~COVER REVEAL~ Entangled (Evolve #2.5) by S.E. Hall

Title: Entangled (Evolve #2.5)

Author: S.E. Hall

Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release date: TBD

Synopsis

Things heat up, and not just the Georgia summertime, when Dane and Laney go head to head over plans for her new duplex. But Laney's got his number, and knows just how to coerce her bossy, domineering man. Spend the summer with the gang and find out...just how many is a crowd?

The members of the Evolve Crew are getting older; so is the content. Mature audiences recommended.

~Teaser~

“Men shouldn’t know how to decorate anyway, using words like gaudy.” I let one brow raise and give him a suspicious smirk.

“Do I need to learn how to fix the cars then? What if I get a flat?”

“Oh baby,” he growls, his feet pounding the floor as he stalks toward me, “you questioning my manliness?”

“Maybe,” I tease, slowing backing up.

“Nancy.”

My eyes dart anxiously around the room, mentally planning my escape route in this new territory. He laughs deeply, not a ‘ha ha that’s funny’ laugh, but more an ‘uh huh I’m coming to get ya’ sexy laugh.

“Got it planned yet?” He grins knowingly, one eyebrow cocked.

“Better run to wherever looks the most comfortable.” There’s no furniture yet, what is he talking about comfortable? Seeing the confusion on my face, he answers unasked.

“Showing you how much of a man I am when I catch ya,” he creeps closer, “so I’d stay away from the tile, might hurt your back,” the mischief in his eyes ignites as he continues moving slowly closer, “or your knees.”

Do I still have to pretend I don’t want to be caught? I love this side of Dane; the dominant, controlling, hunter than comes out more and more every day. The game’s precept itself is laughable; no one could question Dane’s virility. It seeps from his pores, an aura around him taking up all the air in a room. And he’s all mine. From his forever jostled brown locks and matching warm eyes, cocky lopsided grin and sculpted chest all the way to his eight back, that irresistible v and toned, tight ass- he is mine.

“You wouldn’t!” I challenge, knowingly delightfully well that he would.

“Oh baby, you know I can and will.” He flips open the button on his pants, that cocky grin suffocating me from where he stands, “I think you want me to.”

~BUY THE BOOKS~

Buy Emerge (Evolve #1) Now

Amazon / Barnes & Noble

Buy Embrace (Evolve #2) Now

Amazon / Barnes & Noble

~ABOUT THE AUTHOR~

S.E.Hall resides in Arkansas with her husband of 17 years and 3 beautiful daughters. When not in the stands watching her ladies play softball, she enjoys reading YA and NA romance.

CONNECT WITH S.E.: Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter

 

Hosted by:

~RELEASE DAY~ Spotlight & Giveaway: Eighth Note by Kimberly Stedronsky

Book: Eighth Note (Fire Ballad One)
Author: Kimberly Stedronsky
Genre: Paranormal Horror Romance
Release Date: October 31, 2013
Hosted by: Book Enthusiast Promotions

PURCHASE LINKS: AMAZON | SMASHWORDS

Synopsis

Eva Reed saved the world.

Actually, she saved two worlds, but who’s counting?

Finding herself in the middle of present day suburbia, married and a mom at only twenty years old, she’s beyond bored. Even with her popular music blog and her handsome husband Will catering to her every impulse, she longs to use the incredible powers that she possesses.

But Earth is no place for magic.

When Cole Mathison arrives, asking for Eva’s help in solving the death of a famous pop star, she cannot resist the overwhelming pull to use her abilities again.
Eva finds that there is more to the sinister murder than what the evidence shows.

People who listencontinue to die, and she must rely on her immortality to protect her from a frequency that is shattering minds and stopping hearts.

There are forces at work that she could never have imagined...

And evil will be heard.

~EXCERPT~

“I’ve spent the last thirty years proving to myself that I wasn’t crazy. I’ve… helped… people with paranormal activity.”

“You’re a ghost hunter?” I snorted, listening to the monitor crackle and Perry cry out softly. Will gave a deep, amused sigh, gesturing to the house.

“I am going to bed. Ten minutes, Eva.”

I automatically scowled at his order. “I’ll be up in a little while,” I countered, using all of my self control not to tell him off for treating me like a kid.

