Category: Romance

Paranormal Romantic Suspense – In My Dreams

Paranormal Romantic Suspense – In My Dreams

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Underlayes, Book 3
Supernatural Suspense, Paranormal Romance
Release Date: May 10, 2020
Publisher: GothicMoms Studios
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Reina and Ricardo have a relationship that’s as close to perfect as one can get. Coming home after a romantic honeymoon, they’re ready to settle down and begin their life together.
But when Reina literally bumps into someone from her past, their future turns into a thing of uncertainty, and her life begins to unravel. Things are no longer as they seem when this dangerous stranger embeds himself into their lives.
Will this vampire and his bride survive a wizard bound and determined to recreate his obedient mate from a past life? Or will they show him that sometimes the past is best left buried?
***Part of the Underlayes series, but can be read as a standalone.***
Excerpt
I don’t know why so many people always wish they had a do over in life. I mean, I guess I get it in a way. And probably more-so would if what happened to me hadn’t happened. But it did.
I have no memory of the life I led before being turned. Ricardo, my Fated One, and I had been together for only a year, but it felt like I knew him for much longer than that. He said that memory loss was something that sometimes happened to the newly turned. I took his word for it, since that’s not exactly something you can just look up on Google without finding a bunch of nonsense. And we stayed in a pretty tight-lipped community, amongst others like us. But no one delved into anyone else’s business. There were some we were friendly with, but not really friends. He said the night he turned me I had been on the brink of death, that he had found me in an alley left for dead. That he knew me before in passing, and couldn’t just let me die. We’ve been together ever since.
 I woke up after having yet another dream that felt like much more than just that, with my entire body feeling as if I had just done an entire triatholon the night before. I sat up and put my head in my hands, my head feeling like it was in a vice grip from hell. It had been happening for the past few weeks, and had been getting worse instead of better.
I climbed out of bed, careful to not wake Ricardo. It was early still, but I had no intentions of going back to sleep, no way was I risking having another one of those dreams. They hurt too much to wake up from. They weren’t nightmares, far from it, but when I woke up they were fragments I couldn’t manage to piece together. But for some reason I almost always found myself if not in pain, then in tears when I woke up from them. And not just that, there was some form of power inside of me trying to break free, but I had no idea what it was or how to access it, yet.
Stepping into the bathroom I didn’t bother with turning on the light, just slipped my black lace chemise over my head and stepped into our large, walk-in shower, and turned the water as hot as I could bare it. As I stood there directly under the spray flashes of a man kept appearing behind my eyelids. I could barely make out his features, but for whatever reason not being able to recognize him made me more than just sad, but hollow inside like something was missing.
“Rena, why are you up so early love? The sun has just barely set.” As quiet as I had been getting out of the bed I must have still woken Ricardo. I was so lost in thought that I hadn’t even heard him open the shower door. He stood directly behind me and pulled my body flush against his own, swept my hair to the side and gently grazed his fangs along the crook of my neck before letting them sink into my skin.
