Book excerpt for mystery suspense novel, Crashers, by Lindy s. Hudis

Today’s post is a book excerpt feature for the mystery suspense novel, Crashers by Lindy S. Hudis.

During her virtual book tour with Goddess Fish Promotions, Lindy will be awarding an autographed paperback copy of Crashers (US Only) to a lucky winner. To be entered for a chance to win, use the form below. To increase your chances of winning, feel free to visit her other tour stops and enter there, too.

Blurb about Crashers:

Fraudulent car accidents is a multi-million dollar racket, involving unscrupulous medical providers, personal injury attorneys, and the cooperating passengers involved in the accidents and who also receive a portion of the illegal proceeds. Such is the fate of newly engaged, Nathan and Shari, whose joy is tempered by the dark cloud of mounting debt. A chance encounter with a stranger in whom Shari confides her troubles, proves fortuitous: he tells her of a get-rich-quick scheme that will put her and her fiance on easy street. Seduced by the chance to move from hard times to good times in no time, she finds herself acting as a stuffed passenger the victim in a staged auto accident. Shari gets her payday, but getting out and breaking free of the insurance fraud underworld will take nothing short of a miracle. A modern day cautionary tale that uncovers how the innocent get lured into the scheme of cappers and hammers.

Excerpt from Crashers:

As the blare of the clock radio on the night table jolted her awake, Shari  Barnes rubbed her eyes, blew her long brown hair out of her face, and snuggled into Nathan Townsend’s chest. She curled her body around his middle and took a deep whiff of his salty, masculine neck.

But she couldn’t ignore the voice on the radio.

“Monday morning traffic,” she sighed.

Nathan matched the sigh and put his arms around her. “At least you don’t have to drive over the hill.”

“Yeah, I would just die if I had to drive into Beverly Hills every day to work in a beautiful office.”

Shari giggled and disappeared under their thick blue comforter for a few more moments of sleepy-headed bliss. She felt Nathan stretch up, and a moment later the radio shut off. Then he slid down next to her in the single bed they shared in their Studio City apartment, a few blocks north of Ventura Boulevard. The constant drone and rumble of another L.A. morning came clearly through the open window: cars honking, rock music blaring, the frantic scurrying sounds of the film shoot a few blocks away. Shari ran her bare feet up the inside of Nathan’s thigh.

He jumped. “Shit, your feet are cold.” He pushed her legs off of him.

“What time is it?” she murmured between kisses.

“Um, seven.” He nuzzled her neck and she felt him becoming erect against her.

“No time for that!” She threw off the covers. “Gotta be at work on time for once; gotta get my asp out of bed.”

“There’s a snake in the bed?” Nathan grabbed her with both hands and gave her belly gentle nips.

“Yeah, of the one-eyed variety.”

Shari leaped to the floor and padded naked into the bathroom. She turned the hot water in the shower to high and stepped in, filling the small bathroom with steam.

She had just poured a green drop of shampoo into her palm and was running her hands together when the flimsy yellow and white shower curtain flew back and Nathan grinned in at her. She smiled back, surprised by neither his arrival nor the partial hard-on that preceded him.

“Mind if we join you?” he asked.

“There’s enough shampoo for everybody,” Shari said as she rubbed her hands across her scalp.

He stepped into the stall, pulled the curtain closed and began to lather her hair for her. She put her hands on his back, feeling the taut muscles and the water streaming there, but did not reach down between them. It took him about five seconds to realize it and hold her away.

“You okay?”

“Fine….”

“Don’t lie; I can always tell when you have something on your mind.”

“You know me better than I know me,” she said.

“You know it.” He pushed her wet hair over her shoulders. “Come on, give.”

“I was thinking maybe I should get a second job.”

“You’re worrying about money again?”

“Well, I have to shoot my student thesis film this year or I won’t graduate. But where am I going to get the money I need?”

“How much do you need?”

“At least five figures.”

Author bio and links:

Lindy S. Hudis is a graduate of New York University, where she studied drama at Tisch School of the Arts. She is the author of several titles, including her romance suspense novel, Weekends, her "Hollywood" story City of Toys, and her crime novel, Crashers. She is also the author of an erotic short story series, "The S&M Club" and "The Mile High Club". Her short film "The Lesson" was screened at the Seattle Underground Film Festival and Cine-Nights in 2000. She is also an actress, having appeared in the television daytime drama "Sunset Beach". She and her husband, Hollywood stuntman Stephen Hudis, have formed their own production company called Impact Motion Pictures, and have several projects and screenplays in development. She lives in California with her husband and two children.

