, his gaze running over her, assessing every curve her orange-striped bikini displayed.

Her whole body flushed with heat as she realized she wasn’t the only one who’d been thinking about sex.

She swallowed. “I was imagining what it might be like, but I… I know if we tried, I’d screw it up. After Ray, I’ve got, you know, hang-ups.”

His gaze grew more intense. “What kind of hang-ups?”

She picked her towel up off the mesh table next to a lounge chair and quickly dried off, then slipped on her white terrycloth robe. Fortunately, the overhead lights began to flash, signaling it was time for the pool to close.

“Time to leave.” She started walking back to the room, wishing she’d kept her mouth shut. By the time Bran opened the door and checked inside to be sure it was safe, she was starting to relax.

“What hang-ups?” Bran he as he closed the door behind them.

Jessie’s stomach instantly knotted. What had possessed her to mention it? But Bran had opened up to her yesterday, which meant she owed him the same courtesy today.

Trying to appear nonchalant, she shrugged. “You know, kissing’s okay, but if a guy starts touching me, my mind flashes back to Ray Cummings and I-I start thinking about the way he touched me, where he touched me, and pretty soon sex is the last thing I want to happen.”

Bran’s jaw looked iron hard. “He rape you?”

She swallowed and shook her head. “On the third day, just before he got home, I managed to get loose. I couldn’t get out of the basement, so I searched for a weapon.” Her lips trembled as the memory became all too clear. “I found a wooden box and pried a board loose. The board had a nail in the end so I held it like a bat, and I-I waited till he came down the stairs.”

“Go on,” Bran said so softly she felt a chill.

“He always wore this black knit ski mask with a red ring around the mouth, which made him look even more terrifying. Knowing what he planned to do gave me courage. The minute he stepped off the bottom step, I swung the board as hard as I could and smashed him in the side of the head. As soon as he hit the floor, I starting whacking him over and over with the nail in the end of the board. He was unconscious and bleeding when I took off running.”

“Finish it,” Bran said when she paused, more a demand than a request.

Her voice trembled. “The woman in the house next door let me in and called the police. Ray was still unconscious when they got there. Turned out he was a serial rapist. He had abducted four other women and locked them up just like me. Eventually, he released them somewhere, but they couldn’t identify him or the place he had taken them. I was the only one who escaped.”

She was shaking. She didn’t realize she had tears in her eyes till Bran pulled her into his arms.

*****

Author Info:

Bestselling author Kat Martin, a graduate of the University of California at Santa Barbara, currently resides in Missoula, Montana with Western-author husband, L. J. Martin. More than seventeen million copies of Kat’s books are in print, and she has been published in twenty foreign countries. Fifteen of her recent novels have taken top-ten spots on the New York Times Bestseller List, and her novel, BEYOND REASON, was recently optioned for a feature film. Kat’s latest novel, THE ULTIMATE BETRAYAL, a Romantic Thriller, was released in paperback December 29th.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KatMartinAuthor/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/katmartinauthor

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52293322-the-ultimate-betrayal

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/KatMartinAuthor

Website: https://www.katmartin.com/

*****

Giveaway:

Enter Kat’s Monthly Contest

https://www.katmartin.com/monthly-contest/

Spotlight – Truly Madly Plaid

04 Monday Jan 2021

Posted by romanticreadsandsuch in Blog Tour, Contest, Sneak Peek

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Eliza Knight, Truly Madly Plaid

How about we start the new year with a guy in a kilt?

*****

Truly Madly Plaid

by Eliza Knight

Publication Date: 12/29/2020

Blurb:

USA Today bestselling author Eliza Knight takes you into the heart of the Highlands, where these warriors are prepared to give up everything in the fight for their country.

Annie MacPherson’s world was torn apart when her family’s castle was ravaged during the war. Determined to aid her countrymen, she braves the battlefield and finds gravely wounded Lieutenant Craig MacLean. Soon her heart belongs to the fierce warrior.

As the English dragoons draw closer to Annie’s makeshift hospital, Craig knows they have to escape together if they’ll have any chance to survive. But when they come face-to-face with the enemy and Craig is imprisoned, Annie will have to risk everything she has to save the man she can’t live without.

History and adventure come to life in Eliza Knight’s thrilling Scottish Highland romance. Annie is based loosely on Anne MacKay, Anne Leith, and Lady Maxwell, who risked their lives to protect Jacobite soldiers by hiding them, healing their wounds, and helping them escape from enemy forces.

Amazon: https://amzn.to/2L7BCe0

B&N: https://bit.ly/2xFQpJH

Apple: http://apple.co/3lyXLBm

Kobo: http://bit.ly/3gdFJUB

Bookshop: http://bit.ly/2I3ZPUz

BAM: http://bit.ly/3qm6fzr

Books2Read: http://bit.ly/3oiOhMx

*****

Excerpt:

April 5, 1746

This was a mistake.

Every hair on the back of Lieutenant Craig MacLean’s neck stood on end, as though each one wielded its own sword against the enemy.