Ricardo was not a male of many words, but what he lacked in syllables he made up for in sensation. His cold body grew warmer as he fed from me, I could feel his shaft growing and hardening against the crease of my ass. The water cascaded down both of our bodies as he licked the bite marks closed, and his large hands began to work their magic. With one hand, he began kneading my breast, squeezing right to the borderline between pleasure and pain as his other slid down to my hips then around my waist until it found the shaved, heated entrance that was waiting for him. He slipped his fingers, not inside of me, but only slid them along my tight, wet folds, then to tweak and tug at my clitoris, the sensation of that alone enough to put me on the verge of climax.
I whimpered as he removed his hand, but he was by no means done with me yet. Ricardo bent me slightly, splaying his pale ivory hand over my own, much smaller mocha one, interlacing our fingers along the tiles of the shower as I grabbed onto it for purchase. He then entered me in one swift, hard stroke. I screamed out as the feel of his long, wide shaft filled me so completely that if he wasn’t an expert at using it, it would have hurt, instead it felt so good that my juices were already flowing around him. I came again as he found that perfect rhythm, his heavy length sliding up against my walls, the sensation making me so dizzy I would have lost my grip on the wall had he not still had hold of my hand. The water from the showerhead only added to the sensations.
Just as I felt myself coming to a full-on climax, the lightning bolt shaped mark on my outer thigh began to burn. The pain of it made me bend over further, making him not only go deeper, but also made me tighten even further around him. I became a mixture of both pleasure and true pain all at once, I could barely recognize which of the two my moans reflected. Ricardo slid out of me then, and before I had a chance to feel the emptiness of his shaft no longer there, he had me turned around, lifted up with a crushing grip on my hips, and was impaling me once again. As though he felt a sense of urgency, he pistoned in and out of me even harder and faster than before, which took my mind away from the flaring pain in my thigh.
As Ricardo gave me another stroke so deep inside of me I felt his sac rubbing against my entrance I screamed out with one last climax as he jettisoned inside, the warm trickling feel of it making me come that much harder. But when I closed my eyes, I was looking into the metallic silver irises that haunted my dreams, and they looked angry as hell. I could almost hear a faint, foreign, yet familiar voice in the back of my mind saying, I will find you.
When I opened my eyes, Ricardo was staring straight into mine, but it felt like he was seeing right through me to somewhere else, especially when he said, “She’s mine.”
Before I could ask him anything or think any further, he claimed my lips in a claiming, almost punishing kiss. Then I felt a tiny pinprick on the side of my hip and promptly blacked out.
***
Halfway across the world from where Ricardo and Rena were, a warlock wearing only a pair of black shorts, knelt down on the ground in the rain in the dark of night in a cemetery, the droplets shimmered down his muscled, ebony chest and back. He summoned the lightning to the palms of his outstretched hands, letting it empower him further, as he called out to his ancestors. “Ancestors, my foremothers, and forefathers, I come to you tonight, the anniversary of the night you gifted me with one of my greatest gifts, to ask your help in finding her. Help me bring her back to where she belongs, at my side.”
The storm became malevolent then, lightning struck around Jonathan left and right, which both fueled and empowered him. He threw his head back as he soaked it all in. As he closed his eyes, his haunches rose when he finally saw her, with the vampire that had somehow ensnared his powerful, beautiful mate. He tried yet again to communicate with her through their mark, but something was blocking him still, but he felt it slipping, and that little slip was all he needed to learn her location.
Reaching into his back pocket, Jonathan pulled out his phone and dialed his brother. Without bothering with any pleasantries, all he said was, “It’s time to hunt us down a vampire, and bring home my mate.”
About the Author

