Monday, October 31, 2016

SAVED BY THE FIREFIGHTER Excerpt & Giveaway with Rachel Brimble




Saved by the Firefighter

Templeton Cove #6

By: Rachel Brimble  
Releasing November 1, 2016  

Harlequin Superromance


Blurb
How can she forgive him for what he didn't do?
Photographer Izzy Cooper feels as frozen as her pictures. Trent Palmer might be the hottest firefighter in Templeton Cove, but she can never face him again. Not after he failed to save her brother. But when they're forced together by a calendar shoot, the sparks between them are undeniable.

Izzy knows it's not fair to blame Trent for the tragedy, but opening herself up to loss again isn't something she's prepared to do, no matter how determined Trent is to show her that pain is part of life and that love—their love—can make any suffering bearable.



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Author Info

Rachel Brimble lives with her husband and two teenage daughters in a small town near Bath in the UK. After having several novels published by small US presses, she secured agent representation in 2011. Since 2013, she has had five books published by Harlequin Superromance (Templeton Cove Stories) and three Victorian romances by eKensington/Lyrical.
Rachel is a member of the Romantic Novelists Association and Romance Writers of America, and was selected to mentor the Superromance finalist of So You Think You Can Write 2014 contest. When she isn’t writing, you’ll find Rachel with her head in a book or walking the beautiful English countryside with her family. Her dream place to live is Bourton-on-the-Water in South West England.
She likes nothing more than connecting and chatting with her readers and fellow romance writers. Rachel would love to hear from you!

Author Links:  Website | Facebook | Twitter | GoodReads

Rafflecopter Giveaway (a $25 Amazon Gift Card)
Excerpt 
The security alarm chimed. Someone had stepped inside the studio. Exhaling a heavy breath, Izzy pulled back her shoulders, lifted her head and forced a smile.
“Hi, how can I…” Her heart stopped. Trent Palmer stood just inside the door. “Why are you here?”
His dark green gaze bored relentlessly into hers, his strong jaw set as he reached behind him and shut the door. “I came by to see how you’re doing.”
Traitorous attraction skittered over the surface of her skin before Izzy turned and strode toward the corner she used for staging portrait shots. The fluffy bunnies, huge furry dice and toys she’d used to relax a toddler earlier now felt macabre.
She spun around, clutching a teddy bear. “The same as I was doing yesterday and the day before. I told you I don’t want to see you. I don’t ever want to see you. Why do you keep coming back?”
He came closer, his gaze locked on hers. “You have to talk to me. I was Robbie’s friend. There was nothing—”
“You could do. Fine. I get it, but why do you feel the need to keep coming in here and checking up on me? What do you want me to do? Dance in the street? Kick up my heels at the fairground? God, just leave me alone.”
“There’s a beach party tonight. I want you to come with me.”
She stared. Why him? Why would a man she really liked—a damn firefighter—have to pursue her like she was someone worth pursuing? “No.”
He looked at the equipment covering the desk alongside him. He lifted and replaced a camera, the hunch of his wide shoulders indicating his discomfort. Izzy hated that she drew no satisfaction from that…only sadness.
He turned. “I want you to come and show your face to the people who care about you. Kate said—”
“Kate had no right to say anything to you.” She lifted her chin. “I’m fine.”
“Then come to the beach.”
“No.”
He crossed his arms. “Why not? What good is it doing you, hiding away in here twenty-four-seven?”
“I’m not hiding.” Liar. “My work is better than it’s ever been. I have lots to keep me busy, and I don’t need you or a damn beach party to make me feel better.”
“This isn’t who you are, Iz. You’ve always worked, always been ambitious, but everyone is used to you taking pictures while you play as well as work. Where have you gone? Don’t you think Robbie would’ve wanted you to step out into the sunlight now and then?”
The sound of her brother’s name on Trent’s lips brought the sting of tears to her eyes. “Don’t talk to me about Robbie. He would want me to do whatever I wanted and right now the last thing I want to do is talk to you.” She turned her back to him and tossed the bear into a plastic crate of other props. She sighed. “Please, Trent. Just get out of here.”
“You know as well as I do that Robbie wanted us together. He actively encouraged it.”
“Yeah, he did and look how that turned out.”
His jaw tightened. “Are you saying it was no good? That we were no good? God, Iz, Robbie would’ve loved knowing we finally got together.”
Loss wrapped around her heart making it ache. “Maybe, but he would’ve also seen we were a bad idea together too.”
Hurt flashed in his eyes, before he exhaled heavily. “Look, you might not want to talk to me, but there’s someone else we have to think about.”
She planted her hands on her hips, her body humming with irritation and the urge the grip him by his stupidly large biceps and march him out of her studio. Didn’t he realize he was invading her only place of peace? “Who?”
“Maya Jackson. We have to do this calendar, Iz. We promised. If we don’t set up the shoot soon, it won’t be ready for Christmas. That little girl, her family and Kate are relying on you…us…to do this.”
She tipped her head back and glared at the ceiling. There was no way she’d let down Maya, suffering so acutely with leukemia, any more than she would continue in a relationship with date the firefighter who’d failed to respond quick enough to save her brother. No matter how the results of the ensuing investigation had confirmed it had been a falling beam that killed Robbie at the garage, she had to blame someone or she’d go insane.
The safest person to blame was strong, reliable Trent. A man she’d grown to deeply care for and admire during the four years before Robbie died. A man who knew her and her brother. Knew her home and her life…and who, God damn it, still wanted to know her.
He didn’t deserve her derision; he didn’t deserve everything she threw at him, yet time and again, he became her target. She had to keep his interest at bay. Better still—stop it altogether.

