L.V. Lewis's Blog, page 25

By now you all know I’m participating this year in the Blogger Book Fair. Through this venue, I’ve met four outstanding new-to-me authors whose works have impressed me tremendously. One such author is Drako Damone.

Drako is, like myself, a self-published author. His first series is entitled the Dragon Hunters. The books are available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Createspace. He writes mostly fantasy/paranormal fiction and romance, though he’s also known to dabble in other genres like poetry and one experimental novel in the gay category.

As a writer, Drako reads heavily in the same genre he writes in. As an author, he understands how important reviews are, so Drako reviews everything he reads, and posts his reviews on his Blog.  He also posts them on Goodreads, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble. If you want him to review your work, just check out the page on book reviews to contact him. Same for guest posting and blog tours.

For the Blogger Book Fair, Drako opted to be interviewed, so the following are my questions of him and his very illuminating answers:

L.V.: Drako, How long have you been writing, and when did you know that you wanted to become a writer?

Drako: I have been writing since the fifth grade. I was given a short story assignment and I decided to keep writing. It was a short story, which I currently think was quite horrible but it was a start. I have dreamed of becoming a writer since that first story.

L.V.: Who’s your favorite author, and why?

Drako: Anne Rice is my favorite of all time. I fell in love with the vampire Lestat. Her vampire chronicles were so interesting, different than other vampire stories. Lestat was such a wonderfully complex character that makes so many mistakes. I also read her Mayfair witches chronicles and several of her stand-alone novels. She comes up with such unique characters and always does her research on the time period she writes. Plus, she’s very interactive with fans and discusses anything of interest on her fan page. She’s an amazing person.

L.V.: Tell us about your current book.

Drako: I just released Heir of Mjolnir, the fourth book in my Dragon Hunters series. It features Vax, a mortal born witch whose patron goddess is Hecate. Lucifer has entered the world and deluded most of mankind into believing he’s the one true god of light, but Vax is among the few to see the truth. He beseeches Hecate for help and she gives him a task, to earn Mjolnir, the legendary weapon of the now deceased god Thor, and use it to cast Lucifer out of the realm.

L.V.: If you could have a conversation with one of the characters in your current novel, which one would it be and why?

Drako: I’d choose Phil, a werewolf and a main character in the series, because he is the most frustrating character to write. I want to choke him most times, because he’s so much more complex than I intended originally. I’ve been fighting with his insecurities for four books straight. I would love to talk to him (and by talk I mean yell and shake him) so that he understands that his love interest truly loves and wants him.

L.V.: Where do you get the ideas and inspiration for your stories?

Drako: This one is hard to answer. My ideas just come to me randomly really. Inspiration hits just as random and I start writing. The characters take on a life of their own in my head and tell me how to tell their story.

L.V.: What is the best thing for you about being a writer?

Drako: I love interacting with fans, answering questions, and the rage I get sometimes as they wait on the next book. I like seeing people become invested in the characters and pick their favorites. Everyone has a different favorite.

L.V.: If we asked your closest friends to describe who you were, what do you think they would say?

Drako: They’d probably tell you I’m a bit of an asshole, to be honest. But they’d have to mention my loyalty, my drive, my independence, and my willingness to work towards my goals. I’m not just an author, I’m a college student, I’m an uncle and father figure to several nieces, a friend, a counselor who often gives out tough love, a provider, and an all-around different kind of guy.

L.V.: How did you find your agent/publisher? If you’re self-published why did you decide to go that route?

Drako: I elected to go the self-publishing route because I just really didn’t like the idea of hunting down an agent or publisher that would take my books on. Because my series delves into several genre, it was a bit of a headache to find anyone that takes all of them. I like having control over my books and I know some self-published authors get book deals with mainstream publishers if their book does well enough.

L.V.: What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve been given or given to someone else?

Drako: Always have someone else edit your work.

L.V.: What’s the biggest mistake you’ve made as an author?

Drako: For my second novel, the Dragon Witch, I missed several typos when I first put the book out. This is because no one else edited my work. I had to resubmit the book a few months ago with corrections made. I learned the hard way, at least one other person should edit my work because I will see what I intended to write, not what I actually wrote.

L.V.: What’s next on the agenda for you?

Drako: Book 5 is well under way. It’s called the Three Fates. I have another series called Journeys that I’m working on the first book for, and I have a joint project with my brother to begin writing on. I’m also helping a coworker publish her work as soon as she finishes writing it.

I don’t know how many times I’ve read the blog post, Twitter or Facebook status of an author who begins by mentioning what music they’re listening to on their iPod or the music mix they’ve made for their newest novel. I know music gives a sense of atmosphere. Emotions are wrapped up in the pounding rock beat of a fight scene or the sensuous melody of jazz for penning love scenes. I’ve written whole stories based on one line from a song that spurred my imagination. I completely understand how music puts a writer in the mood.

Well—many writers.