When you become a Mom, you begin to put yourself last, and your combat boots begin to collect dust. Going to your child’s PTA meetings in full Gothic, especially industrial, regalia is pretty much frowned upon. Especially by your own children, and your teens would die of a heart attack. But, one should not have to completely stop being themselves, uniqueness is greatness. So all of that darkness is put into words in her books, and designs in her jewelry sold in her Etsy shop, GothicMoms DarkCharms.
A single mother of five beautiful children, but by far more than just that. T. A. Moorman is an artist, a violinist, a lab assistant, a seamstress, a crafter, a writer, a blogger, a reviewer, a dark confidant and a darkly dangerous, fiercely protective friend.
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Sweet Romance – His Small-Town Girl

Sweet Romance – His Small-Town Girl

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Sutter’s Hollow Book 1
Sweet Romance
Date Published: May 12, 2020
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She’s sweet and wholesome. And hiding something.
He’s back home, resurrecting old ghosts.
One of them is going to get hurt.
Molly arrives in Sutter’s Hollow out of gas and out of options. The rundown ranch seems like a perfect place to hide. Except the man who owns it seems just as dangerous as what’s chasing her.
Cord’s mantra growing up? Get out of Sutter’s Hollow. Now he’s back in town, but only long enough to get rid of his grandma’s ball and chain—the ranch. He doesn’t need a complication like Molly, who reminds him of an injured baby bird. He’s no protector. So why can’t he tell her to get lost?
Excerpt
Molly strummed her guitar lightly, the squeak and pull of the strings familiar and comforting.
But not enough to relax her to the point where she could close her eyes and sleep.
Nothing was these days.
She had her shoulder wedged against her driver’s side door, her body turned sideways, and one booted foot up on the seat. Counting the minutes until they turned into hours.
It wasn’t that late. Eight. Maybe eight-thirty.
From where her truck had died in his drive, she’d seen the rancher’s truck—its headlights, rather—drive up behind the ranch house and then shut off. Lights had gone on inside the ranch house in a sort of pattern. Her imagination told her he’d stopped in the kitchen to wash up. Maybe feed the dog. He’d moved into the living room next. Watched a sitcom. No, a cop drama. A sitcom might make him smile, and that wouldn’t do.
The living room light had gone off, too, and then an upstairs light had gone on.
Lots of nightlife for the rancher. Cord.
She let her head loll back against the seat, her fingers going lax on the frets so the next strum was a jangle of wrong notes.
It was going to be a long night.
Her thoughts began to unravel. Her breathing sped up as her anxiety spiked.
No.
She was safe here.
No one knew where she was. No one except the rancher.
She was parked plenty far back from the road. If anyone turned in the drive, she’d see them. She’d have time to react.
There were two empty fields on either side of her truck. Grass as far as the eye could see. No one could sneak up on her here.
She could worry about her future tomorrow. Figure out what to do about the dwindling loaf of bread and jar of peanut butter she’d been rationing for days.
She jumped when a flash of light came through the windshield. It glared right in her eyes, temporarily blinding her.
She scrambled to get the guitar out of the way. It echoed discordant notes as it hit the dash. She’d picked up a small canister of pepper spray at a gas station a hundred miles ago. Where had she put it—?
The light was gone, and she blinked against the hazy afterimages burned into her vision.
It was the rancher. His shoulders filled the driver’s side window, and he tapped the butt of his flashlight on the glass.
She took her sweet time rolling it down—the hand crank helped with that—using the moments to try to slow her frantic breathing.
“What’re you doing out here?”
His voice was harsh and demanding. And somehow comforting. He’d been gruff and dismissive earlier. She’d trusted him. Maybe that was stupid.
“You can’t stay here,” he said.
“I can’t leave.” She tapped the steering wheel. “This puppy is dead.”
Skepticism was written all over his face.
“You want me to prove it?” She gave the key a twist. Nothing happened. Not even a click.
His expression didn’t change from the frown he’d appeared with. “Call a tow truck.”
He had to be kidding. A tow from the little town she’d passed would be expensive.
“Who’s gonna come all the way out here tonight?” she asked. “Plus, I’m dead broke.”
“Well, you can’t stay out here.” Was that her imagination, or was there a little bit of the same desperation she felt leaking out of the man.
“It’s fifteen miles to Sutter’s Hollow,” she said. “You want me to walk? In the dark?”
“What about your family?”
“Don’t have any.” It wasn’t a lie. She didn’t have any family that would help her.
Even in the dim light from the flashlight, she could see a muscle jumping in his cheek. He ducked his head and mumbled something too low for her to make out.
“Get out of the truck.”
She bristled at this order. She wasn’t walking down those winding dirt roads in the dark.
“You’re not sleeping in your truck. You can stay the night. Tomorrow morning, I’ll drive you to town. You’re on your own from there. And you better figure out a way to get your truck off my land.”
“Really?” She grabbed her backpack and guitar from the passenger floorboard and then juggled both on her lap as she rolled up the crank window. The door made an awful metal creak when she moved to hop out. She caught the cowboy’s wince in the dim light from his flashlight.
“That truck is older than you are.”
“I know. Ain’t it great?” She tried to cover up her nerves by giving the hood an affectionate pat as she shifted her backpack onto her shoulder. Maybe he wouldn’t see how white her knuckles were as she clutched her guitar. “She was my mom’s. Back before I was born.”
He mumbled something else. Maybe he had a mumbling problem. Or maybe he just didn’t like her.
“Just because something is old or needs work doesn’t mean you give up on it,” she said.
He sent her a sideways glare but didn’t say anything else. She followed him toward the sad old farmhouse, careful to keep a good yard between them.
From the porch, his farm dog wagged its tail.
Seeing it helped settle the nervous energy jangling through her. Animals were a true judge of character. The farm dog was lean but groomed. It’s teeth were good. And it was friendly.
Maybe she couldn’t trust herself to judge a man’s character, but she’d grown up on a ranch. She could trust the dog. It wasn’t as if she was going to sleep a wink anyway. Might as well be warm inside instead of freezing in her truck.
Author Lacy Williams