Excerpt & Giveaway: PULL ME CLOSE by Sidney Halston


An emotionally charged series.


PULL ME CLOSE
The Panic #1
Sidney Halston
Releasing Oct 25th, 2016
Loveswept


Welcome to Panic, a sultry Miami nightclub where bodies and hearts move to a beat that doesn’t stop at sunrise—the setting for an emotionally charged series from the bestselling author of the Worth the Fight novels.

When Katherine Wilson passes out in the arms of the hottest man she’s ever seen, it’s not because of the lights, the pulsating music, or the crowded dance floor. It’s because she can’t enjoy a night out like a normal person, not with her debilitating anxieties. These panic attacks are going to destroy her life unless she takes control—or gets a helping hand. So after the club’s bad-boy owner personally escorts her home, Katherine feels something urgent and primal awaken inside of her.

Nick Moreno doesn’t need a headache like Katherine. A drug bust has put his father behind bars and forced Nick to take over the daily business of his family’s South Beach nightclub. His head tells him to walk away—but his body has other ideas. Katherine’s vulnerability, her grace and courage, compel him to reach out. And when they kiss, Nick is overcome by desire: to pull her close, and promise that his embrace will always be the safest place on earth.

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Excerpt

“Do one thing that scares you every day,” I say to myself as I walk to the elevator.

I keep thinking that if I can get in that stupid elevator, I can go to my sister’s wedding. Because nothing can be worse than being in a tiny steel box held up by a cable. If it malfunctions, either I’ll plummet to my demise or I’ll be stuck inside, helpless and in the dark.

For weeks now I’ve walked over to it every day, pressed the button, and then run back to my apartment when it dings open, like it’s a monster coming to get me. I know that I’m working myself up. I know what reality is, and I understand the extremely low statistical likelihood that any of the things I envision will actually happen. I’m not completely insane. But I also can’t help the fear that bubbles up inside me and distorts my logic.

Today, however, I woke up with a new sense of bravery and determination and I’m going to take advantage of it.

I know that the cable is made of steel and it will not break.

I know that the elevator is in working order.

I know that it takes only 22.9 seconds from the time it closes on the fifth floor to the time it opens in the lobby.

Still, I’m nervous. Less so then previous days, though.

I dial Nico because even with everything that I know, I need someone with me.

“My sweet Katherine,” he says over the music in the background.

“I need you.”

I notice the change in him, even over the phone. “Wait, what? I’ll be right there.”

The fact that he is so quick to rush to my rescue is heartwarming, but I don’t need him physically here, so I clarify quickly. “No, no, no. Stay there. That’s not what I meant. I need you to stay on the line with me.”

“Okay. Hold on a second—I need quiet. I can barely hear you.” I hear the music become quieter and quieter. “All right. What’s going on?”