I’m part of a small minority of writers who can’t write with music playing in the background. People talking. The television blaring. Even video games. I can block all of that from my mind as I work on my stories. But music? No Way. Music seems to wiggle straight through everything and scrambles my wires. I can’t ignore it. All the channels and thoughts in my brain become one conglomeration of jumbled noise all wrapped up in lyrics and melodies.

I’ve never been able to listen to music and focus. When I was in high school and college I drove siblings and roommates insane with the need to turn off the stereo so I could do my homework or study for a test. I don’t know why this is the case. It just is.

It’s all very weird because I’m a woman and I can listen to 2 or 3 conversations at the same time and keep up pretty well with all of them. Multi-tasking is my middle name. But writing and listening to music? It’s not going to happen in my office.

When my children were young I would shut off all radios and television while they did their homework. But what I discovered is that they weren’t wired like me. My daughter uses music to help her focus. For many people, it becomes the white noise that centers them and drowns out all extraneous thoughts and stimuli so they can get down to business.

So what about you … music, quiet or some combination of both?

My latest short novel, A TOUCH OF LILLY, was written in the music-free zone of my busy family room (where my computer sits amid the chaos).

Blurb:

Ex-Chicago detective LILLY D’ANGELO has a secret she doesn’t share with anyone. A master of the one night stand, she’s given up ever finding a soul mate and thrown herself head first into her career. That is, until she captures the wrong alien. Kidnapped and sold into the sex slave trade, she’s shipped into deep space. Barely escaping with her life, Lilly now travels the galaxy working as a bounty hunter using her secret talents to bring down criminals and seeking revenge on the one male who ruined her life.

Agent DALLAS SAWYER works for deep space’s version of the FBI. After a disastrous mission that left several of his team members murdered, a president executed, and Dallas near death, he’s determined to take down the assassin targeting government officials. When a sexy human female gets between him and his goal, Dallas and his alien partner find themselves on the receiving end of a passionate night they won’t soon forget and a proposition that may very well blow up in their faces.

Because in deep space … true love can happen with just a touch.

 

Excerpt from Chapter One:

Lilly D’Angelo wasn’t expecting a trip down memory lane when she sauntered into the dingy tavern, but the acrid stench and gruff hum of the Friday night crowd carried her back to one of the seedier establishments on Chicago’s south side nonetheless. Except for the clientele, the owner had managed to replicate nearly every detail right down to the blue haze of cigarette smoke and the soft crooning of a jazz band on the corner stage.

Pushing the sour thoughts of home from her mind and focusing on the job at hand, Lilly morphed her features into her sexiest vixen pout and moved gracefully toward the long bar on the other side of the room. Her voluptuous breasts, spilling temptingly from her silk blouse, led the way. The eyes watching her leather-clad ass sashay around the battered tables were clustered on various life forms—none of them human.

Yeah, definitely not Chicago. Hell, this wasn’t even Earth for goodness sake.

“Regent’s ale, straight up, hold the brenic.” Lilly ordered the local brew in English, hoping the two-headed alien behind the bar had a cochlear translator in one of those eight holes that passed for ears. Satisfied when one head nodded, she settled on a stool, making sure her fur jacket and blouse parted just enough to offer a seductive view of her cleavage. She shifted, allowing the black leather skirt to ride up her thigh and expose a little more silky real estate. The reflection she saw in the mirror behind the liquor bottles was every inch a working woman on the prowl. She wasn’t trying to attract anyone in particular, just hoping to mislead the locals into thinking she was some female making a living with her body—which was true—just not as the human streetwalker she impersonated.

Undercover work was what kept food in her belly and a roof over her head. But it was the cold-hearted need for revenge that had driven her to flaunt her feminine wares on distant planets. Walking among low-life criminals—most of them of the non-human variety—was a small price to pay for the opportunity to avenge the calamity that had become her life.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BUY LINK for KINDLE lovers: http://amzn.com/B00CR4I522

BUY LINK for NOOK lovers: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-touch-of-lilly-nina-pierce/1022936625?ean=9781479315895

 

USA Today bestselling author, Nina Pierce, grew up in a house full of readers. Nina’s discovered the passionate side of romance with her sexy stories. For her, it’s all about the sweet scent of seduction mixed with the heartwarming aroma of romance.

Nina resides in New England with her high school sweetheart and soul mate of twenty-eight years and several very spoiled cats who consider her “staff”. When she’s not writing she enjoys spending time with her three grown children, one love-sick son-in-law and a heart-melting grandson.

 

You can keep up with her new books at her website (http://www.NinaPierce.com) or by following her on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/nina.pierce) or Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/ninapierce)

Desserts and hot chefs go together!

When I wrote a hot dessert chef, I had to pair him with a woman who liked desserts. After all, a vegetarian and a butcher just don’t go together   So I came up with a woman called Violet Cunningham. She not only likes desserts, she has a favorite one: raspberry cream puffs.

Now, cream puffs aren’t that hard to make, as I later discovered after the writing group took me under their wing and into the kitchen.  Since I’m not really an ardent baker – I make really good brownies, but don’t do the fancy stuff – I thought there must be some trick to them. There’s not. Especially if you’ve got a good hand mixer!