Without the protection of the fortress walls, they were sitting ducks tromping through the forest. An army with most of its men on foot would not be able to escape should a legion of redcoats cut off their path.

Winter had not stopped the sieges. Winter had not stopped death.

A vulture flew overhead, accompanied by two cronies as they cut a wide circular path in the graying sky. Were he and the men the dead meat they sought?

“We should go back,” he said to Graham MacPherson. “Your invitation was appreciated, but I’ve no’ got a good feeling about this.”

There was no telling when Cumberland’s men would make their move, and if the men were inebriated from drink and tired from too much celebrating, they’d not be ready for an attack.

Graham chuckled and tossed the end of a stick he’d been chewing at Craig. “Ye’re afraid of a few birds, are ye?”

“I’m no’ afraid of anything.”

“Let loose, MacLean. The men need to have some fun, and so do ye.”

The very last place that Craig wanted to be was riding toward Cullidunloch Castle. It wasn’t that he didn’t like castles or his host or the warm feast that Graham had promised or the ale that was certain to be flowing.

Craig liked all of those things quite a lot. More than a lot, if he were being honest. Toss in a bonnie wench or two to flirt with, and he’d be in his own version of heaven. But Cullidunloch Castle wasn’t only home to his best mate. It also happened to house a woman he’d been working hard to avoid for months. Graham’s sister Annie was very beautiful and very irksome. She was as brilliant as she was irritating, and despite that brilliance, the lass had conveniently forgotten the single encounter the two of them had shared.

He hadn’t forgotten. How could he? And now he was descending upon her home—her and Graham’s home—to partake of their hospitality. Her hospitality. If she was willing to give it.

Hospitality he would really like to have, considering he hadn’t had a warm bath in weeks. He’d only managed to keep himself from smelling like a chamber pot by swimming—when the lochs weren’t covered in a sheet of ice. His clothes were getting stiff from use, and he was fairly certain that his last good pair of hose now had a hole where his big toe was greedily trying to squeeze through.

At least right now they weren’t dealing with snow, though it was only early spring and another storm was inevitable in the Highlands. The temperatures had been rising steadily, enough so that the men in his regiment weren’t so fearful of freezing to death anymore. Unless of course it snowed tonight and Annie MacPherson tossed him out with the last of the evening’s rubbish. He wouldn’t put it past her.

Craig would have to make nice with her, though he found the very idea absurd. Graham didn’t need to know what a termagant his sister truly was. He’d never told his friend what had happened when he’d found Annie retching after battle.

To everyone else she encountered, Annie was sweet as sunshine. Even the men she had to stitch up while they writhed in pain called her their angel—men in his own regiment, men he’d trained and led into battle. She was lauded for her nursing skills and her bedside manner, which stung even more. Of course he sent his men to her to be mended; she was the best damn healer he’d ever seen.

And that was about all the amount of niceties he’d extend. Why had he been the only unlucky fellow to have encountered her waspish side?

He would never be caught openly acknowledging the bonniness of her face. The way her chin curved into a petite point or the way her eyebrows arched delicately over her mesmerizing eyes. Eyes that were the most incredible amber color.

Bloody hell.

Every time he looked at Annie, every time she smiled, he saw that derisive sneer she’d flashed at him the night he’d tried to help her. He’d seen a side of her he was certain no one else had, and he’d run as far as he bloody could—after making sure she was safely taken care of, that was.

He wasn’t a complete monster.

But he was quite all right with her believing he was, if that meant she’d stay the hell away from him.

“Is the pottage breakfast no’ agreeing with ye?” Graham’s teasing voice cut through Craig’s thoughts.

He snorted. “I’ve an iron stomach, lad.”

“Lad? I think I’ve got a year or two on ye. And ye forget we’ve been living together on campaign for months. Bean pottage is no’ your friend, mate.”

Craig snickered. “Are ye saying that ye’re in need of a latrine?”

“Debatable.”

Craig was glad for his friend’s distraction. Though he didn’t want to talk about beans or what happened after he ate them.

“Annie’s sure to have a hearty meal for the lot of us this evening.” Graham sounded so wistful, as though he were talking about something more fantastical than food. Like the war ending with Prince Charles Stuart sitting on the throne. Now that was something to long for.

Craig’s smile faded, and he nodded, having hoped to avoid any further conversation about Graham’s chit of a sister.

“I’m honored to be your guest.” This much was true.

“Honored?” Graham let out a guffaw. “Ye’re my brother in arms, mate.”

While they’d known each other for years, they’d become closer friends after having saved each other’s arses at the battle at Falkirk the January past.

“I’m certain Logan will want to spar with ye,” Graham was saying of his younger brother, who’d been sent home from the front with a grave injury. “And Annie, she’ll be there to sew ye up.”

Craig laughed, but only half-heartedly. If he had his way, he’d keep Annie the length of a jousting stick away from him—preferably farther—at all times.

