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Reluctant Hearts
Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble -- SNEAK PEEKS: From “No Regrets”: “Well, you are too good to be true, aren’t you?” She grinned, and then she sobered, and their eyes met. They stopped walking. The dogs tugged at the leashes and strayed from the path, sniffing at everything they could reach. Richard tossed the remains of his lunch in a trash container and put his arms around her. The sounds of traffic grew distant, muted. Manning walked in a circle, wrapping the leash around their legs. They both laughed, and they kissed quickly and then not so quickly. “In a public place,” she said in mock disapproval. From “Probation”: “So, you don’t smoke, you don’t drink, and you don’t do Halloween? What do you do?” From “The Shape of Life“: Kate,” he said, into a pause that had unexpectedly lengthened into a silence, and she turned toward him, smiling a little. Without knowing he was going to, he kissed her. She was warm and willing, and then she murmured, “David,” half in protest, and pulled away. From “House Hunters”: Her shape had never bothered him before. But right now, it was distracting him to know she had that lovely, decidedly female body under her jeans and sweater. He turned his head toward her, and she looked up at him, and he leaned in to kiss her. 
GIVEAWAY! -- #Book Blitz #Spring Blight (Seasons War 3) by Olena Nikitin #Fantasy Romance @Xpresso Book Tours26/4/2023
Spring Blight
-- EXCERPT: When the great hall doors exploded inwards, nearly crashing off their hinges, a furious, muddy dragon striding through the gap with a sour-faced Daro in tow, she knew it would be more than just a lecture. ‘Ina! What in Veles’s name did you do this time?’ ‘Why do you always assume I did something? And stop throwing people around; they don’t deserve to be manhandled.’ Mar’s dishevelled appearance finally registered, and it occurred to her that sending him to Alsia might have been more challenging than she appreciated. ‘Why are you so dirty? Did you get into a fight? Are you hurt?’ ‘Don’t even try changing the fucking subject. You were fighting, injured, and lost control of your magic. I thought I’d lost you.’ Mar strode forward, his arms surrounding her so quickly that Ina gasped, which then turned into a moan as he lifted her off the ground, kissing her with desperate relief. ‘Never do that to me again. Do you hear me? Never. I nearly lost my mind thinking you’d died.’ Ina could feel his heart racing, squashed against his chest as she was. The witch could also feel something else. Unfortunately, it wasn’t what she hoped to feel, but a strange frisson against her skin, and she realised Mar was struggling not to transform. ‘Ina, when you reached out for help, and I wasn’t there, it nearly killed me,’ he said, pressing his forehead to hers before she gently stroked his bearded cheek. ‘Hush now, you big oaf. I’m not so easy to kill. I survived whilst my opponent is ash, floating away on the breeze. You have been fighting too, and you look much worse.’ She said, picking a flake of dry mud from his beard, trying to lighten the mood, but she heard Daro snort. ‘Oh, we weren’t fighting. We were all noble and diplomatic. It wasn’t until we were halfway home that the idiot fell off his horse like a ham actor swooning on stage. If that wasn’t bad enough, he turned into a dragon, causing the horses to bolt and me to land in the mud next to him. Even Woron couldn’t withstand his roar. Whatever you did to him left him flightless, so he spent the night groaning with his scaly ass firmly stuck in the mud. It would have been amusing if muggins here didn’t have to catch the horses. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a wife to kiss.’ 