“Yes, love.” He bent to me, practically lifting me off the ground to catch me off guard with a possessive kiss. I could only hold on to his shoulders as his mouth moved over mine, and it took me five witless seconds to realize that the display was completely for Cole.

Men, marking their territory. Please.

“I won’t keep her long,” Cole promised, and Will responded with a quick nod before heading for the house. “All happily ever after here, I take it?”

I turned to him, tucking my hands under the sleeves of my hoodie. “Obviously. Now tell me what’s going on.”

He scratched his chin. “No, I’m not a ghost hunter. I just… lend a hand. When crazy, unexplainable shit happens.”

“I hate to tell you this, but people die. Every day. I’m sure the toxicology reports will come back with some fun party results.”

He stared at me, contemplating. I returned his look, waiting impatiently. Finally, he pulled his phone out of his pocket, handing it over to me.

“The security cameras caught her death. There’s no sound. Eva honey, are you sure you can handle this?”

I accepted his iPhone, shrugging. “Um, I set my father-in-law on fire from the inside out. I think I can handle watching someone die.”

His palm covered my hand, and his fingertip swept the screen open. His nails weren’t nearly as manicured as Will’s, and his calloused skin felt rough on mine. “No sound,” he repeated, and I nodded, trying not to appear as confused as I felt.

The street lamp flickered over our heads, and I waved my hand to turn the bulb completely off, leaving us in darkness.

The video began with an aerial view of Nina, black and white, in the studio. I could hear that the sound had been wiped from the video, and the continuous, looping whisper kept time with my heartbeat as my pulse began to pound in my ears.

Nina was tall and blonde, with adorable dimples that kept her looking years younger than her actual age. She had two fingers over her earpiece as she sang, and I watched her drag the back of her other hand over her brow in mid-verse.

She stopped singing, and the rushing sound intensified.

She was coughing; I watched her reach for something, and then tip her head back and take a long drink from a bottle of water.

Cole’s hand slid around my waist, and I almost screamed. I’d been so involved in the video, waiting, holding my breath, I’d almost forgotten he was next to me.

“Eva.” He warned. I ignored him, narrowing my eyes and focusing on the iPhone screen.

Nina stilled suddenly, and the water bottle slipped from her hand.

Long seconds passed as she stood there, frozen, still, and I started to lift my finger to touch the screen, checking to see if the video paused.

Her head jerked down violently, chin to chest. All of her hair surrounded her face.

When her head snapped upward to meet the camera face-on, my hand clamped over Cole’s arm.

Her mouth was a wide, dark O, no teeth, no sound… no pupils. Blackness seeped from the corners of her eyes, and she began to bend backward, further, further still, until her entire body was folded- backwards- at the waist.

Text copyright © 2013 Kimberly Stedronsky

~ABOUT THE AUTHOR~

Kimberly Stedronsky is an Ohio author who prefers an epic love story. She has a degree in Early Childhood Education, which she uses as an excuse to be as immature as possible on a daily basis.

She is married to a stand-up comedian Marine veteran, and their three children are appropriately sarcastic.

Connect with Kimberly: FACEBOOK | TWITTER | GOODREADS AUTHOR | WEBSITE

~GIVEAWAY~

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~REVIEW~ Bold Tricks (The Artists Trilogy #3) by Karina Halle

Title: Bold Tricks (The Artists Trilogy #3)
Author: Karine Halle
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Suspense
PURCHASE LINKS: AMAZON ~ B&N


Synopsis

With more lives at stake and games in motion, Ellie, Camden and Javier form an uneasy alliance that will take them from the treacherous streets of inner-city Mexico to the wilds of the Honduran jungles in order to find their freedom. But with liberty just on the horizon, the cost might come at their own redemption.

~MY REVIEW~

“My real nature, my real self, wanted that person to believe in me, to see the good, ignore the bad, and make me feel like I had a future.”

As we start off Bold Tricks we are in the midst of the storm that was unleashed in Shooting Scars. Javier, Ellie and Camden are all on the run from Travis's henchmen. But Ellie and Camden need to save Gus and Javier needs to keep his sister safe.

In the conclusion to this thrilling series Ellie and Camden are finally together. But all is not well between them. Ellie was weak and Camden cannot forgive her for succumbing to Javier's mind games. So throughout their mission both learn to find their way back to each other, all the while fighting off the evil that surrounds them. 

