Spotlight: Royal Replicas by Michael Pierce

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"Princess Amelia is dead... and one of you will replace her."

Seventeen-year-old Victoria Sandalwood has served the Duke and Duchess all her life. Over the years, she’s learned to make due with what she has and endure her surrogate father’s awful punishments. She dreams of escape, but never expected it to come in the form of a message from the Queen of Westeria.

Victoria learns that she’s the Queen’s daughter, the younger sister to Princess Amelia, and it’s time to come home and claim her birthright. When she arrives, she discovers she’s not the only one who received the royal message.

Victoria must compete with six other girls to earn the affection of both the Queen and a princely suitor… and to replace the secretly deceased Princess Amelia. If she fails to win the crown, Victoria may just have to fight for her life…

Royal Replicas is the first book in a YA dystopian series. If you enjoy courtly intrigue, heart-pounding adventure, and sweet romance, then you’ll love this captivating story. Perfect for fans of Kiera Cass, Bella Forrest, and Veronica Roth.

Excerpt

“Hey there,” the man said as his thoroughbred stopped before me.

I reached over the fence and stroked the magnificent creature’s muzzle. “Hey there, yourself.”

The rider removed his sunglasses and riding helmet. “You must be Victoria.”

“Good guess,” I said, suddenly recognizing the rider from the hologram message received at the Ramsey estate. “And I presume you’re Prince Byron?”

He didn’t quite look like the clean-cut Prince Byron from the hologram, but it was definitely him. His dark hair fell in all directions creating the perfect mess. Thick stubble covered his face, his eyebrows bold, and his gray eyes smoldering, making him look at home with the brawny riders of the Outlands, not royalty.

“Guilty,” he said. His gaze on me was intense. “I’m not supposed to be here yet. I arrived early and thought I’d get in a little riding before cleaning up. It clears my head.”

“I know what you mean.”

“Do you ride?”

I nodded. “I do, but not today.”

“Oh, but you must join me. I insist.”

I knew I wouldn’t survive if I went out there. “It wouldn’t be proper. I’m dressed for our official introduction later this afternoon.” I held up my shoes dangling from one hand to reinforce my point.

“I can see that. And a very lovely shade of yellow, I might add.”

“Canary,” I said with a smirk, gaining a bit of confidence.

The intensity of his eyes on me only seemed to strengthen. I found myself leaning into the fence like my body was being pulled forward. His boot in the stirrup was only inches away.

“Okay… I do appreciate learning new things. Since I can’t convince you to ride with me, what else interests you, Miss Sandalwood?” Prince Byron asked.

“Do you know what ward I’m from too?”

“The 24th.”

“Did you memorize the basic information on all of us?” I asked.

“I’ve done my homework,” he said with a smile that deepened the dimples in his cheeks, giving him a boyish charm beneath the hard stubble. “We’ll soon see if it was enough.”

“Well isn’t this a pleasant surprise,” said a voice from behind me.

The expression on the Prince’s face had made no indication anyone was approaching until that moment; his gaze left me for the first time since the start of our conversation. I turned and saw Constance ten yards away, approaching fast.

“It seems we have a frontrunner already stealing the Prince away for a little one-on-one time before he’s even scheduled to arrive,” she said, stopping beside me and linking an elbow with mine. “Isn’t my sister super cute in yellow? She’s like a perfect little doll I could set on a shelf and stare upon for hours.”

“Canary,” Prince Byron said, giving me a knowing grin.

“I beg your pardon?” Constance lay her head on my shoulder, staring longingly up at her possible prize.

“The shade of yellow is canary,” he clarified.

“And I see you’re more than an Adonis—knowledgeable, worldly and wise.”

“Not as much as your sister here.”

Constance lifted her head and gave me a sidelong glance, seemingly deciding how to take the comment. She turned her attention back to him. “I also love to ride. Would you like company out there?”

“I wouldn’t want to mess up your dress or your hair or anything else when you’re so perfectly put together,” the Prince said.

“Don’t be silly. I have plenty more dresses in my closet and an assistant to fix any errant strand of hair before our official meet-and-greet. I want to take advantage of all the time we have together. It will go by in the blink of an eye. Would you like a riding partner?”