Twitter | Facebook | Website | Goodreads | Amazon Author | Amazon book

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Interview with business writer Maxine Attong

I'm chatting with non-fiction business writer Maxine Attong today. We're focused on her newest book, Lead Your Team to Win – Achieve Optimal Performance by Providing a Safe Space for Employees.

Bio:

Maxine Attong’s personal mission statement is to "Enhance the lives of the persons with whom I make contact". This is supported by her beliefs that:

1) Human beings are creative

2) Human beings are intelligent

3) Human beings want to make a positive contribution.

Her beliefs are evident in her writing as she celebrates the power and intelligence of people and shares the tools needed to succeed.

Maxine is a Gestalt Organizational Development practitioner, a Certified Professional Facilitator and a Certified Evidence Based Coach.

In these roles she facilitates workshops and meetings for work teams and other groups to come to decisions that everyone can live with, while providing safe and confidential environments in which her clients can achieve business or personal goals.

Maxine remains a Certified Management Accountant and is a member of the Society of Management Accountants, Ontario.

Maxine currently works as the Assistant Vice President – Strategic Planning and Implementation- at the Guardian General Insurance Company Limited.

Welcome, Maxine. What inspired you to write this book?

My first book – Change or Die - the Business Process Improvement Manual – is a technical book and a great reference manual for persons interested in business processes. I wrote this book from my head, since it documents my client experiences and work that I actually did in the Business Process Improvement field. After that book, I was challenged to write something that appealed to a wider audience by several of my friends. I also gained more confidence to write about me, to share some of my thoughts and a bit of myself with my audience. 

Lead Your Team to Win is my heart book – as such there is a lot which has a lot of me in it, my thoughts, my experiences and to say how I felt about leadership. That was one part of the inspiration. The other part is that over the years of working in corporate environments I noticed that people did not really show up at work and I know that this was keeping productivity back. I also noticed that a lot of us show up differently at work than we do in the other parts of our lives and I reflected on how this separation affected me. As a coach, I keep noticing the separation in clients and how it hampered their effectiveness. In my quest to be an effective leader I wanted a style that worked for me.

Excerpt: Pages 14-16 of Lead Your Team to Win – Achieve Optimal Performance by Providing a Safe Space for Employees

I wanted a leadership style that would work with my personality and still allow me to have a winning team. I knew that creating a safe space in my office was essential to achieving this since it would:

• Get people to work creatively and generate ideas and new solutions.

• Develop an incredible team with outstanding performance that ensured me, as the leader, promotions and wins. (My assumption is that each time a team member wins, the leader automatically gets one or two wins.) To achieve wins, team members must have big ideas and the guts to implement them. They need to fail and believe that while there’s a cost to failure, there’s no personal loss; and they can certainly try again. To win, the team needs to work together, think strategically about their actions, and always weigh consequences. The safe space provides a cocoon in which ideas are hatched, nurtured, and grown before being released for scrutiny by a wider audience.

• Provide a stable environment in which everyone can perform, even on the days when nothing seems to go right.

• Allow team members to bring to work the adult parts of themselves that they often park at the office door and retrieve when they leave the office. This safe space gives them permission to be the responsible, accountable, decision-making, trying-to-be the-best-they-could-be people they are outside of the office. These people make tough decisions every day about household budgets, their children’s future, and aging parents. They fail and keep going, juggling different balls to keep their lives and those of their loved ones on an even keel.

• Permit team members to think, and in so doing challenge me to think more. They need to ask questions so I can explain and become clearer, and thus we can all generate even more great ideas and make better decisions.

• Motivate the team so people feel good about what they are doing, and work well because of these positive feelings. When the team members feel safe, they’ll take risks that will bring rewards, and will accept challenges to grow professionally and personally.

• Keep my big ego in check, to ensure that my natural tendencies to be a benevolent autocrat don’t overtake my humanity. This keeps me honest and responsible for the things I do and say at the office. It also gives me the freedom to change my mind and not be seen as indecisive, and releases me from the burden of feeling I always have to be right.

• Satisfy my curiosity about leadership and the many strategies I’ve read about. I wanted to create an alternative style that would work with my personality and allow me to remain true to myself. I wanted to present an alternate and realistic tool that people like me could easily implement with their teams.