“When I saw you I fell in love,” he said to me as I lay back against the bed and he crawled on top of me on all fours. “And you smiled because you knew.”

Ellie loves Camden and there is nothing that stops her from showing him how much. She has grown throughout the series and she finally learns to let go of her past. But with Gus and her mother in the hands of Travis she knows her only chance to get to them is with the help of Javier. So, while she is put through hell in this last installment, she shows us just how fierce Ellie Watt can be. And gets the awakening of a lifetime when she realizes that its time for her to fight for herself and for her future.

“That man would kill for me. He would die for me. And he would fuck me to death if I asked him.
I was tempted. What a way to go.”

Then there is our darling Camden. *sigh* If you read Shooting Scars and thought "damn this man is a badass" then you are in for quite the ride. His fierce protectiveness for those he loves is what empowers him to be the man he becomes throughout Bold Tricks. A man that has everything to lose but so much more to gain. He would do anything to keep Ellie, Gus and Ben safe. Even kill without a second thought. He isn't the sweet innocent man we meet in Sins & Needles. He is a man scorned by love and hardened by "war". But what never wavers his is unfailing belief in Ellie and her goodness.

“Ellie, he doesn’t have a very big heart.” He gave me a pointed look. “But I’m sure in his fucked-up mind, he was being noble. I’m at least grateful for that.”

Which leads us to Javier. In every story comes a Villain. My goodness what can I say about this man that hasn't been said before? Javier does his own growing in this series...not in a good way. He grows from little time VILLAIN to a big time MONSTER. He takes everything you liked about him and smashes it up in little bitty pieces. He is a man on a mission and he does not take any prisoners. What Bold Tricks did that no other book in this series did was make me understand where he is coming from. A little. His love for Ellie was so great and so rich that he wanted to hold onto that. But in the end, to him, POWER is so much greater than LOVE.


This is the last chapter in this threesome's adventure. Lives are lost, loved ones are betrayed, traps are set, new allies are made and LOVE will be the one thing that leads them through this storm. I will dearly miss this series and its characters. So much so that at the end I felt empty knowing that their journey had ended. :-(


I do look forward to reading more from Karina Halle and will continue to recommend this series to those who haven't had the luck to read it.


Buckle up for the last adventure with Jose and the gang! :)

HAPPY READING!

~ABOUT THE AUTHOR~

Karina is represented by Scott Waxman of the Waxman Leavell Literary Agency

The daughter of a Norwegian Viking and a Finnish Moomin, Karina Halle grew up in Vancouver, Canada with trolls and eternal darkness on the brain. This soon turned into a love of all things that go bump in the night and a rather sadistic appreciation for freaking people out. Like many of the flawed characters she writes, Karina never knew where to find herself and has dabbled in acting, make-up artistry, film production, screenwriting, photography, travel writing and music journalism. She eventually found herself in the pages of the very novels she wrote (if only she had looked there to begin with).

Karina holds a screenwriting degree from Vancouver Film School and a Bachelor of Journalism from TRU. Her travel writing, music reviews/interviews and photography have appeared in publications such as Consequence of Sound, Mxdwn and GoNomad Travel Guides. She currently lives on an island on the coast of British Columbia where she's preparing for the zombie apocalypse with her fiance and rescue pup. 

Connect with Karina: Goodreads ~ Facebook ~ Twitter ~ Website

~BOOK SPOTLIGHT~ Author Interview with Jamie Baywood, Author of Getting Rooted in New Zealand

Title: Getting Rooted in New Zealand

Author: Jamie Baywood

Genre: Memoir

PURCHASE LINK: Amazon

Synopsis

Craving change and lacking logic, at 26, Jamie, a cute and quirky Californian, impulsively moves to New Zealand to avoid dating after reading that the country's population has 100,000 fewer men. In her journal, she captures a hysterically honest look at herself, her past and her new wonderfully weird world filled with curious characters and slapstick situations in unbelievably bizarre jobs. It takes a zany jaunt to the end of the Earth and a serendipitous meeting with a fellow traveler before Jamie learns what it really means to get rooted.

~About the Author~

Jamie Baywood grew up in Petaluma, California. In 2010, she made the most impulsive decision of her life by moving to New Zealand. Getting Rooted in New Zealand is her first book about her experiences living there. Jamie is now married and living happily ever after in the United Kingdom. She is working on her second book.