“I’d love one,” he said.

She offered him her hand and he shook it.

“I’ll meet you at the stables and help you get set up.”

“I’m so excited!” she squealed.

I forcefully took my arm back from the snake beside me.

“It was a pleasure meeting you, Miss Victoria Sandalwood. I’ll see you inside later,” Prince Byron said, strapping on his helmet, sliding on his sunglasses, and riding off toward the stables.

“Yes, you will,” I said, more to myself than him. I should have pushed through the pain and joined him in the field when I had the chance since it literally hurt to watch him ride away.

Constance grabbed my upper arm and gripped it tightly. “Nice try, sweetie. You won’t get him. Why don’t you go back to the house and wait with the rest of the runners-up? The Prince is mine.”

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About the Author

Michael Pierce is the author of the young adult contemporary fantasy Lorne Family Vault series. He writes fast-paced, character-driven books filled with adventure, mystery, thrills, and a pinch humor and romance to spice things up. The thread that ties all of his books together is the possibility of belief: what you believe becomes your reality. 

Michael currently lives in Southern California with his wife, daughter, and two blood-thirsty chiweenies. When he’s not at the computer, he enjoys spending quality time with family, practicing yoga, playing guitar behind closed doors, and listening to as many audiobooks as possible. 

To get an email whenever Michael releases a new title, sign up for his VIP newsletter at www.michaelpierceauthor.com.

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Read an excerpt from Tied Up in You by Erin Fletcher

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Everyone says hotshot goalie Luke Jackson is God’s gift to girls, but the only girl he wants is his best friend, Malina Hall. He’s always known how brilliant she is, but now that he’s “accidentally” kissed her, he can’t stop thinking about her…or wanting to kiss her again.

Problem is, things have been a little…awkward since the kiss. Because she likes him, too? Hopefully, but even if she did, their futures—and the ridiculous schedules that come with them—are in the way. And now one of his teammates is showing interest, and the guy has more in common with Malina than Jackson ever will.

As her best friend, Jackson should get out of the way. But if there’s one thing he’s learned from hockey, it’s that you have to go for what you want, even if it means falling flat on your face. And he’s definitely falling for Malina.

Disclaimer: This book contains a hot hockey player who goes after what he wants, a super-hot, super-distracting shirtless workout, and the kind of best friends to lovers romance every girl in the friend zone has dreamed of.

Excerpt

My hand froze awkwardly in midair as reality slammed into me. Oh, shit. Shit. I kissed my best friend. “Sorry,” I said, jumping up and slamming my leg on the coffee table. “Ow,” I moaned as I turned on the lamp, then turned on the overhead light for good measure.

The look on Malina’s face was one I hadn’t seen before. Her eyes were wide with something—shock? Disgust? Embarrassment?

My cheeks and ears burned. Was it possible for your nose to blush? I was pretty sure mine was. “Malina, I’m so sorry. I was just…” I ran a hand through my hair, struggling to come up with something, anything I could say to excuse what had happened. “I was just so relieved there wasn’t a serial killer or something in the kitchen, and I just…” Nope. There weren’t any more words. There were hundreds of thousands of words in the English language and not one of them was going to help me.

For a long time, she didn’t say anything. A long time. The expression on her face didn’t change. Then she nodded slowly. “Right. Yeah. I was relieved, too.”

She was going to accept my ridiculously lame excuse? Or at least pretend to accept it? “Right? Yeah. Okay. Sorry.”

She frowned. “Just…don’t. Do that. Ever. Again.”

“No,” I said quickly. Spastically quickly. Oh God, my cheeks were still on fire. I couldn’t look her in the eyes. “Sorry. I won’t. It won’t happen again. I should probably go.” Then I winced and said, “Ow,” when I took a step that jarred my bruised leg.

Her frown changed from confusion to concern. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” I said, too quickly again. “Fine. Just…bruised my leg. Banged it. I’ll be fine.”

“Do you need some ice?”