GIVEAWAY! -- #Book Blitz #We are All Villains Here by Quinn Blackbird #Dark Romance #Thriller @Xpresso Book Tours25/4/2023
We Are All Villains Here
-- EXCERPT: Preston’s lashes lower over coal-black eyes. His pink upper lip curls as he rounds on her. Billie just watches him. Her eyes are dead… or they should be, because that’s how she feels inside… but then she feels the warmth of a tear run down her cheek. She doesn’t so much as swat at the tear. It’s too late to try and hide it. He’s seen it—his gaze shifts to her cheek for a mere millisecond before he comes to a stop in front of her. Her back presses a tad harder against the refrigerator as his hand presses against it, right next to her head. “So,” he repeats, towering over her, “why don’t you start telling me the truth, Billie? You owe me that.” Billie’s lips twitch with a smirk. Liquid courage? Pushing him away? She doesn’t know anymore. And yet-- She smirks. “I don’t owe you shit, you rich entitled—” It happens too fast for her to see it coming. But in a blink, his hand pulls back from the fridge, clenches into a fist, then smashes right into that same spot, right next her head. Billie flinches. “What the fu—” “You owe me everything!” he shouts down at her. In this moment, his want to break her, it was more than a passing craving, a fleeting urge. Rather it was surging up inside of him, blood boiling and crashing like furious waves, an all-consuming need. She could read it in his blazing eyes. He adds darkly, “And I owe you everything I fucking have, you selfish bitch, you good-for-nothing alky.” Her eyes widen, turn wild with the same rage that snarls her lips. If he braces himself for rotten, rancid words aimed his way, then he braces himself wrong. Billie jerks her head forward—not with a headbutt, with a spit. She spits right at him, and the gloss of it catches his cheek. Preston’s lashes lower, his eyes shut. He’s still for a beat, a statue with a fist pushing into the refrigerator door, his other hand fisted at his side, and a wad of spit on his cheek. He lifts his hand. Slowly, he opens his eyes—and looks right into her fucking soul with the kinda promises, the kinda threats that only the devil can make. This time, she can’t fight her tremble. It runs up her spine, but she lifts her chin and meets his stare dead-on. Bring it. Instead, he touches his fingers to the spit… He wipes it away in one swift move, then brings it to his mouth. Their eyes stay locked. Her jaw tenses-- And he licks his fingertips. Billie and Preston have had fights before. Some real nasty shit. Wouldn’t be a lie to say she’s hit him with a vase or two before. Or tried to clip him with her truck. Some real nasty shit, she’s never denied that. But never… never before… has she been afraid of him. Not like this. She swallows, hard. A lump in her throat, swelling. Tears in her defiant eyes, flowing. Billie flinches with a yelp-- Preston snatches her by the neck. With one hand, he pins her against the refrigerator. His body shoves against hers, his other hand grabbing the meat of her thigh, hard. Her skin screams in protest, but before she can utter a word, he’s hiking her leg over his hip and crashing his mouth down on hers. Her shout is muffled, almost silenced, by his mouth. A kiss that tastes of her tears and his rage—of their poison. A poison she’s so fucking addicted to. Teeth aching, and the back of her head pulsating against the hard, dented refrigerator, Billie hits out at him. One hard fist to the side of his head. It doesn’t stop him. He only shoves her up the cold door, off the floor, and his mouth twists against hers. “I fucking hate you,” he growls and—hand abandoning her thigh—reaches down for her pajama shorts. With a single tug, he rips them apart, between her legs, right at her core. And jolts of electricity fire through her. Billie gasps something breathy into his mouth. Tell me again. Tell me how much you hate me. Tell me anything but love. 
GIVEAWAY! --
My August
-- EXCERPT: “Kiss me, August. Please…I want to know what it feels like,” she whispers. Fuck she’s making it hard for me in more ways than one. Her fingers trail up my chest and brush my chin. I hesitate, conflicted by my feelings. This is so wrong. But as Lu’s lips part slightly, her eyes on my mouth, I can’t resist any longer. She’s forbidden fruit, but I would rather go to hell than not taste her. I lean in, and my mind is a haze when her breath kisses my skin, and then I press my lips to hers. She’s soft and so fucking warm. Like the sun. I’m kissing the sun. I’m Icarus, warned not to fly too close to the sun but too damn exhilarated not to. Like him, I’ll fall to my death, but if these are my last moments of euphoria, I’ll take it. She lets out a moan when I deepen the kiss, and soon, my tongue is exploring her mouth. She is even more delicious than I imagined. She’s hesitant at first, unsure, but then she gets the hang of it, the heat between us intensifying to boiling point. The movie fades to the background as I grip her waist, pulling her closer. I’m growing impossibly hard in my sweatpants, but when I drag her into my lap, and she gasps at the contact her wet heat makes with my erection, it’s the wake-up check I need, and I pull away abruptly. “Fuck, Lu. No!” I move her off my lap and stand, staring at her while trying to get air back into my lungs. Her lips are swollen as she holds a trembling finger to them. GIVEAWAY! -- #Book Blitz #Fae Prince (Royals of Embermere 1) by Lucia Ashta #Fantasy #Romance @Xpresso Book Tours23/4/2023
Fae Heir
-- EXCERPT: “And you should be more aware if you wish to survive the tournament … intact.”I scraped the tip of the sword I’d pointed at him across his junk, which bunched beneath a layer of tunic and breeches. And though my touch was soft as a feather, he jumped back as if I’d punched him, dropping his own sword to his side. “What the fuck?”he snarled, his eyes flaring. I batted my lashes at him, a picture of innocence as pure as freshly fallen snow. “Enlighten me, teacher. I thought that in a match of life or death I should press every advantage at my disposal.” “This isn’t a lethal fight.”With his shoulders tight with anger, he appeared even more dangerous than usual. I pushed off from the railing. “But that’s what we’re here preparing for. No one, not even you, thinks I’ll get out of the Gladius stage alive.” He glared at me. “See? You don’t even deny it.” “Still. There are some things you just don’t do.” I laughed. “Why not? Is your cock a sacred, bejeweled wand?” He stomped toward me. “Damn right it is. And you’d better fucking remember that from here on out.” I craned my neck back to look up at him. “Does it wear a crown upon its precious head?”I hadn’t meant to taunt him, but it seemed I couldn’t help myself.