The safe space provides a dynamic and creative environment for the free exchange of ideas, and encourages team members to make decisions and take action. While it promotes team accountability, it does not release the leader from the ultimate responsibility for making the final decisions. The idea promotes a shared team consciousness about the reality of the bigger political landscape within which the team operates, and dissuades any pretensions of naïvety about how the organization and various stakeholders need to be maneuvered. Thus, it provides a reality check for the team and its members.

What exciting story are you working on next?

Right now I am resting. My first book was published in 2012 and Lead Your Team to Win in Sept 2014. I have two ideas in my head. One is about the strategic office – how to develop it and maintain it. The other is about female leadership and its peculiarities. My head is leaning towards the strategy and the heart towards female leadership. So until that battle is sorted and the image forms I am not going to take any steps forward. One book will emerge and that is that book that I am going to write. While that is sorting itself out I am writing short stories which is a frightening exercise itself.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

I thought of myself as a writer when I was a kid and teenager. Through my young adult years I became an accountant and reclaimed my writer title in my 30s when I stopped being an accountant. I think that my writing status is now confirmed since I wrote my second book – Lead Your Team to Win. It is my heart book and makes me feel as I did when I was a kid.

Do you write full-time? If so, what's your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?

I work a full-time job in corporate. I work days Monday to Friday so I write in the evenings. My days start off with journaling in the morning, a gym workout or a run, then I go to work. I start to write around 7 p.m. after I have wound down from the day’s work. It is something that does not tire me, so I end around 10 p.m. If I am in the zone, I keep going until whatever time and have a hard day the next day. I write for at least 5 hours on a Saturday. On Sundays I rest completely, no writing except for the morning journal.

How do I find time to write?

When I am writing a book I think of all the hours that I am working as wasted time that I can spend writing. I spend the lunch times in agony since I do not write on the company’s time or property. When I get home I am eager to start writing. In a way, writing helps me focus on the work day, since work offers a distraction and a time for thoughts to shape in my head as I focus on something else. I have the ability to completely switch off work when I get home so I have the time to write.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

I bought a red chair for my first book and wrote every sentence on that red chair. It was the place that I went to to edit, and finalize the book. I purchased a green chair for my next book and was writing from it. My partner sat in the green chair one day and did some work on it and that was the end of the chair for me. After he sat on it, the chair lost its magic for me and I never sat on it again. I reserved one end of the sofa as mine and finished Lead Your Team to Win from there. I have to claim a writing space and no one must invade it ever.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I always wanted to be a writer. I knew this since I was 8. I won my first camera as the first prize for a short story that I submitted. Over the years I won vouchers for books in various competitions and my letters to the editors were regularly published. I wrote hundreds of short stories and poems, I was always writing as a kid and as a teenager. But I did not become a writer, I became an accountant and then my writing stopped.

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?

I realize that writing is a balancing factor of my life. In the years that I did not write I felt that something was missing and that life was chaotic. When I returned to writing I felt that this is what I was meant to do.

Links:

Website | Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Amazon

Thanks, Maxine!

Interview with romance novelist Joy Frawley

Today’s spotlight shines on novelist Joy Frawley. She’s doing a virtual book tour with Goddess Fish Promotions for her time travel romance novel, Two Worlds, Two Men.

During her tour, Joy will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble gift card to a lucky winner. To be entered for a chance to win, use the form below. To increase your chances of winning, feel free to visit her other tour stops and enter there, too!

Bio:
Joy Frawley is an author and writer of the upcoming romance novella; Two Worlds, Two Men published by Resplendence Publishing. Joy lives in beautiful Traverse City, Michigan relishing in living the life of the classic “townie” with her two dogs Piggs and Diggs. You can reach her at joyfrawley@gmail.com or joyfrawley.com.

Welcome, Joy. Please tell us about your current release.

Two Worlds, Two Men is a time travel romance. Jocelyn Stewart goes on holiday to Edinburgh, Scotland and has a passionate romance bloom with her innkeeper, Neely. While sightseeing in town, Jocelyn begins to go back into time to her medieval lover Sir Colin Campbell whom she had no recollection of having been his mistress. Both men own a piece of Jocelyn’s heart and as the story unfolds she must choose which life and which man she wants to be with.

What inspired you to write this book?

I was basically enlightened with the storyline and characters one afternoon out of nowhere! It was quite amazing and not wanting to forget all the details I began writing immediately.

Excerpt:

Jocelyn looked around for the driver who was supposed to be waiting for her arrival with a sign. She had hired someone to pick her up because, as an American and first-time visitor to Scotland, she had figured it would be less stressful.