“No. No. I’m fine. Sorry again. Thanks for dinner. I’ll see you at school, right? Sorry.” Instead of coming out like individual sentences, the words kind of blurred together into one big blob of awkward.

Malina got up and walked me to the door. “Yeah. I’ll see you at school.”

I had one foot out the door when she stopped me.

“Jackson?”

As much as I wanted to keep going, I couldn’t ignore her. I stopped and turned and looked somewhere in the vicinity of her left shoulder. Not in her eyes. Not at her lips or her boobs. Shoulders were safe. “Yeah?”

“I don’t really know what just happened, but it was an accident. We’re still friends. It’s fine.”

I forced a nod and kept my eyes on her shoulder. “Okay. Thank you. Sorry. Good night.”

When I got in my car, I leaned back against the headrest and tried to breathe. Despite what she said, it wasn’t okay. I’d kissed my best friend. I’d acted like an idiot who didn’t know how to human, not the confident hockey player who kissed girls all the time.

But the worst part? Worse than the kiss or the embarrassment or awkwardness that followed?

I liked kissing Malina.

A lot.

I was screwed.

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About the Author

Erin is a young adult author from North Carolina. She is a morning person who does most of her writing before sunrise, while drinking excessive quantities of coffee. She believes flip-flops qualify as year-round footwear, and would spend every day at the beach if she could. She has a bachelor's degree in mathematics, which is almost never useful when writing books.

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Spotlight: The Millionaire's Temptation by Sonya Weiss

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Holly Campbell is trying to turn her life around. But, to protect her younger brother, she has one last job to complete. All she needs to do is use her unique skills to break into the safe on a yacht—millionaire Jake Lawson’s yacht—a man Holly had a one-night stand with before she knew his true identity.

Jake knows Holly can’t be trusted. He believes she used the one night stand as a decoy to steal from his company and he knows she’s up to something again. Jake’s determined to figure out what and stop her. He won’t let her take anything from him, least of all his heart.

Excerpt 

When it was their turn to order, Stan gave Jake a knowing grin and reached out to shake his hand. “It’s about time you brought a hot date to this high-end establishment.” He looked at Holly. “Jake and his buddies held a business seminar years ago offering to help start-up companies.” His eyes twinkled. “I walked in with all my belongings in trash bags and you should have seen the looks some of those people gave me. Not Jake. He acted like he’d personally invited me. When I told him my idea, he helped set it up.”

Jake shifted, uncomfortable with the praise and the way Holly looked at him after hearing that. “I saw a good investment, that’s all.”

Stan snorted. “Yeah, right.” He got to work heating up a thin, flat strip of bread on the grill and glanced at Holly. “Did you meet Jake at one of his fancy galas?”  

“Actually,” Holly lowered her voice and said in an impish whisper, “I dressed up as an elf and when he saw me, he begged me to take his clothes off.”

Stan laughed. “Guess you never really know a guy.”

Jake laughed, too and explained, “I got stuck in a Santa suit.”

“Ah, if that’s your story.” Stan loaded the bread with bite size pieces of steak smothered with onions and red peppers, then rolled them up and put them in a paper food boat. He put two waters on the counter, then waved his hand when Jake tried to pay. “You know your money’s no good here. Off you go.” He wagged his eyebrows. “Be sure and tell that housekeeper of yours that I said hello. Bessie’s a fine woman.”

“I’ll do that.” Jake took their order, and led the way to a group of tables beneath a red awning.

“Stan seems like a sweet guy,” Holly said as soon as they sat.

“He is.” Jake took a bite of the food and his eyes watered. “It’s a little spicy.”

“I like it hot,” Holly said.

“Living on the edge.”

“Absolutely. You have the best experiences that way.”

“Such as me,” Jake said.

“And Jake Lawson, in a surprise twist, wins Chicago’s Humblest Man of the Year award.”

He laughed and took a drink of his water, wishing he could cool more than his tongue. “What do you like to do for fun, Holly?”

She chewed thoughtfully for a second. “Like what you saw in my apartment, I do art for fun. All kinds of it. I once worked for a party entertainment company that specialized in business parties and I free-handed temporary tattoos.” She touched the collar of his shirt. “What does the gothic calligraphy one on your chest mean?”