Connect with Jamie:  FACEBOOK ~ TWITTER ~ GOODREADS ~ AMAZON ~ PINTEREST

~AUTHOR INTERVIEW~

What inspired you to write your book?

I consider myself an accidental author. I didn’t go to New Zealand with the intentions of writing a book about my experiences there. I had funny experiences that I had trouble believing were true. I wrote the stories down to stay sane. I wrote situations down that were happening around me and shared them with friends. The stories made people laugh so I decided to organize the stories into a book and publish in the hopes to make others laugh too.

How did you come up with the title?

In New Zealand, I had a lot of culture shock. One of the most memorable moments was learning the meaning of the Kiwi slang word “rooted.” One night I was brushing my teeth with my flatmate Liam and I said, ‘I’m really excited to live in this house because I have been traveling a lot and I just need to settle down, stop traveling and get rooted’. He was choking on his toothbrush and asked me if I knew what that meant because it had a completely different meaning New Zealand than it does in the States.

Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?

Publishing my book was my way of transforming poison into medicine. I hope that it can help people that have had bad dating experiences or bad work experiences – make them laugh and not give up hope.

What was the hardest part of writing your book?

I feel very grateful that most readers understand my sense of humor. I’m always relieved and grateful when I receive a positive review. I love hearing from readers that my book is making people laugh out loud.

It’s frustrating when people don’t understand my humor. The main criticism I get is that my book isn’t a representation of the entire country of New Zealand. It’s my dairy, not a travel guide. I have been in a lot of situations where I had two choices: laugh or cry. I’ve chosen to laugh. I write my experiences from a purely personal standpoint. Compared to other travelers who worked abroad in New Zealand my experiences have been very unusual. I would highly recommend everyone goes to New Zealand to experience their own adventure.

What would you consider to be your life altering moment in New Zealand?

While I was in New Zealand I meet a director named Thomas Sainsbury, he asked me what I was doing in New Zealand. My everyday stories made him laugh and he asked me to write a monologue for him. I had never done anything like that before. I was shocked by the adrenaline rush that came with storytelling and making people laugh.

What was your favorite place in New Zealand?

New Zealand is such a beautiful country. Beaches, mountains, glaciers, lakes, forests, islands, New Zealand’s got it all. It has such freshness about it, like the islands just emerged from the sea. It feels like anything is possible in New Zealand. I also loved the quality of light in New Zealand. It was like looking through a polarized lenses, but more intense. Everything is so colourful and vibrant.

Auckland is on the coast and there was a little beach down the street from where I lived at the end of Hamilton Street. The beach has pohutukawa trees with branches that are almost horizontal. I used to go to that beach all the time and lie in the branches, look up at the sky and feel so happy and grateful. A lot of the times the water would be lapping up underneath the branches. It was also nice to go there at night and look at the stars.

Can you share with everyone an excerpt from your book?

Just like “biscuits,” the word “rooting” has a completely different meaning in New Zealand than it does in California.” (Page 55)

If you had to choose, who would you say is your favorite author?

Cyan Corwine.

What book are you reading now?

May I Ask You Something? by Cyan Corwine.

Are you currently working on a new book?

I plan to divide my books by the countries I've lived in. I've lived in five countries; America, American Samoa, New Zealand, Scotland and now England. My next book will be about attempting to settle in Scotland.

Thank you to Jamie for allowing me to interview her! Head on over to Amazon to get your copy of Getting Rooted in New Zealand! 

~COVER REVEAL & GIVEAWAY~ Favorite Places by Kelly Gendron

Title: Favorite Places (A Trouble Maker Novel)
Author: Kelly Gendron
Genre: Contemporary Adult Romance
Release Date: December 2013
Hosted by: Book Enthusiast Promotions

Synopsis

A five-minute trolley ride, one troublemaking luggage, and two stolen identities. Six months later, two strangers discover they’re married. She wants an annulment. He has other plans.

Being illegally hitched is about the only way Chase Lennox would ever be shackled to any woman. But when the multimillionaire playboy finds out he’s married to the woman who caused him to lose the biggest deal of his life, Chase decides before he gives his new wife an annulment, she’s going to help him close the deal he’d lost.
Jessina Landi has a three-foot radius comfort zone. The last man she let into it cost her a lot more than a broken heart. And the huge debt she owes for that trust, well, it’s due. If she takes Chase Lennox's up on his offer, it’s sure to cover the bill.