*****

Author Info:

ELIZA KNIGHT is an award-winning and USA Today bestselling author of over fifty sizzling historical romances. When not reading, writing, or researching, she chases after her three children. In her spare time she likes daydreaming, wine-tasting, traveling, hiking, and visiting with family and friends. She lives in Maryland.

Author Website: https://eknightauthor.com/

*****

Giveaway:

5 Copies of The Rebel Wears Plaid to celebrate Truly Madly Plaid release

https://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/54ca7af7998/?

Spotlight – The Ultimate Betrayal

21 Monday Dec 2020

Posted by romanticreadsandsuch in Blog Tour, Contest

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Kat Martin, Maximum Security series, The Ultimate Betrayal

I am so thrilled to have Kat Martin here again today to share a little bit about her newest book!

*****

Story Ideas

People often ask how I come up with ideas for my novels. Sometimes I have no answer–it just seems to pop into my head. Best guess, the kernel of an idea probably came from a newspaper or magazine article or something I saw in a movie. It was probably just so far back I don’t recall.

Before I started to write THE ULTIMATE BETRAYAL, Brandon Garrett’s story, the third book in my Maximum Security Series, I had decided to set a book in Colorado, maybe even a new series. I ran across an article about the Army Chemical Weapons Depot near Fort Carson and started thinking… wouldn’t it make be interesting if someone stole chemical weapons from the depot? I wonder if it could be done? How would the good guys catch the thieves? And so off I went on a story that turned into The Ultimate Betrayal.

Having written over 70 novels since I began way back when, it’s harder and harder to come up with fresh ideas. I do a lot of research for my books. This novel, set around a military base, was particularly difficult. Lots of stuff I didn’t know.

In the story, when investigative journalist Jessie Kegan’s father, a colonel in the army, is accused of treason, Jessie is determined to clear his name. Reluctantly, she turns to former Special Ops soldier, Brandon Garrett, her late brother’s best friend–a true heartbreaker, according to her brother.

I hope you’ll give THE ULTIMATE BETRAYAL a try and if you like Bran and Jessie as much as I did, you can also find them in THE CONSPIRACY, Maximum Security book #1 and THE DECEPTION, book #2.

Till next time, happy reading and all best, Kat

*****

The Ultimate Betrayal

A Maximum Security Novel

by Kat Martin

Blurb:

Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Betrayal-Maximum-Security/dp/1335483756

B&N https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-ultimate-betrayal-dwayne-t-martin/1125832346?ean=9781335483751

Indiebound https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781335483751

Kobo https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-ultimate-betrayal-26

Google https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Kat_Martin_The_Ultimate_Betrayal?id=GqmqDwAAQBAJ

Itunes https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-ultimate-betrayal/id1477473206

*****

Author Info:

Bestselling author Kat Martin, a graduate of the University of California at Santa Barbara, currently resides in Missoula, Montana with Western-author husband, L. J. Martin. More than seventeen million copies of Kat’s books are in print, and she has been published in twenty foreign countries. Fifteen of her recent novels have taken top-ten spots on the New York Times Bestseller List, and her novel, BEYOND REASON, was recently optioned for a feature film. Kat’s latest novel, THE ULTIMATE BETRAYAL, a Romantic Thriller, was released in paperback December 29th.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KatMartinAuthor/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/katmartinauthor

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52293322-the-ultimate-betrayal

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/KatMartinAuthor

Website: https://www.katmartin.com/

Monthly Contest: https://www.katmartin.com/monthly-contest/

Spotlight – Christmas in Bethlehem

18 Friday Dec 2020

Posted by romanticreadsandsuch in Blog Tour, Contest, Sneak Peek

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Beth Rhodes, Christmas in Bethlehem

I’m so pleased to have Beth Rhodes here today to share her newest book! And it is just perfect for the holiday season.

*****

If you’re like me, 2020 has been both confusing and invigorating. You can’t believe what life looks like right now. You’re shocked you never left the house for months at a time, except to perhaps make a trip to the store. For certain, you’re wondering why you don’t have five books written!!

Maybe, your priorities have changed…and finding joy and love is more your pace. Maybe the almighty dollar doesn’t seem that big a deal. Maybe writing for the joy of writing—a revelation in years past,—has now been cemented into your soul. And you might never go back to the daily grind of routine tasks and making a buck.

My Christmas story, Christmas in Bethlehem, is like that.

And when I think back on all the books I’ve written, it’s always the ones I’ve done without inhibition that end up being everyone’s favorite.

This story was demanded by a friend, inspired by the Spirit, and given in the name of romance to all of you who are in desperate need of a book that will make you laugh and sigh and smile. Joy.

I hope you find love, peace, and joy this Holiday Season: from Christmas straight through to the New Year.

*****

Christmas in Bethlehem

by Beth Rhodes

Blurb:

A soldier in the U.S. Army, Roxie St. John is about to end her time in the service. And she expects a Christmas trip to her grandmother’s Christmas Tree Farm is just what she needs to test the waters of living back home. If she can convince Nana to sell and move to town, maybe the feelings of discontent won’t return.