 

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Twitter: @lacy_williams
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Romance – Addictive Alessandro

Romance – Addictive Alessandro

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Savage’s Buck & Doe #3
Adult Romance
Date Published: August 1st, 2019
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Alessandro Savage walked through the same maze of streets in the French Quarter that he had walked for the last few months. He carried two things: his guitar case and a bottle of Jack. Months of self-induced punishment, wandering lost, looking for redemption. At least, that was the lie he told himself. It should have been him who died that fateful night the music had died in the Las Vegas massacre. He could never have absolution, because he had committed a crime unforgivable to those he loved.
Family was everything to the Savage brothers. Alessandro had broken that sacred bond when he had killed his oldest brother. He hadn’t been the one to pull the trigger, but he was as guilty as the man who had. This was why he needed to get drunk every day to numb the pain. He couldn’t deal with not being able to go back to the past and make things right.
Ava Lombardi hated bachelorette parties and her cousin’s was going to be extremely painful. She was spending four days at Savage’s Buck & Doe Resort. Ava was a beautiful loner who had the ability to help the Savage family find Alessandro but didn’t want to get involved.
Getting Alessandro home was only half of the battle the other would be helping him to become clean and sober and stay that way. Ava had closed herself off years ago but not all ghosts were left better in the past.
Not all rehabilitation opposed to addiction were about abstinence. Could two souls that lost redemption find peace in each other’s arms? Would Ava be the one addiction Alessandro couldn’t beat?


About the Author
Anne Marie Citro grew born and raised in the greater Toronto area of Ontario, Canada. She grew up in a large, loving family. Anne Marie is married to a very patient man. He is the love of her life. They have four very cool sons, and the girls they brought into their family that have become daughters of her heart. She has been blessed enough to finally have two beautiful granddaughters after four sons. She has her own personal gaggle of girlfriends, who enrich her life on a daily basis and make her laugh. Caesar Friday is her favorite day of the week. Caesars with the girls and date night with her hubby. She worked with special-needs teenagers, that taught her how to appreciate life and see it through gentler eyes. Anne Marie was encouraged by her husband to follow her lifelong dream to write. She loves the characters that take over imagination and haunts her dreams. She loves the arts and she has tried her hand at painting, wood sculpting, chainsaw carving, wood burning, metal and wire sculptures. Yes, her husband is a very patient man! Anne Marie is an avid reader and enjoys about three books per week. But nothing makes her happier than riding on the back of her husband’s Harley and throwing her arms out and feeling the wind race by. Anne Marie and her husband take a few weeks every year to travel to spectacular destination around the world. Anne Marie is excited and can’t wait to see what the next chapter holds for her life.
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Facebook: Anne Marie Citro
Twitter: @AnneMarieCitro
Pinterest: Anne-Marie Citro
 
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Contemporary Romance – Second Chance Summer