“If I say the safe word and tell you to call the police or firemen or whatever, just do it, no questions asked, okay?”

“What?” He sounds alarmed. “What the hell is going on, Katherine?”

“I’m getting on the elevator and I’m going to the lobby. If it gets stuck, I need you to call for help.”

“For fuck’s sake, Katherine, you scared the hell out of me.” He lets out a breath. “Okay, I’ll wait on the phone. Or do you want to wait for me to come over? I can be there in ten minutes and do this with you,” he says while I press the button.

“No. I need to do this alone. Also, what good would it do me if you’re stuck in there with me?”

“It’s not going to get stuck,” he says with a chuckle, and I can practically hear him rolling his eyes on the other end of the line.

“So how’s the club tonight?”

“I heard the ding, baby. Stop procrastinating and get inside.”

I look at the open door. The elevator car looks so ominous, and now I don’t know if I can do it.

“Get that cute little ass in the elevator.”

“Never mind—I changed my mind.”

“No. You’ve never called me for this before. You’re obviously feeling good about it. I’m proud of you for doing this.”

As the door starts to close I press the button again, and the closing doors reopen.

“So get inside. You can do this.”

“Nico, I don’t—”

“Yes, you can. Don’t finish that sentence. You’ve done more in the last few weeks than you’ve done in a long time. You can absolutely do this. I know you can. Don’t you want to be free?”

I do. Damn it, I do. I take a step and then another one. My feet feel heavy and my heart is beating a mile a minute. I can hear that he’s breathless too.

Corazón, just roll with it. Get inside,” he says softly.






USA Today bestselling author, Sidney Halston lives her life with one simple rule: "Just Do It"--Nike. And that's exactly what she did.

After working hard as an attorney, Sidney picked up a pen for the first time at thirty years old to begin her dream of writing. Having never written anything other than very exciting legal briefs, she found an outlet for her imaginative, romantic side and wrote Seeing Red. That first pen stroke sealed the deal, and she fell in love with writing. Sidney lives in South Florida with her husband and children. She loves her family above all else, and reading follows a close second. When she's not writing, you can find her reading and reading and reading. She's a reader first and a writer second. When she's not writing or reading, her life is complete and utter chaos, trying to balance family life with work and writing (and reading). But she wouldn't have it any other way.



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RELEASE BOOST & Giveaway: Dirty Love by Kimberly Blalock




Title: Dirty Love
Author: Kimberly Blalock
Genre: Contemporary Romance   
 Release Date: October 25, 2016



Blurb

In the light of darkness is an undeniable need to run, disappear, slither away only barely scraping by with hope that maybe just maybe, there's a way of escape.
My name is Oliva Basari. I escaped one hell only to be trapped inside another, darkness and fear seething through my veins and invading my every thought.
A new city, a new job, a new persona and then.... I fell in lust, I fell in love…hell, I just fell.
From the darkness my alter ego became real, I was Tess, the stirring of someone or something else burning in my gut until she was all there was.
I didn't fear what would happen if remorse knocked on my door nor did I fear the lustful way I stalked them, preyed upon them—the ones that couldn't have me, the ones who wished they could taste me—I was their darkness until I met one very tall, dark, and forbiddingly handsome Mr. Black. He hated me watching with darkness in his tormented eyes. He scared me, intimidated me, and left me questioning my own sanity.


Until he didn't.

He was the one thing I let myself submit too, his touch, the way he slid his knuckles across my flesh, igniting a dangerous spark inside of me.
In the end, we're all captured souls waiting for release or the escape from our own maniacal thoughts.
In the end, we are all prisoners of the flesh.







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99c

AMAZON US / UK






Trailer



Excerpt

She slept with blankets slipping from her taut body. I inhaled deeply as my dick ached to be inside of her tight pussy. I didn’t actually know what her pussy felt like… Was it soft, delectable, electric, and glorious? I imagined all of those possibilities and intended on finding out soon, but I wasn’t ready yet. I needed her to come to me. To beg me for it before I could give her everything that I couldn’t stop thinking about.