GIVEAWAY! --
Twelve Hours in Manhattan
Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo --
GIVEAWAY! --
Wicked Knight
-- EXCERPT: “I can see it in your face. You’re mad at me for going to that place and getting marked like this. But if you hadn’t brought me back into your sphere, I never would’ve followed you there. I would’ve stayed away. I managed to do it for two whole years. I was clean.” She stopped to inhale. Her chest rose and fell as she glared at me. “Clean?” “Yes, Luca. Clean. That’s what you are to me. You’re like a drug.” She scoffed. “You knew that. And you took advantage of that fact. You lied to me and used me.”
GIVEAWAY! -- #Book Blitz #Forever Jamiso by Heather Young-Nichols #New Adult #Romance @Xpresso Book Tours22/4/2023
Forever Jamison
-- EXCERPT: When I entered the store, it was relatively small, but it was the type of place that made a name for itself by having unique jewelry. It was absolutely high-end—maybe not the highest, but not cheap at all. The counter formed a large U and there were display cases lining the walls. But that was it. No second floor. No hidden anything. There was one other customer inside talking to the salesperson, so I looked around while I waited. “The basketball charm?” the salesperson asked her. “Yes. I’d like it to go right here next to the handcuffs, please.” “Absolutely. It’ll just take a moment,” he told her, then he went into the back, leaving the two of us alone. This woman was… fuck. She was beautiful with her chestnut hair in waves past her shoulder and curves in all the right places. She wasn’t very tall. I would’ve guessed five-feet-four-inches with the shape of her body able to bring a man to his knees. Right now, I wanted to be on my knees in front of her. She was wearing cutoff jean shorts that came to just a couple of inches under her ass and a loose tank top. It was all supposed to look low-effort, but I would’ve bet my left nut that it was all very expensive. She was wearing flat sandals to complete the look. “That’s a lot of charms you have on your bracelet,” I told her, which made her glance up at me. Her cornflower-blue eyes had me taking a step back. Reddish-brown hair and blue eyes might’ve been a new weakness for me. All I knew was that I wanted to see this woman naked and hoped that was something she’d want to do. Trying to hook up with a woman could go one of two ways. She might slap you for suggesting it because she wasn’t that kind of girl or you barely had to ask because she was already thinking it. Especially since the band had hit it big, I hadn’t really had to try very hard. “I like to think of them as souvenirs.” And yes, her voice was as sexy as the rest of her. “He’ll be right back,” she told me. “It just takes him a minute to get the charm on.” “They don’t just clip on?” I didn’t give a fuck about the charms, to be honest. She snorted. “Maybe if you’re twelve and your charm bracelet came out of a vending machine.” Then she shook her head. “That was kind of mean. Some do clip on. Mine doesn’t. I don’t want to lose any.” “And they know this?” “This is where I typically get my charms, so yes.” She glanced at the door through which the man had disappeared. “Handcuffs?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. The corner of her mouth raised, which told me she was smiling, though she looked like she didn’t want to be. “Yup.” “Any particular reason?” Now she turned to me with an even bigger smile that she absolutely wasn’t trying to hide. “Yup.” “You don’t want to tell me.” “I don’t know you. Why would I tell you?” That was true. Why would a woman tell me personal shit when she didn’t know me? It was weird that she didn’t recognize me. Not to sound totally fucking full of myself, but it was rare that I needed to introduce myself these days. When I did, they pretty much always said they already knew. Forever 18 was well-known. That wasn’t to say that every person in the world would have recognized us on sight, but it’d been a while since someone hadn’t. “My name is Jamison.” Her brows pinched together above her nose. “I know who you are,” she told me. “What I said was that I don’t know you. Two very different things.” 