Here’s the tried-and-true ancient Betty Crocker recipe we made:

1 C water

1/2 C butter

1 C flour

4 Eggs

Filling – whipped cream, etc.

Confectioner’s sugar

Heat oven to 400. Heat water and butter to a boil. Stir in flour. Stir vigorously over low heat about 1 minute or until mixture forms a ball. * Note: I took the pan off the heat and used a mixer to do this. Much easier! * Remove from heat. Beat in eggs all at once, continue beating until smooth. *Note: again, I found the hand mixer indispensable! * Drop dough by scan 1/4 cup fulls 3″ apart on ungreased backing sheet. Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until puffed and golden.  Cool away from draft.

Pull out any filaments of soft dough. Carefully fill with whipped cream. Replace tops; dust with confectioners’ sugar. Refrigerate.

Be careful – they don’t last long!

There’s another recipe in the back of my book, Sweet Cravings, out now from Decadent Publishing and below is an excerpt that should get your whipped cream whipping.

Excerpt:

I ducked into the kitchen before the bored-looking maître d’ could accost me and found myself heating up at the sight of a stainless steel table. Sous-chefs in white hats and dishwashers with racks of clean plates bustled back and forth down the aisle in front of me, but I didn’t spot the pastry chef in their midst. I almost gave up and left before noticing the light was on in the “secret kitchen.” I gulped.

My knees went weak, and I stood frozen to the spot. Inside me, determination, embarrassment, and heady desire warred. I wanted so bad to turn and walk out, find another caterer, and be done with it. But I couldn’t. There’d be questions. Chuck would want to know why he wasn’t getting the best French-trained chef in town, and I’d be up shit creek without a paddle. What could I say? Sorry, I didn’t mean to have hot, sweaty sex with the guy—if I’d known you’d need him the next week, I would have waited?

Remembering the hot sex had my traitorous feet moving forward, toward the door instead of away. Wrong direction, I told them. Shut up and go with it, my pussy ordered. I bit my lip, swallowed my pride, and knocked.

The door opened and the man himself appeared wearing a chef’s coat splattered with pretty light pink frosting and powdered sugar. One whiff of him convinced me he’d taste positively delicious. My stomach let out a loud rumble, and I put my hand over it to try and squelch the embarrassing sound.

His mouth fell open when he caught sight of me. In fact, he seemed kind of stunned for a second. My fight-or-flight response kicked in. I swiveled on my heel, but he grabbed my elbow and tugged me inside his secret domain once more. “Mademoiselle,” he murmured low and rich as fudge pudding. “How nice to see you again. Please, come in.”

I glanced at his face from under my lashes and found him smiling at me, looking as though he might actually be glad to see me again. Part of me stiffened, vibrating with nervous energy. The rest of me tingled in saucy anticipation. The promise of man and dessert made one once more for my licking pleasure had me close to giggling with happiness as the door snicked shut. As he twirled me in his arms and drew me close, the all-important notes clutched in my hand could have jumped a shuttle for Mars for all I cared.

His mouth surged over mine, his lips warm, wet, and insistent, as though he needed to make up for lost time. I heartily seconded the sentiment, and the kiss turned from buttery hot and soft to spicy and decadent with a touch of dare.

I opened my mouth to let his tongue in, and we both moaned at the intrusion, his hips bucking against mine as he pressed my butt into the table. I clutched his shoulders, pulling him closer as my initial embarrassment waned. He tasted of sweet pastry, and I savored the flavor as I relaxed in his arms. God, the hungers the man awoke in me with just one kiss!

***

See what else Violet and her sexy chef Max do in his secret kitchen, and if you have time, whip up a batch of cream puffs to eat while you read!

Enjoy!

Eva Lefoy

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Eva-Lefoy/344907072265234

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Eva_Lefoy

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6656950.Eva_LeFoy

Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Eva-Lefoy/e/B00CE0EY0G

Blog: http://writery.wordpress.com/

Book 3 of the Finding Anna Series by Sherri Hayes.

 

For the last two months, Brianna has discovered something she never thought she would again. Hope. After the horror of being Ian’s slave for ten months, a fate she never imagined she’d escape, it feels as if she is living a dream. She has freedom she hadn’t expected to have again, and she wakes up every morning not fearing what the day will bring.

There is also Stephan. The man who saved her from the daily torture she had to endure at the hands of Ian and his friends. The same man who makes her heart race with just the thought of him. Life is good.

Outside forces are determined to conspire against them, however. When Brianna’s father shows up on her doorstep, it sends her world spiraling out of control. He brings with him new information about how Brianna ended up in Ian’s clutches, but will it make a difference? Will Stephan be able to find a way to make Ian pay for all he made Brianna suffer?

As Brianna and Stephan try to find out the truth, their relationship is tested. She is forced to face her past head on and deal with the ugly reality of what happened to her. Will Stephan’s love be enough to see her through her newest challenge, or will the fragile trust they’ve built come crumbling down around them as the truth makes itself known.