She didn’t see the driver anywhere; then, just as she started feeling nervous, she saw a man holding a sign with her name on it. And what a man he was! He was broad shouldered, strong and had dark brown hair with reddish tints. He exuded masculinity like some cologne, and even across the airport, she thought she could smell it. Smoothing her unruly hair, she started to walk over to him.

The man, seeing her approach him, took a step toward her. “Are you, Jocelyn?”

When he spoke her name, she found herself frozen in place unable to respond. She’d heard this voice before; she knew this voice. This man spoke her name exactly like the dream she had had all those years ago! She had been stirred awake in bed by a voice of a man, who spoke her name with a Scottish accent. His voice was gentle and low; as if he wanted to gain her attention, but not cause her alarm. Jocelyn had clutched the sheets to her chest and stared out into the darkness of her bedroom almost feeling his intimate presence beside her. She lifted her hand up to her ear having sworn his warm breath had brushed her skin. Jocelyn remembered she had turned her head, anxiously, toward the pillow next to her and almost thought she would be looking into the eyes of a stranger; yet she had not been frightened. This man, his voice, somehow comforted her.

Now, she stood in the airport and caught her breath as she faced the man before her. Her eyes searched his face for something; though what it was she wasn’t sure. Jocelyn felt her heart beating so fast she was certain the man could hear it as memories flooded her mind of that night so long ago when he or someone spoke her name in the darkness. Was that the reason for her vacation to Scotland? Was she unconsciously trying to find the man?

What exciting story are you working on next?
I am currently working on a non-fiction book about how to overcome self-defeating thoughts and pursue your passions. I had no background in writing when I started this book and no one, including myself, had much faith initially that I would ever become published. But I pursued it anyways and achieved positive results by changing my attitude and thought process. I want to encourage other aspiring writers, and anyone else, to feel that satisfaction in their own life. I recently did a speaking engagement to aspiring writers and shared several of the points from my next book and it was rewarding to hear their feedback.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

I considered myself a writer when I began submitting my work to writing competitions. At that point I was pretty much only writing with myself as an audience. However, once I started sending my work to romance competitions it dawned on me that I was beginning to take writing seriously and that I was thinking further ahead than just this one book.

Do you write full-time? If so, what's your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?
I was, up to recently, working almost 50 hour workweeks. However, I am now writing full time. I have been blessed to have an incredible man in my life that helps me manage this and is immensely supportive. Once Two Worlds Two Men got released my writing work load got very demanding as far as my time and accessibility. I have had several articles, podcasts and other marketing opportunities arise the past couple months and I do not envy authors who have to juggle it all with working full time. I admire their endurance because my accessibility has been a very big bonus to me for the initial book release and all its marketing.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

If I get stressed while working on a project I will whip up some nachos to help me regain my focus. If I was stranded on a desert island and could only pick one food to eat the rest of my days it would be nachos. I am not certain the nachos actually help me regain focus, but I am sticking to that story.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Anything but an author! I thought writers were old men who had white messy hair, glasses, wore outdated vests and smelled like mothballs. I am not quite sure where that concept came from, but I do recall having that opinion of authors when I was a little girl. I am glad to say I have since lifted that belief which is good considering I am absolutely nothing like that description.

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?

Two Worlds, Two Men is a fun read that I hope brings entertainment and a few chuckles to readers. Even if it doesn’t bring world peace or cure global warming I believe romance books are popular for a reason. They bring us what we all occasionally crave which is an escape. An escape to a world different than our own. Two Worlds Two Men offers that escape to not one, but two, worlds and I hope you enjoy it!

Website | Amazon | Resplendence Publishing

Thanks, Joy!

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Book excerpt blast for newest novel by Celeste Prater

This post is part of a book blast for the launch of Celeste Prater's newest book Fueled by Lust:Maxim. Celeste will be awarding one randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble gift card. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

A Siren Classic Erotic Sci-Fi Romance – Book 6

A simple turn of your head can change your life forever. That’s what Maxim Telarius will soon realize when he spots a female cracking up passengers at an airport counter. What he didn’t expect was to find his potential mate when the counter comedian inevitably trips over a suitcase and practically lands in his lap. One innocent touch and he’s fighting through a powerful mating surge and begging her not to leave. One blink and she could be lost to him forever.