I slid my hand inside of my nightstand drawer retrieving the lube I’d used on the woman the night before. They were covetous, egocentric, and contemptuous. Nothing that interested me. It rather disinterested me, actually. Olivia was the exact opposite of those women, a contradiction of everything they stood for.

I unbuttoned my jeans and sagged against the chair that had the best view of her bed. Of course, I’d arranged it that way. Her ass was so fucking perfectly round, tight, and juicy. Nothing could possibly be as good as that ass. I was sure of it, and I intended on finding out soon enough.

I pulled my pants down to lay across my thick thighs and untucked my cock from my briefs. The slippery lube slid out of the bottle and melted against my heated hand. Her body shifted slowly as my hand dipped against my flesh. I stilled, waiting to see if she’d wake up this time. She’d been on edge lately, not sleeping well. It’d been pretty fucking obvious she’d been having a difficult time with something. I shrugged off the thought. I’d wanted to fix whatever was wrong, comfort her, fuck her until her problems were mere memories from a past before me or very thin memories that popped like bubbles do in the sunlight. But I’d remain a circumspect observer, for now.

Her body turned just as my hand landed on my hot, thick, pulsing cock. I squeezed, gripping the skin down my shaft… hard. A deep-seated moan reverberated from my throat. It felt so fucking relishable… gratifying. My cock jerked from the sensations it was experiencing. Her tits bounced into position… the position of foreplay among lovers. Nipples hard and round, perky and wanting, waiting for my tongue to flick across the hardened flesh in heated arousal. She adjusted from her stomach to her back, completing her task in search of comfort. Ironic really, that here at this moment she’d seemed extroverted, willing to be free when in reality she was demure. Well, unless she was dancing, but that was only a few hours a night. And I wouldn’t allow myself that opening to taste her flesh. Not yet.

“Ah fuck!” I moaned, the sound feral. I lived alone, and no one could hear me and fuck it if they could, I didn’t care.

My strokes became tight, stroking the entire length of my cock. Cum slipped out of the head as I smothered the silkiness of my arousal across the thin, sensitive flesh. I jacked off to her perfect fucking body.

Her hand crossed her chest, and I imagined she was touching herself there while I licked her pussy, sweeping my tongue against the nub bringing her to ecstasy.

I’d dreamt about that for a long fucking time. One year to be exact. She’d moved into the apartment across from mine with her friend. Her boyfriend moved in just a few months later. Fucking asshole is never there, and he fucks like he doesn’t know what he’s doing. Probably doesn’t, to be honest. Little prick has a small ass cock, too. If he came even a tiny bit close to getting her off, I’d rock her fucking world. When I finally take her in every way imaginable, I will do just that.

My strokes became shorter, tighter, faster as I watched her tight body. I imagined her full lips wrapped around my cock sucking hard, harder. Her tongue would flick across the head lapping up my cum into her hot mouth; she’d smile as she squeezed me roughly, begging for more of me to seep into her mouth. She’d suck me the hardest I’d ever been sucked.

“Oh fuck!” Cum shot from the head of my dick. “Fucking shit, Olivia!” I yelled her name as I pulsed against my palm.

Just as I cleaned myself, her jackoff boyfriend arrived stripping his clothes off as he snuck into bed like a predator, opening his mouth ready to take her. My fists slammed into the wall next to the window. It left a large, round hole that I’d deal with later.

My mind raced. I wanted to go over to her apartment and rip him out of her bed. I wanted to kill him. If he didn’t get a fucking clue, I was going to do just that. And soon!

I got plenty of pussy. Shit, where I worked, it was thrown at my cock in groves, but I wanted Olivia Basari. Only Olivia. When I fucked someone, she was the only face I saw. Her sweet lips sucking me off until I came in her sweet fuckable mouth.

Convenient for me, I’d get to see that face and body every day and night. She was a dancer at Epic, the strip club I owned. She worked for me, but it wasn’t enough. I want to own every inch of her. I’ve kept my thoughts to myself. No one knew how I felt, and they sure as fuck didn’t know the malevolent thoughts that infiltrated my mind. Funny really, infiltrate makes it sound as though I didn’t want the thoughts there. As though I’d set up a road block of sorts keeping them away, but in fact, I’d caressed every single one of them. I lured them in with the tips of my fingers promising jewels of satisfaction.