GIVEAWAY! --
Grimm Prince
Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iBooks / Kobo / Google Play -- SNEAK PEEK: “I don’t want any trouble.” “Lucky for you, I’m a good girl.” That got a surprised laugh out of him. Jake’s hand came to rest on her hip as she continued to stroke his temple. He groaned, his eyes closing as he turned his nose again into her palm. “What is it about you that’s messing with my self control?” he asked. “Fate.”
GIVEAWAY! -- Today is my stop on the blog tour for More Than Peaches, the sixth book in Christine DePetrillo's lovely Maple Leaf series. It's a sweet and entertaining romance, and it is out now, so if you are a fan of the genre make sure you check it out! About the book: Title: More Than Peaches Author: Christine DePetrillo Genre: Small Town Romance With that disheveled mass of blond hair, those piercing emerald eyes, and the faint Irish accent, Grady O’Donnell was, in fact, adorable. Grady O’Donnell serves drinks to all who roam into his bar, The Clumsy Grasshopper. His heart had once been filled to the rim with love back home in Ireland, but the Universe shattered that bottle. He’s started over in busy Boston, and he’s happy to mix his business, his painting, and his lazy beagle, Cricket, into a life he can easily swallow. Most of the time. Lena Clover brightens people’s days in Boston with her natural wares at Clover’s Fruit and Flower Shoppe. She’s been so involved in running her farm and store that she’s let her love life seriously wilt. The only love she gives out is to her silly dog, Snowy. Her business partner wants to help her cultivate that part of her life, but after her last relationship, she’s still not ready to stop and smell the roses with anyone. Until she meets Grady. Brought together to work on wedding arrangements for Rachel and Harris, their mutual friends, Grady and Lena have to face the fact that maybe, just maybe, there is a little room to explore the instant attraction blooming between them. If their plans don’t get weedwhacked, that is. Get Your Copy Today! Catching Up with the Series: More Than Pancakes More Than Cookies More Than Rum More Than Pizza More Than Cocoa More Than Candy Corn  My thoughts: Another gorgeous instalment in Christine DePetrillo's sweet sweet Maple Leaf series! If you have read the first five books, you'll be delighted to see the familiar faces and their happily-ever-afters (although let' face it, we never doubted our favourite couples are meant to last). This time it's Grady O'Donnell and Lena Clover's story and, of course, you're going to fall in love with this couple too! Grady's life's been touched by tragedy in his home Ireland. Now he's busy running a successful pub, painting dreamy pictures that celebrate his family's romantic lore and taking care of his lovely beagle. His friends would love to see him settle with a good caring woman, but Grady's happy to stay true to his past until...he meets Lena who is helping his friends with their wedding preparations. Lena has her own reasons for putting dating and romance on the back burner. Both of our protagonists seem settled and content with their loveless lives and yet when they do meet there's an instant connection. Christine DePetrillo knows how to create strong and independent characters with a heart of gold. Grady and Lena's story draws you in from the word go and it sure made me stay up all night turning pages. There was danger, suspense and intrigue on one hand, and sweet kindness that only comes when you're ready for a second chance in life and know it can blossom into something special. I would recommend this book to anyone who believes real romance is based on respect and understanding. Great ending to a great series!  Author Bio:
Christine DePetrillo can often be found hugging trees, conversing with dragonflies, and walking barefoot through sun-warmed soil. She finds joy in listening to the wind, bathing in moonlight, and breathing in the fragrances of things that bloom. If she had her way, the sky would be the only roof over her head. Her love of nature seeps into every story she tells. As does her obsession with bearded mountain men who build, often smell like sawdust, and know how to cherish the women they love. Today she writes tales meant to make you laugh, maybe make you sweat, and definitely make you believe in the power of love. She lives in Vermont with her husband and many woodland creatures who defend her fiercely from all evils. Author Links: Website | Newsletter | Bookbub | Goodreads | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Tiktok |
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