Jake captured her hand and held her fingers still. His gaze locked with hers. “It’s Latin for broken soul.”

“The brother you mentioned earlier today,” she said in a voice filled with conviction as if she understood the desolate places in him.

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About the Author

Sonya Weiss is a freelance writer, ghostwriter and author. She's addicted to great books, good movies, and Italian chocolates.

She's passionate about causes that support abused animals and children. Her parents always supported her bringing stray animals home although the Great Dane rescue was a surprise.

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Spotlight: Artificial Sweethearts by Julie Hammerle

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It’s not chemistry between Tinka Foster and Sam Anderson that made them agree to fake date. With her parents trying to set her up with an annoying student golf coach, and intentionally single Sam’s family pressuring him to bring a date to his brother’s wedding, they could both use a drama-free summer.

So it’s not his muscular arms and quick wit that makes Tinka suggest they tell everyone they’re both taken. Definitely not. And it’s not butterflies that makes a kiss for appearances during the lake party go on way too long—so long that Sam wishes it were real.

But Tinka keeps people at arm’s length—she’s always been second best, even to her parents. And her relationship-for-show could crush everything when she realizes she’s done with fake, pretend, and second-best.

Disclaimer: This Entangled Teen Crush book contains bikinis at the lake, a lot of making out in dark theaters, and a meet-cute you’ll read twice.

Excerpt

The sliding glass door whooshed open behind them. Their opportunity for escape was lost. Tinka spun around as the guy headed toward them. He was carrying three bottles of water and had put on a T-shirt, a faded movie tee, over his mesh shorts. Jaws. A story about a terrifying shark that kills people. The guy handed a bottle to Tinka. “Take a seat.”

Ready to flee at any moment, she perched next to Jane on the bench, where the hot, sticky varnish stuck to her legs immediately. Tinka unscrewed the cap, which gave off the familiar rip-pop sound that proved the bottle had not been tampered with. Tinka tilted it back; and as the cold water coated her parched throat, she forgot for a moment she was about to be murdered.

“This is a gorgeous house,” Jane said.

The guy knocked back his water, then screwed the cap back on. “Thanks. I like it.”

Tinka decided to play civil. “Do you do all the landscaping yourself or do you have a crew that helps you?” He smirked at Tinka, like she was the most curious thing he had seen in a while. “We have a crew, but I noticed a few spots on the bushes that needed trimming.”

She nodded. “If you need to get back to work, don’t let us stop you. We wouldn’t want you to get in trouble with your boss.”

“My boss?” He was still grinning at Tinka with those dimples as he kneaded the plastic on his water bottle. “You mean my father?”

“Your father owns the landscaping business?”

“My father owns the house. I’m Sam. Anderson,” he added for good measure. “I live here.” He gestured toward the back door.

Jane dropped her face into her hands. “Oh my God, Tinka.”

Tinka spun toward her, pointing. “Oh my God nothing, Jane. You didn’t know he lived here, either.”

“I did so.”

“How?”

Jane waved her hand to indicate Sam and the flirty smile reappeared on her face. “He has a way about him.”

“He has no way about anything. No offense.” Tinka nodded to Sam.

“None taken.” Knitting his brow, Sam lifted his hat and ran his fingers through his curly brown hair. He had hazel eyes with friendly crinkles on the corners that didn’t disappear even when he frowned.

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About the Author

Julie Hammerle is the author of The Sound of Us (Entangled TEEN, 2016) and the North Pole, Minnesota young adult romance series (Entangled Crush, 2017). She writes about TV and pop culture for the ChicagoNow blog, Hammervision, and lives in Chicago with her family. She enjoys reading, cooking, and watching all the television. 