Ben Niklaus grew up as a stowaway on Bethlehem’s tree farm. So when an opportunity arises to buy it outright, he doesn’t waste any time. Having Roxie around only cements his suspicion: he never should have let her go. But love isn’t any easier to decipher now than it was six years ago.

An unexpected visit from two stranded travelers and a new baby make this a Christmas Roxie and Ben will never forget.

Buy Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08P439ZSJ

*****

Excerpt:

Prologue

With the whiteout conditions obscuring the windshield view of the road in front of him, Joe Carpenter gently pressed on the brakes as they rolled through one more small town on their way north toward the Canadian border.

His wife slept soundly for the first time in weeks.

Nerves hit his stomach. They had met while he was undercover investigating a human trafficking ring. She worked in the main house close to the boss. Her access to the workings of the organization was access that would eventually place her in danger. He hadn’t trusted her at first, and then he’d dropped his guard and fallen for her because he’d seen she was different.

Her determination to get to know him had made him suspicious. What did she want? How could he help her? Was she looking to expose him?

There were dozens of women being brought into the organization. Some moved to legit jobs. Others were chosen to go dark—Joe’s definition of what happened. The women would just…disappear. One day there’d be twenty women training as if to go on to a secretarial job, and the next day half of them would be gone.

Except for Marie Jude. In his first month there, she was never placed. A red flag.

But then, one day, she came to him in that moment before dawn and tapped on his door.

She’d taken a huge risk and asked him to help two of the women escape.

And his undercover had gone undercover.

“Hey,” Marie whispered from her side of the car. “Everything okay?”

“The roads are treacherous.” He gripped the wheel.

“Should we stop?”

“I don’t think we should. We really need to get miles between us and King.”

She wasn’t a stranger to the tension running through him, though. “We can find a place to hole up. A cheap motel, something. We need to be safe.”

“Safe is getting home,” he gripped the wheel when the car swerved on the ice.

He loved her now. It hadn’t taken long, a few months. He wanted her to be safe. And safe meant getting her back to her family in Canada until the agency could close the case. Then he’d have to go back to fill out reports and testify in court again.

He pulled into a gas station. “Let me get some gas, and we’ll see how far we can go.”

She let out a sigh. “Joe,” she warned.

Joe got out without a word. He had to think. Stopping could put them in danger.

As he pumped the gas, the wind blew at his face, and the snow made visibility close to nil. Even the little shop front of the gas station was hard to see. She was right. Their little Pinto wasn’t going to hold up well in this weather.

When he got in, he turned to her, his love. “We’ll start looking for somewhere to stop. But we need to be careful. You know—”

“I know,” she said. “We’ll stay safe with you guarding us.”

Joe touched her face. “You and me and little Bean. Okay?”

Her trust smothered the doubt, and he nodded, put the car in gear, and headed out to find a place for them to find refuge.

*****

Author Info:

…she unfollowed the world and found her heart.

Country music Love Junkie. Boxing and low-carb Health Addict. Birdwatcher. Garden Grower. Adorer of God and His son, Jesus. Married to my own soldier Hero. T1D Warrior. Add six children.

www.authorbethrhodes.com

www.facebook.com/beth.writes

www.instagram.com/bethrhodes_99

*****

Giveaway:

Gift Bag: Books and More!

https://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/9b7405bf3/

Spotlight – Layla

17 Thursday Dec 2020

Posted by romanticreadsandsuch in Blog Tour, Contest, Sneak Peek

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Colleen Hoover, Layla

This month bestselling author Colleen Hoover released her very first paranormal romance, Layla. Today Colleen shares one of her very favorite parts of the book and introduces the scene. Colleen, take it away!

“Leeds and Layla have just met about an hour before this scene takes place. I wouldn’t say they experienced insta-love, but it was definitely an immediate attraction. Leeds is lonely and withdrawn from life, while Layla is the opposite. She’s over the top and fun and everything Leeds isn’t. He’s a musician who has never released any of his own music due to insecurities and doubt. But Layla lights a fire in him and uncovers the confidence about his music that he keeps buried.”

Layla leans in and I expect her to kiss me, but instead she whispers, “Play me something,” against my mouth. Then she moves to the couch and lies down. “Play something worthy of that piano,” she says.

She crosses her legs at her ankles and lets one of her arms dangle off the couch. She runs her finger against the hardwood floor while she waits for me to start playing, but I can’t stop staring at her. I’m not sure there’s another woman on this planet who could make me want to stare at her without blinking until my eyes dry up, but she’s looking at me expectantly.

“What if you don’t like my music?” I ask. “Will you still let me kiss you?”

She smiles gently. “Does the song mean something to you?”

“I wrote it using pieces of my soul.”

“Then you have nothing to worry about,” she says quietly.