Skylar Grey is fleeing for her life with a mysterious object stuffed in her purse and no idea where’s she heading. When she spots a gorgeous hunk she just dreamed about, what’s a girl to do? Watching the guy twist on the floor in agony wasn’t what she envisioned. Should she run, or stay to help someone that seems extremely important to her survival?

Book 6 in the Fueled By Lust Series doesn’t disappoint on the erotic, set your hair on fire expectations of the Insedi male.

Reader note: Series best read in sequence.

Enjoy an excerpt:

Maxim couldn’t tear his gaze away. She’d stopped on the edge of the crowd and was asking a couple if they knew how to get to the bus terminal. Her voice was melodic and ethereal. She thanked them and turned his way. Realizing he was staring at her like an idiot, Maxim turned to the guy sitting across from him. Shit. Had his face worn that same ridiculous expression of adoration?

Unable to help himself, he glanced back to her and was shocked to see she was now staring at him. Her eyes were wide and her lips were parted as if she was surprised. The closer she drew to him, the higher her brows rose. He felt his stomach clench when she spoke. Tingles shot up his spine and he shivered.

“You.”

Frowning, Maxim glanced to the right. He was the only “you” sitting on this side of the row of connected chairs. When he turned back to her, he watched her mouth open in surprise as her foot caught the edge of a suitcase sticking out in the aisle. She lost her footing, and he leapt from his chair. Without thought, Maxim reached out to stop the inevitable plunge to the ground. The moment she clutched his arm, their eyes locked. He rolled to the side to give her something else to land on beside the hard tiles.

Back slamming onto the floor, Maxim felt the air rush from his lungs. Her generous breasts pressed heavily against his chest before she rolled away. An intense electrical surge rushed through his system and bent his spine to the point he thought it would snap in two. Agony and bliss warred with each other to determine which one would finally kill him. He heard shouts, but they sounded muted and far away. His mind tried to reason why someone was stabbing the hollow of his throat, yet running a soothing palm across his forehead at the same time.

Feeling a hard tug on his hand, Maxim freed whatever he’d been grasping. Gritting his teeth, he fought to stay lucid as whatever was destroying him decided to finish it or go away. Something snatched his other hand, and he latched on as if it was the tenuous thread to continued breathing. He opened his eyes and everything made sense.

About the Author:

Celeste was born and raised in a small town between Dallas/Fort Worth and Austin. Wanting to see more than her small Texas town, she joined the Marines, which satisfied her craving to see more of the U.S. and her drive to see if she could be one of the few and the proud.

A firm believer in educating the mind, Celeste has achieved several advanced degrees, the latest being a master’s of science.

Her true love is writing erotic romance, especially about alien hunks that know how to treat their females.

Drusus, Severus, Cato, Lucien, Caelius, Maxim and many more have swirled in her dreams until she had to bring them to life and allow them to find love within the pages of the Fueled by Lust book series.

Book 1 DRUSUS was nominated as Top 5 Finalist and placed 3rd in the 2014 RWA Passionate Ink’s 9th Annual Passionate Plume Book Contest in Erotic SciFi/Fantasy Category. Book 2 SEVERUS achieved BEST BOOK review rating and won April 2014 BOOK OF THE MONTH Reader Poll at LONG AND SHORT REVIEWS. Book 3 CATO won the May/June 2014 and LUCIEN the September 2014 BOOK OF THE MONTH Reader Poll at LONG AND SHORT REVIEWS. All currently released books in the series have made it into the Top 5 Bestseller Lists at Bookstrand.com within days of release as well as making it into the Top 10 Hottest New Releases in Erotic Science Fiction on Amazon.

Book Series Links

Bookstrand | Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Kobo | iTunes

Author Links

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest | YouTube | Google + | Tumblr

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Book excerpt for contemporary romance novel Running Away with You by Suzanne Sweeney

Today is a special book excerpt feature for Suzanne Sweeney’s new contemporary romance novel Running Away with You.

During her virtual book tour with Goddess Fish Promotions, Suzanne will be awarding a lucky winner a $10 Amazon or Barnes and Noble gift card. To be entered for a chance to win, use the form below. To increase your chances of winning, feel free to visit her other tour stops and enter there, too.

Blurb:

Juliette Fletcher’s life has been full of surprises ever since she began dating NFL superstar Evan “Big Mac” McGuire. He’s everything she could ever have wished for – strong and tender, and wrapped up in an exquisite package. She has experienced more happiness than she ever dreamed of, but she’s also survived enough pain and anguish to last a lifetime.