Available July 25th




Excerpt

 

Before I opened my eyes, I was aware of himbeside me. He had his arm draped over my stomach. It was warm andheavy, so I knew he was asleep.
[image error] I turned my head to look at him. He was lying onhis stomach, his face toward me, one hand tucked under his pillow. This wasonly the second time I’d seen him asleep. The first was shortly after I’d cometo live with him. I’d snuck into his bedroom—without permission—to give him ablowjob. It hadn’t ended how I’d thought it would. Then again, back then I’dknown next to nothing about him. I’d thought it would be what he wanted.Instead of being pleased, he’d ordered me out of his room and proceeded to giveme a lecture on how to thank him.
That morning seemed like a lifetime ago. A lot hadchanged since then. Stephan was no longer a stranger to me. He had helped menot be afraid all the time. He’d also opened up an entirely new world to meover the last two days. Before him, my sexual experiences had been of thenightmare variety. Sex wasn’t something I enjoyed. It was something I hated. Sexhad never been enjoyable for me, and I hadn’t expected it to be with Stephaneither. At best, I’d hoped it wouldn’t hurt like it had before and I’d be ableto endure it for him. What I’d discovered, however, was that I liked it. A lot.
As I watched him sleep, I remembered ourconversation less than a month ago when he’d told me that in some ways he waslike Ian. I still wasn’t sure what he’d meant by that because he was nothinglike the man who used to own me. Stephan was kind. He never forced me to doanything or hurt me just to hear me scream out in pain.
Were there some things he’d had me do that wereuncomfortable? Yes, lots of times. Talking about all the things that hadhappened to me wasn’t comfortable. Neither was sleeping on the floor. But afterall that I’d been through, they were minor things. He always explained why hewas doing something, letting me know there was a purpose behind the discomfort.
With every day that passed, I became moredetermined to please him, to be what he needed me to be. Sex had ended up beingan extremely pleasurable surprise. He’d given that to me. In return, I wasdetermined to give him what he needed.
Movement drew my attention back to his face. Heopened his eyes and smiled.
“Morning, Brianna,” he said in a groggy voice.
“Morning, Sir.”
Books 1 and 2 available now.

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For More information go to www.sherrihayesauthor.com.
 

Title: A Brand New Ending

Author: S.A. Rolls

Genre: Contemporary Romance/New Adult

 

Synopsis:

Phoenix Harper never imagined her life would come to this: A life not worth living anymore.

After a failed suicide attempt, Phoenix is sent to be observed at a local psychiatric hospital. There she meets Braeden Harris, a hospital aide with his own haunting past.

Not long after their first encounter, they feel an unexplainable pull towards one another. Will fate bring them together, or will outside forces tear them apart?

 

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17226383-a-brand-new-ending

PURCHASE LINKS

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/A-Brand-New-Ending-ebook/dp/B00C5W7XK6/

Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-brand-new-ending-rolls/1114980627?ean=2940016602257

 

 

About S.A. Rolls:

S.A. Rolls is a native of the Bay Area, where she attended culinary school and obtained a degree in baking and pastry. When she is not baking, she spends her time reading and writing. Stephanie reads anything

– from biographies of her favorite president to the most popular YA series. Inspired by her surroundings, she has written her first novel, based in San Francisco, her favorite city. She currently lives with her boyfriend and their five-year-old pug.

Connect with S.A. Rolls:

Website: http://sarolls.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/A-Brand-New-Ending/403431223074770

Twitter: https://twitter.com/SARolls

GIVEAWAY:

There will be 6 lucky winners!

5 e-book copies of A Brand New Ending (Open international) and

1 GRAND PRIZE of a signed paperback copy, bookmark, box of animal crackers and a mini book charm (US only)

Excerpt from A Brand New Ending:

“I don’t want to go anywhere, Braeden. Wherever you are is where I want to be.”

I think my heart does a back flip. “You have no idea how happy that makes me, hearing you say that.”

She gives me a sly smile, her fingers playing in and around mine.

“Can’t describe how amazing this feels,” she speaks. “I’ve never had anyone care for me like you do.”

“That’s a shame,” I respond quickly. “You deserve so much more than that.”

“Do I?”

I lean over her so that our faces are close but I make sure to do it gently, afraid that she might retreat from my touch.

“Yes,” I say softly as our eyes are locked on each other.

We hold our position and I can tell she is nervous, but I want her to make the first move. I made the mistake of pushing it on her the first time and I won’t be doing that again. I can feel the heat of her breath on my face, its oddly intoxicating. But I hold still. I start to count the number of my heartbeats when I suddenly feel force against my lips. I hold back the smile, my hand coming up to cup her cheek. I start to move my lips against her, the waves of ecstasy flowing through my body. After a second, her lips start to move in unison with mine. I’ve kissed lots of women, but it’s never felt quite like this. I don’t know how long it lasts, but I refrain from sticking my tongue in her mouth, fearing that may be too much. I then swear I feel her moan in my mouth, and it’s the most incredible fucking turn on I have ever heard in my life. She must have realized it too considering she pulled her lips off mine, her hands coming up to her mouth.