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Spotlight: Your Crossroads. Your Choice by EJ Apicello

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Welcome to my diary, my journey, as I tripped and crawled through the darkest time in my life- when I witnessed  people that I held incredibly close to me shatter my very existence with their words and actions. The things within this book spine are extremely raw and exceptionally real. You and I are going to get very close, the details in this book, although oddly general, are incredibly specific. Yes, I realize what I just said and as you read my words you will see what I mean. As you silently gasp and mentally bitch slap me, please be kind because my story is just that - my story. It is not any more or less special than yours. In fact the only difference between our stories are the choices we made at each of the crossroads in our lives. For most of my life the choices I made were not based on my happiness but on everyone else’s. This book describes what I have experienced in my journey to finding my happiness and hopefully never letting it go. Sadly, it took me thirty six years to find the strength I need to detoxify my life and self-view and find someone who is worthy of my awesomeness. Thirty six years to shatter the negative foundation I had built shatter the ultimate representative I created to hide behind and begin the process of building a new foundation. Only this foundation will be built on strength, confidence and above all, happiness. So take a minute or thirty and sit with my story for a while. You never know what you might find out.

Excerpt

I challenge anyone to argue with the following oh so utterly simplistic, almost ridiculously too easy to be real, truth. Here it is, people, be ready for your mind to be blown! Every choice has an opposite choice. And these choices come at a crossroads. A crossroads you are in control of. So go ahead, try and come up with a reason to argue that what I speak isn’t the absolute truth. I’ll wait. Come back when you realize you can’t think of a single one. Please don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I enjoy being right; I just know it’s hard to argue with such an insanely logical and straightforward truth. You see my readers, my new friends, it will hurt less if you accept this to be so. Everything in our world has two opposing choices, and these choices sit at our own personal crossroads, forcing us to embrace either the right or the wrong, the easy or the hard, the light or the dark. Throughout this book, you will see how I am working through this arduous journey with you by my side, priding myself on being a woman of logic and facts, but let’s be clear: I also believe in Santa, the Tooth Fairy, and unicorns!

What can I say, it gives me intense pleasure to know that while you read this book you are going to be kept on the edge of your seat! There will be sexy steamy bits, utterly hopeless bits, raw emotional bits, hilariously funny bits, and pathetic whiny bits. But I promise, if you stick with me, at the end of it all, there will be mostly strong, empowered, utterly-confident bits. But who knows, right? This is honestly an introduction to my journey of self-discovery not directed simply at you but at me as well. Welcome aboard my crazy train, I hope you enjoy the ride!

Please recognize that as you stumble through my jumbled musings and scattered thoughts that where I sit typing this, even on the last of the last of the last rewrites, I am starting at the same place in my journey as you are right at this very moment. The beginning, and I’m not sure what will happen at the end. This thought makes me both nervous and excited. Is my life going to stay the same, or will it take a completely different path, one that is still unbeknownst even to me? What a novel idea (wink, wink) that you will be right there to experience my holy shit moments as I experience them.

“Talking” to you like this is going to force me to have thoughts, feelings, and emotions that I haven’t allowed myself to experience before. This will be like breaking through the fourth wall just like they did during the movie Deadpool, which, by the way, is the best movie I have ever seen. It was like the movie was talking to my soul! I digress, though, and I must get back to focusing on the introduction, for this is my welcome to you, as if you were right here with me urging me on, especially when I feel like I can’t go any further.

I will admit this: I am being slightly selfish, I’m using you for some personal gain. Why would I admit this upfront? Well, because I think it’s important to be honest with myself and you, my new confidants, so that we have a clear understanding of what is to come. Be honest with yourselves too, you picked up this book for a reason. There is something you are hoping to gain from reading through my journey, sharing my experiences, and being able to reflect on them as if they were your own. Which is exactly what I would like you to do by the way. Put yourself into my shoes through my words. I purposely kept this book very generic, partially because I am trying to fly under the radar until I am so famous it doesn’t matter anymore, and partially because I want you to use this book as a sounding board for your own emotions, thoughts, and feelings. And please remember that is a good thing; it is one of the two biggest reasons that I wrote all of this nonsense down and worked so hard to get it into your hands, your consciousness, your world.