There’s an annulment waiting at the end of their rainbow… well, that’s if they can get through the next two weeks without consummating the marriage.

~BUY THE BOOKS~

Broken Fences, Book 1:Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Smashwords

~EXCERPT~

“Finish getting ready. We’re outta here in a few minutes,” he said, then turned his back to her.

She struggled to retort from the total body meltdown. “Are we heading back to your apartment?”

“Yes,” he said just as he disappeared from the doorway.

“Good.” She raised her voice. “You can drop me off at the bus stop then.”

Chase’s head swayed back in the doorway. “Come again?”

“I’m going home, but I’ll be back in time for Caplin’s arrival on Thursday.”

Chase stepped back into the room. “Why do you want to go home?”

The question caught her off guard. She’d assumed he’d be pleased to be rid of her. Nonetheless, telling him the truth wasn’t an option. “As you said, the only reason we needed to spend time together was so I could get to know you, so we can convince Caplin we’re married.”

His forehead wrinkled. “And you feel like you know me now?”

“Well enough to pull off a bullshit marriage, yes.”

“Hmm.” He rubbed his chin, then dropped his hand and took a step toward her. His intense regard held her captive.

She clung to those dark eyes, waiting for him to say something.

“I don’t want you to go.” His low, husky words resonated in her ears.

Her body hesitated, her heart skipped, and her nerves stammered. She was convinced that all of her senses had failed her, because she was sure she hadn’t heard him right. “What?”

“There’re a few more things you need to know about me in order to successfully pull this off, Jessina.”

Every single one of her senses came back to life as he approached her.

“Will you stay here with me just one more night?” he asked, stopping in front of her. “So I can show them to you?”

“What?” Heat flushed through her body once more. “What sort of things?”

Dark, ravishing eyes dropped to her mouth as he drew a finger down the side of her cheek. It trailed along her neck, gently grazing her shoulder and caressing the length of her arm. “The sort of things I would do with my real wife.” He looked back up at her, his hand now settled on her hip. The weight of his touch caused her stomach to clench with desire. His hand shifted to the small of her back, and her next breath got caught in her throat. “I want to show you how my wife would make me feel when I’m this close to her.” He applied light pressure with his hand to her back, and the space between them descended. Their bodies became one.

“Chase…” His name fell from her lips in a near whisper when his hardness pressed into her tight-with-desire belly.

“Jessina…” he hissed back in a throaty murmur…

~ABOUT THE AUTHOR~

Kelly resides in a quiet suburb somewhere between Buffalo and Niagara Falls, NY. Her day job? Kelly works in health care representing a group of nursing facilities in the WNY area. She’s been faithfully writing for three years but did write her first book ten years ago. She put it down to raise her son as a single mom and then picked it back up when she and her son finally grew up. That's when she settled into her newly married adult life and started to seriously write again. She's dabbled with Romantic Suspense stories, but recently she's been on a contemporary kick. The recipe for the men in her stories: a dash of bad boy attitude, a cup of strong and confident and, of course, besides being packed with magnificent bodies, and doused with shameless aptitudes, they must have a tender heart you want to rip out of the pages (or your e-Reader) and take to bed with you at night.

Connect with Kelly: FACEBOOK | TWITTER | WEBSITE | GOODREADS AUTHOR

~GIVEAWAY~

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~BOOK BLITZ~ Spotlight & Giveaway: When Stars Die by Amber Skye Forbes

Title:When Stars Die

Author: Amber Forbes

Genre: Paranormal Romance

PURCHASE LINKS: AMAZON ~ B&N

Synopsis

Amelia Gareth's brother is a witch and the only way to save her family from the taint in his blood is to become a professed nun at Cathedral Reims. However, in order to become professed, she must endure trials that all nuns must face.

Surviving these trials is not easy, especially for Amelia, who is being stalked by shadowy beings only she can see. They're searching for people they can physically touch, because only those they can touch can see them. Amelia soon learns why she is being stalked when she accidentally harms her best friend with fire during the third trial. Fire is a witch's signature. The shadows are after witches.