~*~

MY REVIEW

A Brand New Ending is a book that savages your emotions. There is nothing better than a story that uses emotion to create conflict that is not contrived, but you’re able to suspend disbelief and embrace it as truth. S. A. Rolls does this in A Brand New Ending.

The female protagonist, Phoenix Harper, reads like a metaphor for the mythical bird, because she rises from the ashes of her past life to create a new one. With the love and help of the male protagonist, Braeden Harris, Phoenix overcomes an attempted suicide and a wide range of other situations thrown at her by her less than ideal family life, institutional life, all while trying to navigate just what it means to be involved in a romance that is the real deal despite how quickly they bond and become enamored with one another.

A Brand New Ending is a story filled with suspense, intrigue, and ambiguity which makes for a thoroughly incredible, unpredictable tale. Phoenix and Braeden are linked together by painful episodes in their lives, and even their romance comes with a lot of ups and downs, twists and turns, and pain beyond measure.

The themes of this story include weighty issues such as child abuse, victimization, battery, alcoholism, compassion, love, loyalty, and friendship. The secondary characters in this book were also well-drawn, and achingly real. The alternate narration employed in the novel allowed us to get into the heads of both Phoenix and Braeden. This made for a richer plot, and stellar characterization.

A Brand New Ending packs a powerfully emotional punch of love, trust, compassion, forgiveness, and renewal that brings us to a ending you won’t see coming, but was altogether satisfying. S.A. Rolls is one to watch.

~*~

Imperfect Pairings
by Jackie Townsend

Perfectly Imperfect!
ENJOY THE FIREWORKS WHEN TWO LOVERS FROM DIFFERENT CULTURES CROSS THE BORDERS INTO EACH OTHER’S MINDS AND SOULS

“Entering a foreign country can be like entering a relationship,” says Jackie Townsend author of the new novel  Imperfect Pairings.  “To get to know someone, to understand them, you need to cross the border into their country, the country of their mind and soul.”
Americans love Italy – their wine, pasta, art, and fashions – but to have a relationship with an Italian is to cross into unknown territory. Americans love to follow their dreams and believe anything is possible if you want it badly enough, but Italians believe very few things are attainable and the simple pleasures of family, friends and love are the essence of life.
Imperfect Pairings  is not your typical fair maiden meets her prince charming love story. Instead it takes romance to a more sophisticated level and examines the reality of an enduring, but imperfect love set in today’s modern world, with all its distractions and contradictions.

Smart, career driven Jamie had not intended to fall in love. And to a foreigner no less, an Italian who doesn’t reveal his heritage at first. Jack is short for John, he tells her, but she soon discovers that John is short for Giovanni. Insanely handsome and intense but unreadable, Giovanni is a man of few words. An engineer with degrees from prestigious universities, she assumes he’s driven by the American dream like she is. Jamie comes from a long line of career women and there is no question where her future lies. Love, she believes strongly, does not give him claim to her soul.

When, after only two months together, she accompanies him to his cousin’s wedding in Italy, Jamie learns that he hasn’t been back to the troubled family estate in ten years—and with one step upon the rich Italian soil covered in ancient vines, it’s as if he never left. Suddenly his language is no longer her language, and Jamie is drawn inexplicably into an Italy that outsiders rarely see—a crumbling villa, an old family scandal, a tragic mother, an estranged father, and a host of spirited Italian cousins. Jack is finally forced to face the destiny he’s been renouncing; and Jamie makes a rash decision, unaware that it will change her life forever.

Gentle, intelligent, hauntingly real, this story will leave you thinking long afterwards about the oceans that separate us from the ones we love. Imperfect Pairings explores:

Beyond wine and pasta – the realities of Italian life vs. American life
Lessons we can learn from Italian families, like why trying to have it all can leave you blind to what’s right in front of you
Moving past chemistry, love exposed at its most basic level—two people trying to accept each other for who they are, and not lose themselves in the process
Why pairings are inherently imperfect—breaking down the expectation women bring to relationships, to foreign countries and their men, to life’s fairytale in general
What happens when men inherently fall of their pedestals, and learning to live with their imperfections

“My hope,” adds Townsend, “is Imperfect Pairings will encourage readers to think about the legacy they would leave behind if their life was defined not by what they have achieved, but by how they have loved.”

 

Jackie Townsend received her MBA from Berkeley, spent eight years on the fast track to becoming a partner with a financial services consulting company before burning out. From

Website:  jackietownsend.com  there, she rode the dot.com boom up and then down again working independently with start-up technology firms. After coming to terms with what is important in life, she began writing and hasn’t stopped since. Imperfect Pairing is her second novel. Her first novel, REEL LIFE, received great reviews from Kirkus and Writer’s Digest.

Imperfect Pairings is available on  www.amazon.com ,   http://www.barnesandnoble.com , and iLibrary.