I am going to introduce you to the many faces that I wear, or should I say wore, throughout most of my life. You will also be here to discover the parts of the new me that I am in the process of piecing together. With that being said, it is imperative this early in our bud-ding relationship, that I share with you the vast clarity I have found while writing this novel and you see the clarity of your choice while reading it. It took me up until the moment the first letter was placed on the page, over thirty-six years, to realize that in spite of the very logical, black-and-white way of processing things that I so absolutely rely on, it is time I accepted that I too am layered in shades of gray, just like everyone else.

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About the Author

Welcome to EJ’s real, crazy, emotional, probably too honest journey. She is an everyday girl in this everyday world trying to keep her head above water. Within the pages of this book you will learn about the things that have broken EJ down and the steps she is taking to build back up. You will see, that this story is written in a unique, general, conversational voice, which was her choice. She wants you to be able to picture yourself in her shoes, relate her trials and tribulations to yours and see that you too can find your happiness. Even if you don’t realize this yet, every single one of us possesses things inside of ourselves that we didn't know were there. It took EJ’s life taking a crazy right turn and dumping her at the lowest possible point before she could see the strength within herself. We are not defined by what we do, we are defined by the choices we make. EJ decided when she put pen to paper that she wanted her choices to start defining her as strong, confident, secure and above all else, happy. So, who am EJ? How about who she was - a self-loathing shell who put everyone else’s happiness before her own. Herein lies a story about finding that happiness and all of the ups and downs along the way. See who EJ was and who she is trying to become and maybe, somewhere in there, you will find out a little about yourself too.

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Read an excerpt from Denying the Duke by Callie Hutton

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Four years ago, Alex, a second son, had planned a life together with Lady Patience. However, when Patience was betrothed to his brother, the heir, Alex left his family’s estate and joined the military.

Alex returns to assume the title Duke of Bedford when his brother unexpectedly dies. He is unprepared for both his new responsibilities and the reunion with Patience. The horrors of war are a heavy burden, and when he learns that Patience never married his brother, he is stunned.

Patience withstood the bullying of her fiancé and her father for four long years. She refuses to marry Alex just because he’s the duke, especially if he no longer loves her. How would that be better than what she has already endured? Promises made in their youth are not enough to overcome the changes life has wrought for them but love can grow and transform, if only Patience could believe that.

Excerpt

Dragging his thoughts back to the present, he walked from the church graveyard where all the Dukes of Bedford were buried in the family mausoleum, to the Abbey, his boots making a sucking sound in the mud.

He stopped on the stone pathway and studied the building. It looked exactly as it had all his life, and for generations before that. He, however, had changed significantly from the angry, brokenhearted young man who had left. War had carved him into a bitter, bedeviled-by-ghosts man. No softness remained from that addlepated young man in love.

Precisely how he liked it.

Patience, otherwise known as the Duchess of Bedford, would be holding court for the mourners who had come to comfort her on the death of her husband. Since he’d had no contact with his family in the four years he’d been gone, he had no idea if she and Cyrus had children. Of course, there wasn’t a son, or Alex would not have been summoned home to take up his duties as the new Duke of Bedford.

He snorted. One could only hope the pater was spinning in his grave as the prodigal son returned to assume the title he’d held so dear. He no more desired to be the duke than his father would have wanted him to be.

His thoughts returned to the Duchess of Bedford. It seemed nothing had changed since he left. Under the law, as his brother’s widow, Patience was just as off-limits to him as she had been as Cyrus’s betrothed. Of course, he had no reason to believe he still felt the same about her as he had four years ago. That Alex was dead, and he had the vile memories and dark dreams to prove it.

Before he could reach for the front door latch, the door opened. A new butler, unknown to him, stood there, stiff as a board. “Welcome home, Your Grace.”

Your Grace.

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About the Author

USA Today bestselling author, Callie Hutton, author of more than twenty-five historical romance books, writes humorous and spicy Regency with “historic elements and sensory details” (The Romance Reviews). Callie lives in Oklahoma with two rescue dogs and her top cheerleader husband of many years. Her family also includes her daughter, son, and daughter-in-law. And her almost three year old twin grandsons “The Twinadoes.”  Find her online at her Website, for a complete list of all her books and sign up for her newsletter to receive information on new releases, appearances, contests and exclusive subscriber content.

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