I spin around on the bench and place my fingers on the keys. I hesitate for a moment before playing the song. I’ve never performed it for anyone before. The only person I’ve ever wanted to sing it for is my father, and he’s no longer alive. His death is the reason I wrote this in the first place.

I’ve never been nervous while playing Garrett’s songs onstage, but this feels different. This is personal, and despite the fact that there’s only one person in the audience right now, it feels like the most intense audience I’ve ever performed for.

I fill my lungs with air and slowly release it as I begin to play.

That night I stopped believing in heaven
I can’t believe in a god that cruel
Can you?
That night I stopped praying on my knees
But I don’t pray standing either
Do you?
That night I closed the door and closed the
window
I’ve been sitting in the dark
Are you?
That night I learned happiness is a fairy tale
A thousand pages read aloud
By you
That night I stopped believing in God
You were ours, he didn’t care, he
Took you
So that night I stopped . . .
I stopped . . .
I just
Stopped.
That night I stopped.
I stopped.
I just stopped.
That night I stopped.
I . . .

When I’m finished playing the song, I fold my hands in my lap. I’m a little hesitant to turn around and look at her. The whole room got quiet after I played the last note. So quiet—it feels like all the sound was sucked out of the house. I can’t even hear her breathing.

I close the cover to the piano and then slowly spin around on the bench. She’s wiping her eyes, staring up at the ceiling.

“Wow,” she whispers. “I wasn’t expecting that. I feel like you just stomped on my chest.”

That’s how I’ve felt since I first laid eyes on her tonight.

“I like how it ends,” she says. She sits up on the couch and tucks her legs beneath her. “You just stop in the middle of the sentence. It’s so perfect. So powerful.”

I wasn’t sure if she’d realize the intentional ending, but the fact that she does makes me all the more enamored of her.

*****

Layla

by Colleen Hoover

Release Date: December 8, 2020

Publisher: Montlake

Blurb:

When Leeds meets Layla, he’s convinced he’ll spend the rest of his life with her—until an unexpected attack leaves Layla fighting for her life. After weeks in the hospital, Layla recovers physically, but the emotional and mental scarring has altered the woman Leeds fell in love with. In order to put their relationship back on track, Leeds whisks Layla away to the bed-and-breakfast where they first met. Once they arrive, Layla’s behavior takes a bizarre turn. And that’s just one of many inexplicable occurrences.

Feeling distant from Layla, Leeds soon finds solace in Willow—another guest of the B&B with whom he forms a connection through their shared concerns. As his curiosity for Willow grows, his decision to help her find answers puts him in direct conflict with Layla’s well-being. Leeds soon realizes he has to make a choice because he can’t help both of them. But if he makes the wrong choice, it could be detrimental for all of them.

*****

Author Info:

Colleen Hoover is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of several novels, including the bestselling women’s fiction novel It Ends with Us and the bestselling psychological thriller Verity. She has won the Goodreads Choice Award for Best Romance three years in a row—for Confess (2015), It Ends with Us (2016), and Without Merit (2017). Confess was adapted into a seven-episode online series. In 2015, Hoover and her family founded the Bookworm Box, a bookstore and monthly subscription service that offers signed novels donated by authors. All profits go to various charities each month to help those in need. Hoover lives in Texas with her husband and their three boys.

Website: http://www.colleenhoover.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorColleenHoover/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/colleenhoover
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5430144.Colleen_Hoover

*****

Giveaway:

A Bundle of Colleen Hoover Books!

https://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/07c2363f264/

Spotlight – Teddy Spenser Isn’t Looking for Love

16 Wednesday Dec 2020

Posted by romanticreadsandsuch in Blog Tour, Sneak Peek

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Kim Fielding, Teddy Spenser Isn't Looking for Love

Teddy may not be looking for love but I am definitely looking forward to getting my hands on this one!

*****

Teddy Spenser Isn’t Looking for Love

by Kim Fielding

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Imprint: Carina Press (Carina Adores)

On Sale: December 29, 2020

Format: Trade Paperback

Price: $14.99 U.S.

ISBN: 9781335971999

Blurb:

Some people search their whole lives to find love. He just wants to avoid it.

Teddy Spenser spends his days selling design ideas to higher-ups, living or dying on each new pitch. Stodgy engineer types like Romeo Blue, his nemesis—if you can call someone who barely talks to you a nemesis—are a necessary evil. A cute necessary evil.

Working together is bad enough, but when their boss puts them both on a new high-stakes project, “working together” suddenly means:

sitting uncomfortably close on the same plane,
staying in the same hotel room—with only one bed—and
spending every waking minute together.

Turns out Mr. Starched Shirt has some hidden depths, and it’s getting harder to ignore the spark Teddy feels with every brush of their hands, with every knowing look. He might not have been looking for this connection with Romeo, but will he ever be ready to let him go?