It’s Evan’s rookie season as starting quarterback with the NJ Sentinels, and it looks like he just might take the team all the way to the playoffs for the first time in five seasons. And now Juliette is planning her dream wedding in the dazzle of the paparazzi’s camera flashes.

But Juliette is about to learn how quickly a dream can turn into a nightmare. Dark secrets begin to emerge – the kind that wreck careers and break hearts. Is silence a betrayal, even when the truth could cause anguish to the ones you love? And when the past threatens to cast its shadow over the present, how far is too far to make certain it stays buried?

Running Away With You is the third book in the Running Series

Excerpt:

Chapter Two ~ Learning the Ropes

...

I hear the water running in the bathroom while Evan showers. AC/DC is blaring, and when I hear Evan singing along to “You Shook Me All Night Long”, I can’t help but smile. We have a routine when he’s got an away game, and “You Shook Me All Night Long” pretty well sums it up. The first few weeks of the season, I felt guilty for keeping him up all night so close to a game, but then I realized that the night before the game, he’s safely tucked away in his hotel room by eight o’clock. That more than makes up for whatever sleep he may have missed the night before.

He doesn’t need to bring much with him when he travels. He’ll wear a suit jacket on the plane, and then again on the way home, so there’s no need to pack that. He needs workout clothes, something to wear to dinner, and lots of clean socks and underwear. God, he has great underwear. Some say Armani on the waist. Others say Andrew Christian in gold. They are all tight-fitting boxer briefs and all make him look sexy as hell. Not that he needs any help in that department.

“Why are you staring at my underwear?” he laughs. I am so caught up in my thoughts, I never heard him turn off the music. Now, he’s standing in front of me wearing nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist. Water droplets cling to his skin, and all I can think about is licking them off one by one.

My God, he’s delicious.

Author bio and links:

Suzanne Sweeney is a graduate of Georgian Court University where she studied Education and Sociology. For some time now, she has been sharing her love of literature with the young minds who sit before her in class each and every day. After years of teaching the art of writing, Suzanne has finally taken her own advice and put pen to paper in order to produce her most recent book, Running Away with You. She writes what she lives, residing in the community she loves, Point Pleasant, with her family who provide a constant source of inspiration and support.

For more information on this novel and author, please visit:

Website | Facebook | Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Goodreads | Pinterest

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Book blast for contemporary romance novel A Taste of Merlot by Heather Heyford

I’m featuring contemporary romance author Heather Heyford today as she does a virtual book tour with Goddess Fish Promotions for her new novel, A Taste of Merlot.

During the tour, Heather will be awarding an e-copy of A Taste of Merlot to a lucky winner. To be entered for a chance to win, use the form below. To increase your chances of winning, feel free to visit her other tour stops and enter there, too.

Blurb:

Raise your glass and join Heather Heyford as she pours a second serving in her series following these headstrong wine heiresses in their quest to strike out on their own…

Merlot St. Pierre is struggling to break free from her family name. Her college classmates whisper behind her back that her passion for jewelry design is little more than a hobby, since she’ll always have her father’s fortune. But Meri is determined to prove them wrong, and with the help of a handsome jewelry buyer, she just may taste her first sip of success—as long as she can hide who she really is…

Mark Newman’s family owns a chain of high-end jewelry stores, and he’s working hard to get out from under his aunt’s thumb and prove he has a good eye and a head for business. He’s certain Meri’s designs could be the next big thing, but he’ll have to convince her that she can use her famous last name to her advantage. As their business partnership takes root, an attraction begins to flourish—but they’ll both find that love, like wine, takes time to perfect…

Excerpt:

Mark held the ring under the dangling ceiling bulb. “You’re right, this light doesn’t do much good at all. Here, let’s see how it looks on.” He lifted the fingers of her right hand and slipped the slender coil over her knuckle. “The vine motif is brilliant, and you did a kick-ass job setting the agate. It’s contemporary, but timeless. It’ll look right on any woman, from your age on up to great-grandmothers.”

            But instead of dropping her hand, he surprised her by turning it over, bringing the center of her palm to his lips to kiss it as his eyes burned into hers through the gloom of the shabby studio.

            Mesmerized, she watched him plant more slow, lazy kisses all over her palm, trailing down each of her fingers to their very tips, bringing a shiver to her spine. She waited for the inevitable scowl when he noticed how rough they were.

            “That’s what years of manipulating metal on a daily basis will do to your hands. No matter how much I moisturize, it’s never enough.”

            “Hands that work are way more interesting than those that don’t.”