~*~

MY REVIEW

Relationships are hard, even between two people who have a lot in common. Take two people who are polar opposites and the culture clash becomes even more difficult.

When Jamie meets Jack, she is on a trajectory to shatter the glass ceiling singlehandedly. She is the antithesis of the American career woman, and she wouldn’t have it any other way. Familial dysfunction is all she’s ever known so marriage isn’t in the cards for her. Never having known a strong faith or family ties, she lives her life, unapologetically as she pleases. The two fall in love, but Jamie isn’t sure their love will survive once Jack gets his Green card. However, two years into their tumultuous relationship, he takes her to Italy to visit his family where he becomes distinctly more Italian as he immerses himself back in the culture he left behind.

All of a sudden, her Jack becomes Giovanni and Jamie is thrown for a loop by her boyfriends’ close family led by “La Mamma,” who speaks very little English and doesn’t quite know what to make of her son’s choice in women. Jamie is not a nurturing motherly type, nor is she comfortable with the emphasis his family places on religion. She makes one misstep after another with his family due to their cultural differences.  Jamie gives it the college try but deep down, she resents the changes she feels compelled to make to keep Giovanni happy.

However, once the opportunity to become a partner in her firm presents itself, she questions whether she even wants to take that on. Have all the plans she made for her life gone down the tubes because of Jack and the complications loving him has brought into her life?

Take the journey this richly woven story takes you on through all the trials and tribulations experienced by two people in love who try to reconcile their cultural differences in a way that works for them both. Imperfect Pairings is a perfect study of whether love between opposing cultures can work.

I was provided an ARC of Imperfect Pairings via Netgalley. My objective rating is four out of five stars.

~*~

Title: Frontline

Author: Alexandra Richland

Release Date: August 6, 2013

Genre: Mystery/Contemporary Romance

Cover designed by: F.S. Meurinne (www.fsmeurinne.com) E-mail: [email protected]

 

Synopsis:

When nurse Sara Peters treats celebrity billionaire Trenton Merrick for a mysterious injury to his forehead, she is blindsided by what follows: A passionate exchange in the examination room, followed by an invitation to Trenton’s mansion the next night.

Trenton spins a web of deceit and seduction around Sara that both repels and attracts her. One part humanitarian, the other international financial mogul, his professional and public life are a curious contradiction. As Sara journeys deeper into her feelings for Trenton and begins unraveling the mystery behind his injury, she finds herself embroiled in a game of trust and betrayal, where the odds are stacked in Trenton’s favor, and the outcome for the loser is too terrifying to conceive.

 

Goodreads link: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16909152-frontline

 

 

About Alexandra Richland:

Alexandra Richland spends rotating twelve-hour shifts working as a registered nurse at a Toronto hospital, indulging in her love of science and medicine, and caring for patients with their own unique tales to tell. When she is not on duty, Alexandra escapes into her own imagination. Therein lies a fantasy world of thrilling adventure, gorgeous men, classic Hollywood glamour, exotic getaways, and a seductive dose of romance. Alexandra captures these stories in her popular novels, The Starlight Trilogy and Frontline, and her short story, Gilded Cage. Say hello to her on Facebook and on Twitter.

 

Connect with Alexandra:

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5764902.Alexandra_Richland

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Ms.AlexandraRichland

Twitter: https://twitter.com/RebelMissAlex

~*~

EXCERPT:

Mr. Merrick moves his face closer to mine. I hold my breath, thinking he’s going to kiss me. Just before our lips meet, he turns his head and grazes his nose across my cheek. The air rushes out of my lungs.

“I would never hurt you, Sara. You must trust me.”

He sounds sincere and I’m compelled to believe him.

With a sharp hiss, he drops his head to my shoulder and pulls our bodies together. “Tell me you change your mind.”

“I . . . I . . .” Words fail me as he moves my shirt collar aside and grazes his teeth across my skin.

“Tell me you’ll see me tonight.”

As he trails hot kisses down my throat, I throw my head back and melt into his arms,

succumbing to the pleasure that radiates throughout my body. I may have let my guard down, but this time I think I know exactly what I’m doing.

“Yes, I’ll have dinner with you tonight.”

Mr. Merrick removes his lips from my neck and plants his hands on my waist.

“You want me, don’t you?” He stares into my eyes, daring me to deny what he already knows.

I nod.

His fingers dig into my hips. “Say it.”

“Yes, I want you.”

~*~

Every Woman Needs Her Friends

Building long lasting friendships can be tricky, even more so for women. Finding someone you can relate to, depend on, and not feel threatened by is not easy. Some women have friendships that were built from the days of elementary school; others don’t find true friends until adulthood. Some are unable to find them at all. But when you do, that friendship is one to be treasured.

One of the best things about having true friends is knowing they will be there for you through thick and thin, no matter what. You know each other’s weaknesses, secrets, and deepest, darkest fears.

What would you do if you discovered information that could push your best friend over the edge? Would you risk destroying their happiness or their heart knowing they may never be able to recover? If you knew keeping that information to yourself would protect them from harm, would you keep that secret?