IndieBound: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781335971999

Harlequin.com: https://www.harlequin.com/shop/books/9781335971999_teddy-spenser-isnt-looking-for-love.html

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Teddy-Spenser-Isnt-Looking-Love/dp/1335971998

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/teddy-spenser-isnt-looking-for-love-kim-fielding/1137293524

Apple Books: https://books.apple.com/us/book/teddy-spenser-isnt-looking-for-love/id1522146415

Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Kim_Fielding_Teddy_Spenser_Isn_t_Looking_for_Love?id=l17vDwAAQBAJ

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/teddy-spenser-isn-t-looking-for-love

*****

Excerpt:

“Hey.”

Teddy hadn’t noticed anyone come up behind him, and he startled so violently that he almost knocked over his coffee. He spun the chair around and discovered Romeo Blue looking down at him, stone-faced.

“What?” Teddy knew he was scowling and didn’t care.

“Can we speak in my office, please?” As usual, Romeo’s voice was low, his words clipped. As if he refused to spare much energy to speak to Teddy.

“I’m busy right now.”

“As soon as you can then.” Romeo spun and marched back to his office, leaving its door slightly ajar.

Teddy could have followed him; Imani’s numbers weren’t so urgent that they couldn’t wait awhile. But he remained stubbornly at his desk even though he could no longer focus on the computer screen. Romeo Blue. Teddy had googled him once, just for the hell of it—not at all to dispel lingering notions that his coworker was a spy working under a really stupid alias. It turned out that Lenny Kravitz used Romeo Blue as a stage name back in the eighties, and that was more than a little weird since this Romeo resembled a young Lenny Kravitz, albeit with a darker complexion and a different clothing aesthetic. Kravitz probably didn’t wear suits from Zara. And to be honest, although Kravitz was gorgeous, Romeo was even more so, with perfect eyebrows, velvety eyes, and a mouth that—

“Nope!” Teddy stood abruptly and grabbed his coffee mug. He needed a refill.

He finished off that cup, visited the depressing bathroom he’d been fruitlessly begging Lauren to redecorate, and chatted briefly with the cute copy-machine repairman before finally knocking on Romeo’s open door and stepping inside. And then, as always when he entered this room, Teddy glowered.

It was a fraction of the size of Lauren’s office, with barely enough room for a desk, two chairs, and a computer stand. Despite that, it was a real office instead of a cubicle. But what truly annoyed Teddy was that Romeo hadn’t even bothered to decorate the space. There wasn’t a single knickknack or picture, and the mismatched office supplies—a black stapler and taupe tape dispenser—appeared to be from the discount bin at Staples. The only touches of personality were the three computer monitors—three of them, for God’s sake—and, of course, Romeo himself.

Maybe Romeo thought himself so decorative that his mere presence sufficed. Or he didn’t want any other objects to detract from his glory.

Also, he smelled like sandalwood, bergamot, and vanilla. Dammit.

*****

Author Info:

Kim Fielding is the bestselling author of numerous m/m romance novels, novellas, and short stories. Like Kim herself, her work is eclectic, spanning genres such as contemporary, fantasy, paranormal, and historical. Her stories are set in alternate worlds, in 15th century Bosnia, in modern-day Oregon. Her heroes are hipster architect werewolves, housekeepers, maimed giants, and conflicted graduate students. They’re usually flawed, they often encounter terrible obstacles, but they always find love.

Kim’s novel Brute was the 2013 Rainbow Award Winner for Best Gay Fantasy and tied for fourth place for Best Gay Novel.

After having migrated back and forth across the western two-thirds of the United States, Kim calls the boring part of California home. She lives there with her husband, her two daughters, and her day job as a university professor, but escapes as often as possible via car, train, plane, or boat. This may explain why her characters often seem to be in transit as well. She dreams of traveling and writing full-time.

Website: https://www.kfieldingwrites.com/

Twitter: @KFieldingWrites

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KFieldingWrites/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4105707.Kim_Fielding

*****

Carina Adores is home to highly romantic contemporary love stories featuring beloved romance tropes, where LGBTQ+ characters find their happily-ever-afters.

A new Carina Adores title is available each month in trade paperback, ebook and audiobook formats.

Just Like That by Cole McCade (available now!)
Hairpin Curves by Elia Winters (available now!)
Better Than People by Roan Parrish (available now!)
The Secret Ingredient by KD Fisher (available now!)
Just Like This by Cole McCade (available now!)
The Beautiful Things Shoppe by Philip William Stover (coming January 26, 2021)
Best Laid Plans by Roan Parrish (coming February 23, 2021)
Knit, Purl, a Baby and a Girl by Hettie Bell (coming March 30, 2021)

Spotlight – The Best Cowboy Christmas Ever

15 Tuesday Dec 2020

Posted by romanticreadsandsuch in Blog Tour, Contest

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June Faver, The Best Cowboy Christmas Ever

Gets your oven mitts out for Faver’s awesome Christmas cookie recipe … and hot new hero!

*****

The Best Cowboy Christmas Ever

by June Faver

Publication Date: 9/29/2020

Blurb:

Enjoy a down-home Texas cowboy Christmas!