Contemporary Romance – Second Chance Summer

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Whispering Pines Sweet Small Town Romance, Book 1
Contemporary Romance
Date Published: April 29, 2020
Publisher: DFM Publishing
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Ten years after leaving home, the last thing Summer Thompson expects is to inherit her estranged father’s half-renovated mansion. And the last thing she wants is to face the memories of the night her brother died, fleeting as they may be. Now a San Francisco museum curator, she plans to stay east just long enough to settle the estate and get rid of the house. Until she finds it occupied by a hunky handyman who’s strangely reluctant to talk about his past.
Damian Knight has been hiding his mother and sister from a violent ex, and Whispering Pines is the one place they’ve found peace and safety. He keeps to himself. He tells no one about his past. Yet when the lonely, haunted Summer steals his heart, he finds himself opening up to her in ways he should never risk. Especially to a woman who’s planning to leave town after selling their refuge out from under them.
As their attraction grows, the past begins to catch up with them. Summer’s mounting flashbacks leave her confused and determined to uncover the truth about the night her brother died. But that truth will cross paths with the man Damian and his family have been avoiding for years.
Can new love help them defeat the pain of the past? Or are some scars too deep to ever heal?
If you love small towns, memorable characters, and swoon-worthy happy endings, then you’ll love this sweet romance by a USA Today best-selling author! (Note: this book was previously released as Summer’s Song. Revisions and updates accompany this new version!)
About the Author

Allie Boniface is the USA Today best-selling author of over a dozen novels, including the Cocktail Cruise, Hometown Heroes, and Pine Point series. Her books are set in small towns and feature emotional, sensual romance with relatable characters you’ll fall in love with.
Allie currently lives in a small town in the beautiful Hudson Valley of New York with her husband and their two furry felines. When she isn’t teaching high school and community college English, she likes to travel, lose herself in great music, or go for a run and think about her next story. Take some time to browse around Allie’s website, check out new and upcoming releases, and sign up for her newsletter. You’ll get all the news about releases before everyone else, along with free stories available ONLY to subscribers. See you in virtual romance-land!
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Regency Romance – Her Seafaring Scoundrel