What if keeping that secret threatened to ruin your life, your future, and your health?

Ebony Campbell values her friendship with Yasmine Phillips and Kaitlyn Rodgers. After meeting in college, they’ve spent the past seven years supporting each other through relationship ups and downs and anything life could throw at them. But when a run in with Yasmine’s boyfriend shows his true colors, she is unsure of how to handle it. Yasmine’s past relationship history forces her to put up a façade of being okay, but Ebony knows she is not. One more broken heart could ruin her.

But keeping the secret could ruin Ebony.

Ebony is a smart, sexy, career-oriented black woman who wants nothing more than a summer fling with a man who challenges her mind and body. What she doesn’t expect is a blond-haired, blue-eyed bass player—who won’t take “no” for an answer—to accept the challenge.

When Ebony’s attempt at a brief fling turns into more, despite negative reactions from friends and family, she finds juggling love, family, and career are nothing compared to the ultimate betrayal she endures. Now her dreams spiral into lies and secrets that threaten her future and her best friend’s trust.

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For more information on The Butterfly Memoirs Series and a sample of the next book, Jaded, visit this link! 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

M.J. Kane stumbled into writing. An avid reader, this stay at home mom never lost the overactive imagination of an only child. As an adult she made up stories, though never shared them, to keep herself entertained. It wasn’t until surviving a traumatic medical incident in 2006 that she found a reason to let the characters inhabiting her imagination free.  Upon the suggestion of her husband, she commandeered his laptop and allowed the characters to take life. It was that, or look over her shoulder for men caring a purple strait jacket. And the rest, as they say, is history.

No longer a television addict, if M.J. isn’t reading a book by one of her favorite authors, she’s battling with her creative muse to balance writing and being a wife and mother. She resides in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia with her high school sweetheart, four wonderful children, and two pit bulls. MJ can often be found hanging out at the local library where she is director of a local writer’s group, or online connecting with readers and other authors. Other activities she enjoys include: creating custom floral arrangements, assisting her children in their creative pursuits of music and art, and supporting her husband’s music production business, 3D Sounds.

MJ’s debut novel, A Heart Not Easily Broken, Book one of the Butterfly Memoirs, became an instant Amazon Bestseller in Multicultural Romance and African-American Literature and Fiction within hours of publication. It has also spent time on the African-American Women’s Fiction and African-American Romance Bestsellers lists.

You can find MJ on social networking sites, sharing writing tips, talking about music, life, and family. She’s always excited to meet new people. Connect with her via the websites below.

The Butterfly Memoirs: Reviews, Free Chapter Samples, All Sales Links

Author M.J. Kane Blog and Website

5 Prince Publishing Author Site

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Secret: A Novel

Nia Forrester is very good at creating characters that are vivid, believable, vulnerable, and deeply flawed. This talent makes it very easy for me to immerse myself in her stories because the characters come across as very authentic. In Secret, we have Shayla, a woman of some mystery who befriends (as much as she allows herself to be friends with anyone) Tessa, the sister of Trey Dennison, a DC attorney who becomes Shayla’s landlord. Prior to this turn events, Shayla was a member of the same gym as Trey. From this vantage point, she’s watched him working his charm on a slew of women.

Shayla has no misconceptions that she might be just the woman to tame him. All she wants is a brief sexual encounter, because after all, a woman also has needs. After getting what she wanted from him, what she didn’t bargain on was him forging some kind of bond with her. This knocks them booth for a loop as they emerge reeling from a wild, sexy weekend.

Trey finds himself increasingly jealous of her interactions with others, especially men, and isn’t able to reconcile what Shay has made him feel, while Shay is also reluctant to give herself completely to a man, courtesy of that pesky secret she’s harboring. As the reader, you see that these two could solve ninety percent of their issues just by talking to each other honestly, but as great drama goes, the conflict kept simmering in this story is the lifeblood of good fiction.

Forrester is also excellent at making us care about her secondary characters. None of her characters come across as flat and unnecessary. In this story we are also introduced to Tessa, Darren, and Paige. The unique backstory shared by Trey and Tessa is the stuff of fairytales, albeit a sad one. Their relationship as a secondary plot is brilliant. It speaks to why Trey is the way he is, and it gives us a glimpse of how Tessa became the young woman she is. I was enthralled by their relationship almost as much as I was by Shayla and Trey’s.

Darren, Trey’s best friend, is a testament to the adage “birds of a feather.” They are each very attractive men who are both confirmed bachelors, that is, until Shay comes along for Trey. However, you also get the hint that Paige and Darren are feeling each other, and there’s some history between them that has been unresolved.

Going in, I knew that there would be a sequel to this book, so I wasn’t left unsatisfied in any way by how the story ended. The reader is made privy to Shay’s secret and it explains everything, but it’s what we don’t know at the end of “Secret” which is the stuff that will keep us intrigued until ‘The Art of Endings” comes along.