I watched her from the two-way window in my office while she danced for the scum of the city. I pretended that she was dancing exclusively for me. I fucked while I watched her from that window. The girls didn’t have a clue what I was doing when I had them bent over gripping their flesh into my hands. All they wanted was the orgasm they’d get whether I tried to give it or not. Sometimes I did. I loved pussy. It was only Olivia’s I was thinking of when I sucked on their clits, however. Slipping my fingers inside their wet, dripping, pulsating pussies brought cry after cry from their dirty mouths.

I stripped my clothes and showered. I’d see her at work in an hour. I couldn’t watch that fucker touch her any longer.

She was mine.





Author Bio

Kimberly is an International Bestselling author and has been writing since she was a young girl growing up in Kansas City, Mo. Reading and writing have always been a big part of her life. She enjoys the world she can get lost in while reading a good book. A wife and mother to four beautiful children she decided she wasn’t busy enough. She spent some time chasing down fugitives as a bounty hunter then laid down her handcuffs and finished her college degree in nursing.

Kimberly loves discovering new music to jam out to and loves anything that’s different. Her many interests include Google, you heard it! Google. If you need to know any unusual or interesting fact she has searched it and can recite it. Her motto is: Why be the same as everyone else when you can stand out?

When Kimberly isn’t writing she is playing superhero for her children.



Author Links

RELEASE BLITZ & Giveaway: The Ragged People by Lucy Fenton




Title: The Ragged People
Series: Arden St. John #2
Author: Lucy Fenton
Genre: Paranormal YA
Release Date: October 31, 2016



Blurb

Arden St John – teenager, witch and embodiment of chaos - is back.

The new school year starts with her surrounded by friends and her boyfriend, Nick, all of them happy and out from under the shadow of Georgia, who now lurks on the edges, friendless and powerless.

But there is something in the shadows. It is looking for Arden and it’s not the only one.

There are many who want to use Arden, some of them more dangerous than the vampires who want her life.

Even those protecting her want something from her, more than she is willing to give.

Still determined to stop the vampires’ trade, Arden had to choose between staying safe or embracing her terrifying power. When she finally unleashes the power within her, the consequences are more than she could imagine.


As more secrets are revealed, a price must be paid for the truth. Powerful but vulnerable, Arden must suffer through betrayal, love and acceptance as her story continues.






Purchase Links

AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU





Excerpt

“I need you to help me.” It could have sounded like a request but it came out as a demand.

“I don’t have to do anything.” Arden shut her locker with a bang and turning, started to walk in a wide circle around Georgia who was standing in her way.

Georgia matched her, stepping directly into her path. “You took away my power and now my father is going to sell me to an old man. You owe it to me. Stop him or give me back my power,” she hissed, her voice low to prevent them being overheard.

Arden averted her eyes to the ceiling, fighting the urge to throw the book in her hand at Georgia’s head. “First of all, it wasn’t yours. You stole if from the last person who tried to help you. Second of all, I don’t have your power so I couldn’t give it back even if I wanted to.” Arden retorted, part of her wondering why she was even engaging.

“Elizabeth wasn’t trying to help.”

Arden could feel a headache coming on. “Yes, she was. She would have run away with you and protected you.”

“You don’t know that.” Georgia sounded less certain.

“Actually, I do know that. When she took over my body, I saw everything, including you pushing her off the cliff. I know you made a deal with the water sprites to kill her in exchange for her power.”

Georgia blanched but held her nerve.

“You can’t prove anything.”

Arden ground her teeth. “I don’t need to prove anything. I also don’t need to help you. Frankly you’re getting what you deserve.” Arden started walking faster, but Georgia kept pace with her.

“So you only want to help the kids sold to vampires, but not anyone else?” Georgia hissed.

Arden slowed and faced her former tormentor. “Look, I’m not in favour of anyone being sold for any reason, but you tried to kill me several times. You also enslaved Nick and everyone else at school. Why on Earth would I do anything to help you? You’re a horrible person.”

“It’s not my fault.”

“Which bit?” Arden snorted.

“Any of it.”

“How do you figure that?” Arden was so astonished at Georgia’s complete lack of remorse that she stopped dead.

“You don’t understand what it was like to grow up, always being compared to Elizabeth,” she spat.