Regency Romance – Her Seafaring Scoundrel

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The Crawfords, Book 3
Regency Romance
Date Published: April 28, 2020
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The last thing she wants is a husband…
Least of all one determined to win her heart…
Lady Cassandra has no desire to marry. But when Captain Devlin Crawford brings scandal to her doorstep and offers salvation, she cannot say no. Not with her daughter’s future at stake. So she decides to accept Devlin’s offer, provided he agrees to never being intimate with her. For although Cassandra is drawn to Devlin, she refuses to dishonor the memory of her one true love.
Devlin knows he’s made a mess, but now that it’s done, marrying Cassandra doesn’t seem like the worst idea in the world. Far from it, though it will take serious effort on his part to convince her of this. Especially since she’s never stopped mourning the man she was meant to marry over a decade ago. So once they set off on a grand ocean voyage, Devlin embarks on his greatest adventure yet – the wooing of his wife.
Other Books in The Crawfords Series:
No Ordinary Duke
The Crawfords, Book 1
Release Date: August 2018
He’s everything she’s trying to avoid…But somehow precisely what she needs…
Caleb Crawford doesn’t want to be a duke. He’d much rather build houses for a living. So when fate disrupts his peaceful life and burdens him with the responsibilities of a newly inherited title, he does what any sensible man would do by fleeing London, disguising himself as a laborer, and seeking refuge with three young spinsters who need his help with a leaky roof.
Ruined by a marquess who promised her the world, Mary Clemens has sworn to avoid marriage forever. Instead, she intends to live out her days with her friends and the orphaned children they’ve taken into their care. But when Mr. Crawford comes knocking, Mary finds herself in real danger of risking heartbreak all over again. Especially when she discovers that he’s not at all what he seems.
More Than A Rogue
The Crawfords, Book 2
Release Date: June 25, 2019
All she wanted was a kiss…
What she got, was fiery passion…
Emily Howard knows she is destined to be a spinster. She has accepted this fate, but that doesn’t stop her from wanting to experience kissing. What she doesn’t expect, is for Griffin Crawford, the handsomest man in the world, to do the honors. Or for all her female relations to discover her in his embrace. Naturally, marriage is instantly mentioned, but since Emily knows this is not what Griffin wants, she tries to escape him, her family and the ensuing scandal.
When Emily flees the Camberly ball in the wake of their kiss, Griffin goes in pursuit. He will not allow his sister-in-law’s determined friend to risk her safety for any reason. And risk it she will if she means to return to her countryside home by herself. But the longer he remains in her company, the more he is tempted to kiss her again. If only he could risk falling in love and remain in England forever.
Excerpt
“I cannot believe the duke and duchess would think to invite her.” The speaker had just stepped onto the terrace a few yards from where Devlin stood.
“It is my understanding that she and the duchess are dear friends,” another voice gently advised.
“Well yes. There is that, I suppose. But to not consider the Vernons’ feelings really is bad form.” There was a small sniff. “Can you imagine having your scandalous daughter make a spectacle on the dance floor for all the world to see? I mean, honestly! She practically threw herself at him, poor man.” There was an outraged snort. “As if Lord Devlin would ever consider marrying the likes of her. The mere thought of it is—”
“What?” Devlin asked stepping forward. He set his glass aside anven if that meant forcing the horrid baroness to choke on her own words.
“Yes?” he inquired in an eerily quiet voice that managed to turn his own stomach. “You were saying?”
“Um…merely that…er…” She glanced at her friend while fidgeting with her gloves but when she found no help there, she surprised Devlin by raising her chin and looking him dead in the eye. “You are a duke’s brother for heaven’s sake and she is nothing but a—”
“Lady DeVries,” Caleb snapped.
“—trollop,” the baroness finished, punctuating her statement with a victorious smile.
What she couldn’t see was the blood rushing through Devlin’s veins or the tight strain of his muscles. Never in his life had he been so livid, and if Lady DeVries had been a man, he would have called her out by now so he could have the pleasure of shooting her dead.
“Devlin,” Caleb murmured from somewhere nearby. “Don’t do anything rash. I beg you.”
But the middle-aged woman who stood before Devlin, dripping with smug maliciousness, had pushed him past all reason. “And what makes you so much better?” he asked.
Lady DeVries gasped. Her friend gulped, took a step back, and then fled back inside the ballroom, abandoning the baroness to her fate. Caleb groaned and Monty managed to get in a weary, “For God’s sake, Dev,” before Lady DeVries recovered and said, “I will not be spoken to in such a rude manner. I deserve better.”
“So does Lady Cassandra.”
The baroness crossed her arms. “Don’t be absurd. She might have been born into the nobility, but she threw all of that away the moment she chose to—”
“Madam,” Devlin seethed, “I would advise you to choose your next words wisely.”
“Or what?”
“Or I shall have to ask you to leave,” Caleb said.
The baroness scoffed – scoffed! – in response to her host’s statement, but Caleb apparently chose to let it go without comment. “Why am I not surprised?” she asked as she turned away and started toward the French doors leading back to the ballroom. But just when Devlin thought that might be the end of their quarrel, she turned back to face him with all the arrogance Devlin despised about the aristocracy. “Lady Cassandra is a fallen woman. When even her parents can see that, I don’t understand why you find it such a hard concept to grasp.”
“Oh, Jesus,” Monty murmured.
Devlin speared Lady DeVries with his hardest glare. “You will not speak of her in that manner.”
“As much as I respect your family, I hardly think it appropriate for you to advise me on how I may or may not refer to a person of such low moral standing as Lady Cassandra.”
Maybe it was the fact that he’d just gotten off a ship after several months at sea, maybe it was the champagne—though he seriously doubted it, or maybe it was the fact that he’d really enjoyed seeing Cassandra again that finally made Devlin come up with something completely unplanned and, quite possibly, cataclysmic. What he did know was that he could think of only one way in which to give Cassandra the stamp of approval necessary to make this woman regret her words.
Blind with rage and as he’d later admit not entirely clear-headed, he ignored Caleb’s words of warning and leaned toward the baroness. Meeting her gaze with all the hatred he possessed for her at that moment, he said, “It bloody well is when she is to be my wife.”
About the Author