            When there were no more fingers left to kiss, he took both her hands in his. “You smell great,” he murmured. “Like roses.” The shop on the Champs-Élysées still shipped bottles of Maman’s bespoke fragrance to her daughters every year on the anniversary of her death.

             He bent his head to bury his nose in the lock of hair that fell near her jawline. She shivered and arched her neck to give him access. His breath on her skin made her tremble with anticipation. For what seemed like forever, all he did was gently nuzzle her neck and toy with her hair, twisting a chunky lock around his fist to kiss, then drop, only to pick up another handful on the other side, raising and dropping it, watching it fan out in the dim light of the studio.      

            “Where’d you get such beautiful hair?” he whispered. He wrapped one arm around her waist to ease her closer—but not close enough—and slowly, slowly drew his fingers through her hair from the top of her crown to the middle of her back in long, brush-like strokes. Tantalizing her. Provoking her imagination. She wished he’d do more with those hands soon, because she was about to melt. And then, when she couldn’t have waited one more second, he closed his eyes and angled his head, barely brushing her lips with his, only to withdraw and peer into her eyes with half-closed lids. Those eyes. They were indescribable. Sexy. Kind. All-knowing. The eyes of a hot young man with a wise old soul.

            He turned his head the other way and lightly kissed her a second time . . . and to her ever-building frustration, pulled back yet again. She gave him a desperate, searching look. What was he doing, torturing her like this? He smiled. He was enjoying teasing her.

            Enough. Merlot tore her hands from his, threw her arms around his neck, and kissed him squarely on the mouth. In response, he took possession of her, enveloping her tightly in his arms. Their bodies came together perfectly, hip to hip, breast to breast, mouth to mouth—thanks to those four-inch pink wedges. She felt empowered, up there at his height. She leaned in with her chin, expertly—if she said so herself—sucking his lower lip into her mouth.

            Again, he pulled away—but then surprised her by taking her chin firmly. “Is that how you like it?” But she could no longer speak. He delved into her mouth with his tongue and explored her until she was panting. “Like that?” Then he did it again.

            When she was dizzy, her lips swelling from the friction, he broke off and half-opened his eyes, pressing his forehead to hers, his warm breath fanning her face, his heart pounding hard against her chest.

            He raised his head to gaze at her yet again, and his eyes had changed. The green was gone, replaced by jet-black disks of desire. “You okay?” he asked, his voice hoarse with passion.

            “No.”

            Concern washed over his face.

            Meri had experience with the opposite sex. Way more than she cared to remember. She knew what came next.

Author bio and links:

Born in the Northeast, Heather Heyford learned to walk and talk in Texas, and then moved to England. (“Ya’ll want some scones?”) While in Europe, Heather was forced by her cruel parents to spend Saturdays in the leopard vinyl back seat of their Peugeot, motoring from one medieval pile to the next for the lame purpose of ‘learning something.’ What she soon learned was how to allay the boredom by stashing a Cosmo under the seat. Now a recovering teacher, Heather writes love stories, feeds hardboiled eggs to suburban foxes, and makes art in the Mid-Atlantic. See more at HeatherHeyford.com, or visit her on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram.

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Interview with YA thriller author Tanille Edwards

Welcome to 2015, Readers!

We’re starting it off with an interview with YA thriller author Tanille Edwards. She’s talking about her new novel, Cameo, that she is touring with Goddess Fish Promotions.

During her tour, Tanille will be awarding a $15 Amazon or Barnes and Noble gift card to a randomly drawn winner. To be entered for a chance to win, use the form below. To increase your chances of winning, feel free to visit her other tour stops and enter there, too!

Bio:

Tanille is the co-author and creator of the children's green book series "Jordan & Justine's Weekend Adventures." She is also the author of the new media young adult novels with music "Cameo by Tanille," and "Broken by Tanille."

The Undercover Starlet Journal is a title Tanille created to inspire young women and has extended Undercover Starlet into brand extensions that appear throughout her novels.

Tanille has been writing music and books since age 16. She earned an MBA at 21 and graduated magna cum laude.

Readers of her latest young adult romance novel "Broken by Tanille" get free music downloads of her new Pop R&B hits "All of Me," "Feel It," "Baby Comeback to Me," "It's Not Okay," and "What's a Girl to Do" all written, performed and co-produced by Tanille.

The Undercover Starlet Reading Project is a new project we've launched, tasked with inspiring young teens in urban communities to reads and express themselves. We are committed to going above and beyond to reach youth with inspiring messages.