When handsome town sheriff Derrick Shelton meets Angelique Guillory and her young daughter at the Garrett ranch, he is immediately drawn to the woman who seems to desperately need a true family Christmas. Determined to erase the shadows from her eyes, he decides to give her the best holiday she’s ever had.

Angelique Guillory is a woman with a past, haunted by violence and searching for the family she never knew. When she and her little daughter find their way to the Garrett family and meet Derrick, she hopes to have finally found a safe haven.

But Angelique is still looking over her shoulder. Despite her doubts, with a little Christmas magic and the warmth of the Garretts, Angelique may find more love and acceptance than she ever thought possible.

Amazon: https://amzn.to/2Agfs6O

B&N: https://amzn.to/2Agfs6O

Apple: https://apple.co/2yCAhJk

Kobo: https://bit.ly/3gWVsGP

Bookshop: https://bit.ly/2A9py9H

BAM: https://bit.ly/3cab3Q6

Walmart: https://bit.ly/32JB0Dy

*****

Author Info:

June Faver loves Texas, from the Gulf coast to the panhandle, from the Mexican border to the Piney Woods. Her novels embrace the heart and soul of the state and the larger-than-life Texans who romp across her pages. A former teacher and healthcare professional, she lives and writes in the Texas Hill Country.

Author Website: https://www.junefaver.com/

*****

Giveaway:

Casablanca Christmas 2020 Bundle
20 Random Casablanca Christmas Books

https://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/54ca7af7976/?

Review – Christmas at the Marshmallow Café

14 Monday Dec 2020

Posted by romanticreadsandsuch in Blog Tour, Book Review, Sneak Peek

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Book Review, Christmas at the Marshmallow Cafe, CP Ward

This is my first time reading a book by CP Ward but I can guarantee it won’t be my last!

*****

Christmas at the Marshmallow Café

by CP Ward

Blurb:

When downtrodden checkout assistant Bonnie Green receives a letter from a mysterious uncle, she can hardly believe her eyes.

Gifted a hundred-year lease on a famous cafe situated in the middle of a mythical theme park, Bonnie sets off with her best friend Debbie on an adventure to a hidden valley in the Lake District where they will find new friendship, love, and happiness, all set against the magic of Christmas … and more marshmallows than they can possibly eat….

Purchase Link – https://books2read.com/cp-ward-christmas-at-the-marshmallow-cafe

Only 99p/c until 20th December!

*****

Excerpt:

Bonnie has grown up with the memories of her father’s tales of the semi-mythical Christmas Land. But will the reality match up to her image?

‘There’s a lake in the centre in the design of a heart. In winter it freezes over, and the water becomes as icy-blue as the sky. If you get up just before dawn and look out of the window, you’ll see elves in green and gold racing across it, enjoying themselves before heading to the toy workshops to begin their day’s work.’

Bonnie smiled. When she looked back on it now, the stories were cringe-worthy, storybook fantasy. At the time, though, she had hung on her father’s every word.

‘When you first awake and draw back the curtains of your chalet, you’ll immediately be blinded by the snow glittering off the trees as the sun rises. Despite the cold—far colder than you could ever expect in England, because this is a special place, remember—you must certainly open your window, and drop a few seeds out onto the window ledge for the local robins. Each chalet has a resident bird which will surely come to see you. While not quite tame enough to touch, it will still give you the honour of its company before it sets off on its errands for the day. And then, listen quietly, for in the still of the morning before the park really wakes up, you can hear the reindeer calling each other among the trees.’

Bonnie sighed and wiped a tear from her eye. At the end of each story, he had left her with the same promise.

‘And when you’re old enough to appreciate it, we’ll all go to Christmas Land together, where you can experience the magic of Christmas at any time of the year.’

He had died before fulfilling his promise. Bonnie didn’t blame him, of course, but he had taken the magic of her childhood with him to the grave. The real world had rushed in, filling her life with the chores of washing plates and picking up dirty glasses, stuffing soiled sheets into industrial washers and scrubbing the crust off toilets. She had saved enough to pay her way into college and had dreamed of becoming a nurse. Donald had wanted her as a stay-at-home mum, however, and she had been happy, raising her children. She hadn’t even noticed that none of his promises—of a better life, a nicer street, a bigger house and a newer car—ever materialised. At least not for her. He had saved plenty to keep his new hat lady happy, leaving Bonnie as a forty-something with no qualifications forced to sit behind a checkout at Morrico to keep her head above the waters of her mortgage.

And the worst thing was that her children blamed her for everything.

She was still reminiscing on the past when a large white billboard came up on the left-hand side.

CHRISTMAS LAND

WHERE DREAMS COME TRUE

14 MILES – TURN LEFT NEXT JUNCTION

Bonnie shoved Debbie to wake her, slowing the car at the same time.

‘Look,’ she said, pointing as they passed the billboard, its chipped paint and one rusted metal leg horrifyingly apparent. Someone had thrown a bag of trash at it at some point, and now a plastic supermarket bag hung from a splinter of wood next to the word TRUE. It felt like a sign, all right.