Arden pointed her finger at Georgia. “You grew up in a comfortable house, you were fed and clothed. No one abused you. What exactly are you complaining about?”

“No one ever loved me.” Georgia crossed her arms and glared at Arden.

“Except Elizabeth, who you murdered.” Arden rolled her eyes and moved to go around her. The girl is completely deranged, she thought. And psychotic. Never forget, psychotic.

“If you let me be sold, then you’re the same as me.” Georgia’s face twisted into a snarl, making Arden glad Georgia had no power behind it.

“I could never be as bad as you, and I’m supposed to be the product of several generations of evil,” Arden muttered over her shoulder as she entered the lab.

“I hope you rot in hell!” Georgia shouted from the doorway.

“See you there then,” Arden replied dryly.

***

Lying on Sophie’s bed, Arden tossed a blue stress ball into the air before catching it again.

“Sophie, should I help Georgia?” Arden asked, holding onto the ball and looking over at her friend who sat trawling through her numerous social media pages.

“Help Georgia!” Sophie exclaimed, turning around to stare at Arden. “What?”

Arden filled her in on the details of her run in with Georgia, wondering why these things stuck with her. I wish I could just forget about it, instead replaying it over and over, making me constantly second guess myself. She thought she was right to say no, but if she was, why did it continue to weigh on her?

Sophie threw her hands up in the air. “I have no idea. She’s a psychopath but aren’t we against selling people?”

“In general, yes. But if she went away then we wouldn’t have to deal with her anymore,” Arden said, looking hopeful.

“Someone else would have to though.”

“Maybe they’ll be better at managing her. She might improve,” Arden argued.

Sophie’s eyebrows rose, crinkling her forehead. “Or she could get worse. She killed her twin sister and no one’s even tried to take her to task on it. I think she needs some serious therapy but there’s no way to make her get help.”

“What if I offered to help in exchange for her getting treatment?” Arden frowned, thinking hard.

“How would you enforce it?”

“I don’t know.” Arden shrugged. “I wish I had a therapist I could talk to about it but mine is dead. I probably killed her, though she was a vampire and I was a mindless killer at the time, so I don’t know for sure.” She tilted her head, reflecting on what she had just said. “Hmm... that doesn’t sound so good. Maybe I should get a therapist as well?”

“Yeah, of course it doesn’t sound good when I say it like that. Killing vampires doesn’t count though.”

Arden paused, considering.

“Am I a bad person if I kind of want her to be sold as a slave to an old guy?”

“Of course not. A bad person would never even ask that question. Wanting vengeance is natural.”

“But we’re against selling people, right?”

“Unfortunately, yes we are.” Sophie nodded, sadly.

“Even psychotic ones who deserve it?” Arden asked.

“I think it’s one of those blanket rule deals.”

“So if there aren’t any exceptions that means I’m going to have to help her.” Arden’s mouth twisted in disgust. The thought of helping Georgia left a bad taste in her mouth.

“Ugh,” Sophie agreed. “There’s something so wrong with that.”

“Aren’t I supposed to be evil? Evil people don’t save people, especially ones they don’t like.” Arden threw the ball up in the air and caught it again.

“Well if it ever comes down to a decision for you, you know, on whether to turn evil like your real mother or not, you can put that in the “pro” column.”



Also Available


AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU



Author Bio


Lucy Fenton lives in Sydney, Australia with her husband and two children. In addition to writing novels, she works as a freelance copywriter and pens occasional articles for various online magazines.

Not being one of those people who had a burning desire to be anything in particular, Lucy worked her way alphabetically backwards through the available degrees at Sydney University. Surprisingly, given the amount of fun she had at school, she finally managed to graduate with a completely unemployable degree in Philosophy. A Law degree soon followed, however, simply to make it possible for some organization to hire her.

After ten soul-destroying years wandering aimlessly in the corporate wilderness, she threw it all in and reassessed. Deciding to bring the "one day I will write a book" idea to the present, she started and hasn't stopped. As a huge fan of the books in general, she writes the kinds of books that she enjoys to read.

In her spare time, Lucy Fenton...actually she has no spare time. She sleeps or reads copious amounts of novels instead of sleeping.



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