Born in Denmark, USA TODAY bestselling author Sophie Barnes spent her youth traveling with her parents to wonderful places all around the world. She’s lived in five different countries, on three different continents, and speaks Danish, English, French, Spanish, and Romanian with varying degrees of fluency. But, most impressive of all, she’s been married to the same man three times—in three different countries and in three different dresses.
When she’s not busy dreaming up her next romance novel, Sophie enjoys spending time with her family, swimming, cooking, gardening, watching romantic comedies and, of course, reading.
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Romance – Vanilla with a Twist

Romance – Vanilla with a Twist

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Vanilla with a Twist (One Scoop or Two)

 

Contemporary Romance, Sweet romance
Date Published: 5.20.2020
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
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Tandy Blakemore spends her days running her New England ice cream parlor, single-parenting her teenaged son, and trying to keep her head above financial water. No easy feat when the shop’s machinery is aging and her son is thinking about college. Tandy hasn’t had a day off in a decade and wonders if she’ll ever be able to live a worry-free life.
Engineer Deacon Withers is on an enforced vacation in the tiny seaside town of Beacher’s Cove. Overworked, stressed, and lonely, he walks into Tandy’s shop for a midday ice cream cone and gets embroiled in helping her fix a broken piece of equipment.
Can the budding friendship that follows help fix their broken spirits and lead to love?
Excerpt
Before she recognized his intent, Deacon pulled her to his chest, his arms winding around her waist to hold her in place against him. The slow, steady thrum of his heart against her ear went a long way in soothing her frayed nerves and worried thoughts. Without thinking she shouldn’t, she melted into him. She slid her own arms around his waist, crossed them, and pressed in even closer.
Every hard, muscled, and toned inch of him was heaven. Tandy felt comforted and protected in his embrace, two things she hadn’t felt in a lifetime.
If ever.
“Tell me what’s troubling you.” The deep, soothing pitch in his tone had her shoulders relaxing along with the rest of her.
What would it cost her to divulge the worries she had about money, or her fears all she’d built could be taken away with one bad earnings’ season, one financial disaster, or even that her future seemed precarious at best? Her pride? Heck, that had gone out the proverbial window seventeen years ago. Her sense of fierce independence? She was starting to think being independent had more drawbacks than benefits.
She’d spent her entire adult life depending on no one but herself. How would it feel to lean on someone like she was doing right now with Deacon? And not merely physically, but emotionally, too? How would it feel to know you had a partner, someone who had your back through lean times, and one who’d bolster you up when things looked bleak? Who’d celebrate your victories and hold your hand during your defeats? What would it be like to lose yourself, to forget all your troubles and worries with a man? To feel safe and protected and, yes, even loved and cherished?
Tandy had never experienced any of those things. And standing within Deacon’s arms, his chest rising and falling with each calm breath, his heart beating beneath his shirt, and the solid, warm, comforting feel of his arms wrapped around her made her realize how much she’d longed for them.
A simple shift and she slid her arms up the solid wall of his chest.
His brows folded together, his mouth no longer smiling as he stared down at her, concern now dancing across his expression. “Tandy?”
She wet her lips and steeled herself for what she wanted to say. How do you ask a man, and a stranger to boot, to take you away from everything worrisome in your life, even if it’s only for a few minutes?
“Can I ask you something?”
He nodded. “Sure.”
She returned his nod. The right words wouldn’t form, though, so she thought to show him what she truly wanted. The man must possess telepathic powers, because as she rose on her sneaker-clad toes, her gaze locked with his, Deacon dipped his head and tightened his hold around her waist. The black in his pupils dilated, all but obliterating the startling blue.
When their lips were a sigh away from touching, the back door slammed shut.
“Mom? Are you in here?”
About the Author
Peggy Jaeger is a contemporary romance writer who writes Romantic Comedies about strong women, the families who support them, and the men who can’t live without them. If she can make you cry on one page and bring you out of tears rolling with laughter the next, she’s done her job as a writer!
Family and food play huge roles in Peggy’s stories because she believes there is nothing that holds a family structure together like sharing a meal…or two…or ten. Dotted with humor and characters that are as real as they are loving, she brings all topics of daily life into her stories: life, death, sibling rivalry, illness and the desire for everyone to find their own happily ever after. Growing up the only child of divorced parents she longed for sisters, brothers and a family that vowed to stick together no matter what came their way. Through her books, she’s created the families she wanted as that lonely child.
When she’s not writing Peggy is usually painting, crafting, scrapbooking or decoupaging old steamer trunks she finds at rummage stores and garage sales.
A lifelong and avid romance reader and writer, Peggy is a member of RWA and her local New Hampshire RWA Chapter.
As a lifelong diarist, she caught the blogging bug early on, and you can visit her at peggyjaeger.com where she blogs daily about life, writing, and stuff that makes her go “What??!”
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Historical Romance – The Blond Devil of the Sea