*****

Review:

Bonnie is a little bit worn down, living a life that hasn’t exactly gone the way she expected. An unexpected inheritance from an uncle she hardly remembers means she has to decide exactly how much of a risk she’s willing to take.

I really liked Bonnie – she’s very normal but facing some not so normal choices. With a little push from her younger, bolder best friend, Bonnie quickly finds herself on an adventure that has the just might change her life.

While not a romance exactly, Ward’s newest definitely left me feeling festive and happy. It’s full of quirky, lovely people and an opportunity to find a place where you truly belong.

*****

Author Info:

CP Ward is an author from Cornwall in the UK.

Social Media Link – https://www.facebook.com/groups/510678469409835

*****

Spotlight – Smokin’ Hot Cowboy Christmas

11 Friday Dec 2020

Posted by romanticreadsandsuch in Blog Tour

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Kim Redford, Smokin' Hot Cowboy Christmas, Smokin' Hot Cowboys series

Have yourself a Smokin’ Hot Cowboy Christmas

*****

Smokin’ Hot Cowboy Christmas

A Smokin’ Hot Cowboys Novel

by Kim Redford

Publication Date: 9/29/2020

Blurb:

It’s been one fiasco after another for newcomer Belle Tarleton since she began trying to turn her ranch into an arts center. Local workers seem determined to ruin her Christmas party plans, and she hopes bringing in down-on-his-luck Rowdy Holloway to help with renovations will get things back on track.

Rowdy is the unluckiest cowboy in the whole of Wildcat Bluff County, Texas, and things are not improving this holiday season. Sure, he’s the object of many local women’s drool-worthy fantasies, but the town has decided he’s the man who should stop Belle’s renovation plans.

It started as a simple mission, but now Rowdy’s so twisted up he doesn’t know whose side he’s on. With only days until Christmas, Rowdy and Belle need to tap into their fiery personalities and off-the-charts chemistry if they’re ever going to find a way to thaw the ice on this reluctant town’s heart.

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3c71Lo7

B&N: https://bit.ly/2M4HVzk

Apple: https://apple.co/2X5tQbe

Kobo: https://bit.ly/2DWQnjk

Bookshop: https://bit.ly/2DWQnjk

BAM: https://bit.ly/2X917lC

Walmart: https://bit.ly/3gQMDxE

*****

Author Info:

Kim Redford is a bestselling author of contemporary Western romance novels. She grew up in Texas with cowboys, cowgirls, horses, cattle, and rodeos. She’s a rescue cat wrangler and horseback rider—when she takes a break from her keyboard. Kim Redford currently divides her time between homes in Oklahoma and Richardson, Texas.

Author Website: http://www.kimredford.com/

*****

Giveaway:

Casablanca Christmas 2020 Bundle
20 Random Casablanca Christmas Books

https://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/54ca7af7976/?

Spotlight – Mistletoe & Mr Right

10 Thursday Dec 2020

Posted by romanticreadsandsuch in Blog Tour

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Mistletoe & Mr. Right, Sarah Morgenthaler

It really is the most wonderful time of year (for awesome reads, anyway, even in 2020)!

*****

Mistletoe & Mr. Right

by Sarah Morgenthaler

Publication Date: 10/6/2020

Blurb:

How the moose (almost) stole Christmas.

Lana Montgomery is everything the quirky small town of Moose Springs, Alaska can’t stand: a rich socialite with dreams of changing things for the better. But Lana’s determined to prove that she belongs…even if it means trading her stilettos for snow boots and tracking one of the town’s hairiest Christmas mysteries: the Santa Moose, an antlered Grinch hell-bent on destroying every bit of holiday cheer (and tinsel) it can sink its teeth into.

And really…how hard could it be?

The last few years have been tough on Rick Harding, and it’s not getting any easier now that his dream girl’s back in town. When Lana accidentally tranquilizes him instead of the Santa Moose, it’s clear she needs help, fast…and this could be his chance to finally catch her eye. It’s an all-out Christmas war, but if they can nab that darn moose before it destroys the town, Rick and Lana might finally find a place where they both belong…together.

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3hD4v0h

B&N: https://bit.ly/2XANNWn

Apple: https://apple.co/2TLeVkf

Kobo: https://bit.ly/2Qki9sT

Bookshop: https://bit.ly/2B3ejzX

BAM: https://bit.ly/3eqZAxq

Indiebound: https://bit.ly/32YK7k0

*****

Author Info:

Geologist and lifelong science nerd, SARAH MORGENTHALER is a passionate supporter of chocolate chip cookies, geeking out over rocks, and playing with her rescue pit bull, Sammy. When not writing romantic comedy and contemporary romance set in far-off places, Sarah can be found traveling with her husband, hiking national parks, and enjoying her own happily ever after. Sarah is a two-time Golden Heart Finalist and winner of the NOLA STARS Suzannah award.

Author Website: https://sarahmorgenthaler.com/