Now Amelia must decide what to do: should she continue on her path to profession knowing there is no redemption, or should she give up on her dream and turn away from Cathedral Reims in order to stop the shadows who plan to destroy everything she loves?

~About the Author~

Amber Skye Forbes is a dancing writer who prefers pointe
shoes over street shoes, leotards over skirts, and ballet buns over hairstyles.

She loves striped tights and bows and will edit your face with a Sharpie if she doesn't like your attitude. She lives in Augusta, Georgia where she writes dark fiction that will one day put her in a psychiatric ward...again. But she doesn't care because her cat is a super hero who will break her out.

Connect with Amber:    

~GIVEAWAY~

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Book Blitz Organized by:

~RELEASE DAY~ Spotlight & Giveaway: Shattered by Alicia Renee Kline

Title: Shattered

Author: Alicia Renee Kline

Genre: Contemporary Romance

PURCHASE LINKS: AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLES |iTUNES | SMASHWORDS | KOBO

Synopsis


With Eric’s proposal on the table and the memory of Matthew’s kiss on her lips, Lauren Jefferies has a decision to make.

After months of praying that Eric would take their relationship to the next level and come clean with his true feelings for her, he shocks Lauren by doing just that. Suddenly, he’s offered her everything she’s ever dreamed of. He’s agreed to compromise, whispering words of love and forever amid his plans for their future.

But his timing couldn’t be worse.

While Eric was busy with his soul-searching, Lauren found a new kindred spirit in Matthew. Her roommate’s brother was happy to fill in when her boyfriend wasn’t willing or able to be there. Eventually the lines of their friendship blurred, giving way to a deep seated attraction. She thought the feeling was mutual, but now that Eric’s shown his hand, Matthew’s pushed her away.

Matthew’s rejection stings more than it should.

Eric’s waiting for a response.

Ultimately, whatever she chooses to do will end up changing all three of them.

Lauren’s happy ever after was never supposed to begin like this.

~EXCERPT~

The drive to Indianapolis had never felt longer. Of course, it didn’t help that I had been stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic for the last five miles. Everybody and their brother must have had the same idea as I had, at least in part. But I wasn’t starting the weekend early, heading down to the state capital on Friday night to party.

I was about to start the rest of my life.

With nothing better to do while I crept along, I turned the volume up on the radio only to immediately wish I hadn’t. I’d forgotten that I’d had Parabelle playing on my way to Matthew’s last night. After our fight and my hasty exit, I’d muted the volume and it had stayed that way until just now. Sitting here in traffic allowed me to focus on the lyrics; the feelings they evoked weren’t pretty. Tears clouded my vision as I related my own experiences to those in the songs. Perhaps I was reading too much into things, but it was like they had been written about me. I eventually conceded defeat and turned the stereo completely off. No, music wasn’t good for me right now. Maybe never again.

It shouldn’t have been like this. I shouldn’t have been relating to sorrow and heartbreak and sacrifice. Just two days prior, my boyfriend of ten years had proposed. I should have been all rainbows and unicorns and happiness, not looking in my rearview mirror in hopes to find a black Camry behind me.

Matthew had let me go. Part of me had wanted to see his car in the parking lot after I came out of work. I had wanted him to stop me; at least try to talk me out of going down to see Eric tonight. I wanted him to apologize even though he hadn’t really been in the wrong. He had a valid point. Kissing him, expecting anything more from him when I was a heartbeat away from becoming someone else’s wife was very stupid.

But he hadn’t shown up. After all those weeks of tension between us, of second guessing every little thing he did and reading way more meaning into it than was necessary, he had thrown in the towel. Maybe he hadn’t even been interested in fighting for me in the first place. Maybe I had just believed the pictures that everyone around me had painted.

My brief conversation with Blake had told me what I needed to know. Matthew hadn’t mentioned last night to her, and I wasn’t about to bring it up. Her brother could remain on the pedestal she had built for him and she would never be the wiser. I had respected her wishes and not hurt him. I had, however, impaled myself in the process.

Come to think of it, Blake had given up rather easily as well. Granted I had packed up my entire room and stolen away practically in the middle of the night, but still. I had expected more from her. Sure she had texted, and even pretended to be an irate customer with a subpar credit score to reach me at work, but she had turned around and abruptly exited the arena with her tail between her legs when I mentioned Eric’s name.