Welcome, Tanille. Please tell us about your current release.

Cameo is an intense romantic thriller about a young high student being stalked. Nia is the girl who thinks she knows everything but she must learn she really knows very little about life and people.

What inspired you to write this book?

I wanted to create a great teen story that captures the drama and intense feelings of that age. I also love mysteries so I wanted to have an element of mystery in the story.

Excerpt:

Prelude

It was pitch black outside as the full moon glistened through the vinyl blinds that adorned Gary’s half window in his bedroom. His room was nestled in the far corner of his parents’ craftsman-style house in Hempstead, Long Island. The scrawny seventeen-year-old sat at his desk in an oversize, droopy wifebeater and Snoopy boxer shorts. His hair was jet black and gelled down into a curly fade. His bedroom was dull, full of computer science books and a series of coveted Stephen King thrillers—a lonely boy’s surrogate girlfriend.

“Uh! Got to keep these passwords straight,” Gary exclaimed out of frustration.

Gary slid open his desk drawer full of colorful Post-it notes with various codes and passwords written all over them. It seemed like nowadays you needed a password for everything. There was even a code to get into his front door. He took out a new pad and wrote down a username and password for his Tracebook account. A lamp slammed to the ground behind him near his bedroom door. The bedroom went dark. Gary turned around to see what had happened. He heard footsteps in the hallway. He slapped his hand over his open mouth as if a fly might make its way inside while he trotted to the door.

Senior quarterback Craig stood outside Gary’s bedroom with his back against the wall like an operative from Mission Impossible. Dressed in a tight, black mock-turtleneck muscle shirt, his muscles bulged like those of a beefy club bouncer. Michelle crept up the hallway to stand next to Craig, dangling a large roll of duct tape in her hand. Craig ducked his head into the room to see what was going on. Michelle pressed her nude lips together and batted her overdone smoky eyes. She ran across the bedroom door to the opposite side. With her back to the wall, she took a look inside the room. Gary had picked up the lamp and was reaching to turn it on. There will only be light when I say there will be light, she thought to herself.

Michelle tugged on her black Kangol hat to signal. Craig charged into the room, grabbed a hold of Gary, and forced a pair of socks into his mouth. He pulled Gary’s hands behind his back like a crooked cop from a gangster movie. Gary struggled like an insect caught in a spider web. He wiggled every which way to no avail. Michelle stood at the open bedroom door with a wicked half-smile playing across her photo-perfect, dark-chocolate face. She batted her false eyelashes for a dramatic finish.

Gary jammed his heel into Craig’s toes. Craig threw Gary down onto the floor, and Michelle slammed the roll of tape against Craig’s chest.

“Tape his hands up,” Michelle commanded.

Craig grabbed the tape. She walked in to examine the room. “Lucy! Get in here, now!” Michelle called out.

The petite, mousy-brown-haired Lucy walked into the room, looking as pale as a ghost. She had missed her last two tanning sessions to complete photo excursions for Michelle. It didn’t bother her, though. Lucy was just glad to have been the one asked to be in Michelle’s exclusive presence. Lucy had a digital camera hanging from her wrist. The camera hung down lower than the hemline on her denim miniskirt. Lucy snapped several pictures of Gary as he squirmed on the floor. Michelle worked her way over to Gary’s computer.

What exciting story are you working on next?

I am working on the second installment in my romance series Broken by Tanille. This is my first serial. I love the way the characters grow and you pick back up with them and see them into some interesting stages in life. Romance is a nice genre to explore the varying degrees of love and the lengths through which character go to cover up their true feelings.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

Probably around the age of 15. I just started writing and I realized it was a great place to express my inner voice. Then I started thinking about stories. I started with a few short stories. In your head, early on the stories seem so great and vast. Then when I actually started writing my stories out I began to see the differences between a great idea, a great scene idea and a full story.

Do you write full-time? If so, what's your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?

I spend half of my time writing. I spend the other half of my time on music amongst other things. I like to bring inspirations from my real life or the parts of life others have graciously shared with me, and incorporate some of this into my stories. I do weekend writing and plenty of idea and note taking at odd moments throughout the day.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

I love post it’s. My first draft notebooks are filled with them. My writing desk is filled with them and my walls sometimes – as a last resort get filled with them.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I wanted to be an actress, a singer and then a writer.

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?

I love reader shout outs. Happy New Year!

Links:
Website | Novel site | Facebook |Twitter | Soundcloud | Amazon

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