This book will have you rooting for Shayla and Trey almost as much as you find yourself upset with them both for being so pig-headed. It is a story that draws you in and keeps you because you grow to care so deeply about the characters, almost like they are friends of yours. When I find characters that I might consider friends in real life, is when I want to stay immersed in their story world forever. “Secret” is just such a world.

The Art of Endings: The Sequel to Secret

As much as Secret was Shayla’s story, The Art of Endings is Trey and Darren’s stories and how they reconcile their pasts with the women who will be their futures. With Secret ending the way it did a reader might expect The Art of Endings to pick up there, but Nia surprised me yet again with her refusal to be boxed into a formulaic storyline to be populated by predictable characters.

Trey takes center stage in his and Shayla’s romance this go round, and he has a doozy of a situation to work through. A former hook-up who happens to be the daughter of someone who could make or break his career is holding the paternity of an unborn child over his head, while he’s simultaneously dealing with Tessa leaving the fold, and Shayla coming into her own career-wise. Not to mention, the looming specter of Shayla’s ex Justin Ford’s life possibly converging with theirs.

Darren finds himself soul-searching as he witnesses his best friend finding the kind of love that has always eluded him. In Paige Freeman he sees an opportunity lost, and a love that is forbidden, because she is the fiancé of his best friend who died in the military in the Middle East. He has set this woman on a pedestal and feels, as he always has concerning her, that he’s just not good enough. In college he’d been unable to reconcile their dissimilar backgrounds, so when his friend Clint came along who possessed the pedigree of a man he thought that a woman like Paige deserved, he stepped aside.

The Art of Endings is a well-crafted story, delving into history coming back to bite two men who were both womanizers for various and sundry reasons who finally realize the “more” they want out of life can be found with the women who are right under their proverbial noses. There, of course, are other themes, but I’m not going any deeper. You’ll have to read the book yourself to find the others.

My favorite and least-liked character was Darren. He’s my favorite because he was so flawed, complicated, and more likely to eff up. And he was my least-liked because he did some trifling things as a result of his inability to reconcile his feelings for Paige early on. I wanted to send him off to a therapist several times in the book–or beat his ass, one of the two. However, I feel like he was thoroughly redeemed, despite everything he put Paige through. In fact, I believe I also liked Darren so much because he reminds me of a guy one of my best college friends fell for back in the day. They are married now and have a beautiful family, but she endured much of what Paige did before they finally got there. This goes to show that sometimes, it takes a very special woman/man to love that person that many see as totally unlovable.

I had to read The Art of Endings the moment it was released because I wanted to find out what happened with Shayla and Trey, but also to get a three-dimensional view of the lives of the secondary characters I’d grown to love almost as much as the primary characters.

~*~

Secret at Amazon

The Art of Endings at Amazon

Secret at Barnes & Noble

The Art of Endings at Barnes & Noble

Britt Chandler a doctoral scientist and Kyle Michaels an IT Director meet when they are both in what soon become unsatisfying relationships. They have an immediate chemistry which they don’t act upon, because they are good people who try to do right by their significant others even though the sentiments are not exactly reciprocated to them.  As they get to know one another, they find they have quite a bit in common, even though both are gun-shy from a series of failed dating attempts. They strike up a friendship and it thrives because they were both smart kids, and downright nerdy, yet sexy adults who like a lot of the same television shows, music, and movies. Not to mention they have this incendiary chemistry which they tamp down for the sake of preserving that friendship.

Over time and the demise of the relationships they were in when they first met, they lament their inability to perfect the art of dating in the twenty first century. Against the backdrop of hurricane Irene, their relationship takes an intimate turn, which they each had been secretly hoping for unbeknownst to the other.

After an idyllic few days of having their fill of each other, Britt’s ex finally mans-up and calls her out of the blue to discuss his hasty departure from her life to return to his ex. This conversation and a recent hook-up with a guy her best friend Cheryl introduces her to, reminds Britt that she’s made some poor decisions regarding men of late. Because she doesn’t want to make the same mistake with Kyle, she bolts, and they make the mutual decision to be friends who have sex when they’re unattached, because clearly the situations they were in before went sour when expectations weren’t lived up to.

I love how Bynum wrote these characters. They were not predictable, clichéd or over-blown. They were a man and woman deeply scarred by love–first by their parents, and then by partners who didn’t have their best interests at heart. Jaded by relationships having not been what they expected, they decide to be friends with benefits either until something better came along, or this arrangement blew up in their faces, whichever came first.

I challenge you to go on this adventure with Britt and Kyle. You will be surprised the plot doesn’t take the predictable path you think. You will be turned on by their hot sexcapades. And wowed, and thoroughly satisfied by the unexpected turn of events.

I have to admit that this was one of my most highly anticipated books of 2013, and after purchasing it on the day it debuted and devouring it between furious writing of my own sophomore effort, I was not disappointed.

Join us on “The Block,” my Facebook Group Page when we discuss “With Benefits” with the author, Christopher Bynum, on July 28th.

“With Benefits” can be purchased on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.