Historical Romance – The Blond Devil of the Sea

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Historical Romance
The Blond Devil of the Sea
By Celeste Barclay

What happens when a lady smuggler meets a ruthless pirate?

Caragh Pedrick is used to men on the wrong side of the law since she runs her Cornish village’s smuggling ring. Fishing no longer feeds their families in her coastal village, so she puts her resourcefulness and bravery to use. But she’s unprepared for the pirate captain who captures her during a raid. Whisked away on a pirate ship, Caragh soon discovers that her pirate captain’s form of command is anything but unsavory. Tempted by his piercing blue eyes and powerful manner, Caragh finds herself giving in to the Blond Devil. Can Caragh leave her smuggler’s life behind for life on the high seas?

What happens when a pirate captain tries to tame the fearless woman he mistakes for a lad?

Rowan MacNeil was forced from his home on the island of Barra and into a life of piracy. Now the captain of his own ship, Rowan expects obedience from the minx he unwittingly captures. When he raids the quiet village of Bedruthen Steps, Rowan decides Caragh, dressed as a lad, would make a fine cabin boy, but it’s not long before Rowan discovers the curves that lay beneath her disguise. While he likes her spirit, his palm itches to lay down the law with the woman who’s invaded his cabin and his life. The question is: will she give in to the Blond Devil?

When misunderstanding and distrust threaten his burgeoning relationship, Rowan must put his faith in his lady smuggler. With a choice to make, Caragh must decide if she can forgive her pirate lover and make a new life with him. Can Rowan put his painful past behind him to save his burgeoning relationship? Can she curb her independent spirit in exchange for an adventurous new love?

Pirates of the Isles is a STEAMY series where lust and love become tangled when pirates and their ladies toe the line between pain and pleasure. Travel to the Hebrides and the coast of Scotland as these pirates pillage and plunder not only villages and ships but the women fearless enough to take them on. Each book can be read as a standalone, but many characters appear throughout the series. ​The first third of this book appeared as a novella in the Pirates, Passion & Plunder anthology. It has since been expanded to add more than two hundred pages of new content.

This passionate love story is ready to go up in flames. It contains adult scenes with explicit content. If this type of material offends you, please do not download.

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About the Author:

Celeste Barclay, a nom de plume, lives near the Southern California coast with her husband and sons. Growing up in the Midwest, Celeste enjoyed spending as much time in and on the water as she could. Now she lives near the beach. She’s an avid swimmer, a hopeful future surfer, and a former rower. When she’s not writing, she’s being a mom.

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