And so here I was, inching along in Indy’s rush hour traffic, momentarily homeless. All my worldly possessions fit in the trunk of my car, much the same as they had when I hauled them away from my studio apartment on the wrong side of town. The only thing that had changed was they were now stowed in a much larger, shinier vehicle.

My adult life had always been largely transient. Leases could be broken – I had just proven that to be true this morning – and jobs didn’t really, truly, tie you down either. I could insert and remove myself from people’s lives on a whim and they barely noticed. No matter how badly I wanted them to.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a black Toyota change lanes. Instinctively, my breath caught and I turned slightly in its direction to look at the driver without full-on staring. My heart sunk when I realized it was a false alarm. I cursed him for having such a ubiquitous car. I had never really noticed how many people drove Camrys until I had a reason to look for one in particular.

It was stupid of me to even imagine him rushing down here after me. I had told Blake I was going to Indy for goodness sakes. He didn’t know where Eric lived; he had never been down here with me before to see where my comfort zone was. He had no idea where my favorite local haunts were. It wasn’t as though he would blindly stumble upon me through sheer force of will. It would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

And in order to be found, someone had to be looking.

I swallowed down the bile in my throat that came with the realization that he had done just what I had asked. He had left me alone. That’s what I had screamed at him when I’d jerked away from his touch and stormed out his door. Except for a final text message which I’d handily ignored, that had been our final contact.

Sort of like Blake and Chris and their whole “rot in hell” moment. Whatever good memories that I could take away from our brief friendship/massive crush would be clouded forever by the explosive ending. An ending that I had put into motion all on my own.

As much as I wanted to blame him for the mess I had made, I knew I alone had created it. I had practically ambushed him last night. I’d conducted my own fishing expedition of sorts trying to gauge his interest in me. I couldn’t be upset that he had given me an answer I didn’t want to hear.

We couldn’t be anything. The thought of us being together was stupid. It just wouldn’t work.

~ABOUT THE AUTHOR~

Alicia Renee Kline has been writing for as long as she can remember. Her work has evolved from scrawling story ideas in spiral notebooks in loopy, middle school handwriting (complete with scribbles) to more professional looking fare via her laptop. She is eternally grateful for the "delete" key, so that no one can tell that she doesn't get everything right the first time.

She resides in Northeastern Indiana with her husband, two daughters, two cats and two hamsters. When she isn't being an author, she works full time in the insurance industry.

Connect with Alicia:  TWITTER | GOODREADS AUTHOR | WEBSITE

 

~GIVEAWAY~

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~RELEASE DAY~ Spotlight & Giveaway: Let Love Heal by Melissa Collins

Title: Let Love Heal

Author: Melissa Collins

Genre: Contemporary Romance

PURCHASE LINKS: AMAZON | AMAZON UK | BARNES & NOLBES | KOBO | iBOOKS

Synopsis

Perfection. We all strive for it, but what happens when the desire to be perfect consumes you? What happens when the need to bury your mistakes blinds you?

Melanie Crane has always been the perfect daughter, friend, student – she’s been perfect at everything, in fact. But when she lets her insecurities, the ones that she keeps hidden from everyone, get the best of her, she falters in her pursuit of perfection. Melanie crumples under the pressure and buries her pain. Numbed by sadness and guilt, she is determined never to let anyone find out how broken she really is.

Bryan Mahoney may appear to have everything in order. He’s charming, witty and completely swoon-worthy. In short, Bryan has life all figured out, but appearances can be deceiving. When the landscape of Bryan’s family changes in an instant, he’s left to pick up the pieces.

Not all bruises leave a mark. Now, weary and afraid, Melanie and Bryan must find a way to let love heal their broken and jaded hearts.

Read the Prologue on:

~BOOK TRAILER~

Let Love Heal by Melissa Collins from The BookChick on Vimeo.

~ABOUT THE AUTHOR~

I’ve always been an avid reader. Majoring in English Literature was a no brainer. Becoming a teacher and instilling my love for reading into my students was also a no brainer. I’ve spent the last ten years teaching and I’ve loved (mostly) every minute of it. When I was home on maternity leave for my third son, I discovered a new genre that sparked my creativity. My passion for writing sprang from my love of reading and once I knew I had a story to tell, I couldn’t wait to get it out there. I only hope that my readers enjoy reading my story as much as I enjoyed writing it. 

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