Spotlight: On a Tuesday by Whitney G.

We met on a Tuesday.
Became best friends, then lovers, on a Tuesday.
And everything fell apart on a Tuesday… 

Charlotte Taylor has three automatic strikes in my book: 1) She hates me. She also claims that I’m a “domineering jerk with a huge, overbearing ego.” (I do have something huge. It’s not my ego, though.) 2) She takes our mandatory tutoring sessions way too seriously. 3) She’s sexy as hell…And a virgin.

At least, those were her strikes before our study sessions started lasting longer than they were supposed to. Until one innocent kiss became a hundred dirty ones, and until she became the first woman I ever fell hard for.

Our future together after graduation was supposed to be set:
Professional football for me. Law school for her.

But she left me at the end of the semester with no explanation, and then she completely disappeared from my life.

Until tonight.

We met on a Tuesday.
Became everything, then nothing, on a Tuesday.
And now it’s seven years later, on a Tuesday… 

**This is a full length second chance romance, inspired by Adele’s “When We Were Young”**

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About the Author

Whitney G. is a twenty-eight-year-old optimist who is obsessed with travel, tea, and great coffee. She’s also a New York Times & USA Today bestselling author of several contemporary novels, and the cofounder of The Indie Tea–an inspirational blog for indie romance authors.

When she’s not chatting with readers on her Facebook Page, you can find her on her website at http://www.whitneygbooks.com or on instagram: @whitneyg.author. (If she’s not in either of those places, she’s probably locked away working on another crazy story.)

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Read an exclusive excerpt from The Last Move by Mary Burton

Catching monsters helps FBI agent Kate Hayden keep her nightmares at bay. Now an urgent call brings her back to San Antonio, the scene of her violent past. A brutal new murder shows hallmarks of a serial killer nicknamed the Samaritan. Tricky part is, Kate already caught him.

Either Kate made a deadly error, or she’s got a copycat on her hands. Paired with homicide detective Theo Mazur, she quickly realizes this murder is more twisted than it first appeared. Then a second body is found, the mode of death identical to a different case that Kate thought she’d put behind her.

Now Kate and Detective Mazur aren’t just working a homicide; the investigative pair is facing a formidable enemy who knows Kate intimately. While Mazur is personally trying to protect Kate, the closer they are drawn to the killer, the clearer it becomes that in this terrifying game, there is only one rule: don’t believe everything you see…

Exclusive Excerpt

“I require a fresh pot of coffee,” she said. “If you point me in the right direction, I can make it myself.”
 
“You’re right to be cautious. These guys don’t know how to make it.”
 
“Few do, but I’ve mastered a variety of machines and make an excellent cup.”
 
“That bravado, Dr. Hayden?” he asked.
 
“Do I strike you as a person given to exaggeration?” she asked.
 
A slight grin tugged the edges of his lips. “No, Dr. Hayden, you do not. I’m going to gather the troops,” Mazur said.
 
“Perfect.”
 
He was teasing her again. Establishing a rapport between them was important. Humor was his icebreaker. Coffee was one of her bonding strategies. Most cops lived on the sludge that passed for coffee, and a decent cup of joe was always a welcome treat.
 
A few officers glanced up from their work at her, and she sensed the judging process was underway. There were no smiles or welcoming comments, but frowns and a few eye rolls. No one relished bringing a Fed into his or her shop. Pride ran high in law enforcement, and no one wanted to admit they couldn’t handle the job. The fact that Mazur had brought her in so quickly suggested an open-mindedness that his colleagues didn’t share.
 
In the break room she passed the dented vending machine and set her backpack in a chair. She quickly cleaned out the black coating in the coffeepot and reloaded the machine. Soon fresh coffee perked. She moved to the machine and fished her credit card from her pocket. She chose crackers and a chocolate bar.
 
As the machine burbled, she washed the mugs in the sink and wiped down the counter. She chose the most generic mug, guessing it didn’t belong to any individual. There were few transgressions worse than taking a man’s coffee mug.
 
When Mazur reappeared she was sitting at a table, eating the chocolate bar and sipping coffee. Beside him was a tall redhead. She was early to midthirties with pale freckled skin, and she wore skinny jeans with a loose white blouse tucked only on her right side and brown cowboy boots. The identification badge hanging around her neck read Detective Jane Palmer.
 
Palmer and Mazur were an interesting mix. While Mazur appeared to be by the book, Palmer looked as if she didn’t mind bending a rule or two. She was fit and, judging by her straight posture, proud of it.
 
“Dr. Hayden,” Mazur said. “This is my partner, Detective Jane Palmer.”
 
Detective Palmer extended her hand to Kate. “Pleasure to meet you. Sorry I missed you at the autopsy this morning. I was stuck in court.”
 
Kate shook her hand, noting smooth palms and trim French-manicured nails. No sign of a wedding ring, but a gold-and-onyx college ring winked on her right hand. “Pleasure to meet you.”
 
“I hear, and can now smell, that you know how to make coffee,” Detective Palmer said. “That’s a prized commodity in this shop.” She moved to the counter and picked up a blue Disney Frozen mug. “And you clean. I could marry anyone who cleans.” She paused to sip. “And makes great coffee.” She nudged Mazur hard in the ribs with her elbow. “Why don’t you ever make me coffee? You’ve been here six months and not one cup for me.”
 
Mazur shrugged. Six months. So he was newer to the team than she’d realized. Perhaps the cool reception they’d received wasn’t just a product of her presence. He was an outsider who’d brought in a Fed. She’d bet money his hire had sent ripples through this department, and though he was still in the proving stage of the job, he didn’t seem to care about winning points with his associates. His heart was not rooted to this squad or this city.
 
“What’s your secret to a great cup of coffee?” Detective Palmer asked.
 
“Cleaning the pot and machine,” Kate said.
 
Detective Palmer laughed as she shook her head. “Who’d have thought?” Palmer’s phone chimed with a text. She glanced at the words and frowned. “Dr. Hayden, you’re the wordsmith, right?”
 
“Forensic linguistics is my specialty.”
 
“What do you say to a guy who texts, I might have time this weekend to see you?”
 
Each detective had his or her own style of breaking the ice. While Mazur appeared easygoing and patient, Palmer used humor to build alliances. “Might? Does he have a job that keeps him on call?” Kate asked.
 
She cocked a brow. “He’s an accountant.”
 
“It’s not tax season.” Kate stared at Palmer. “You know what he’s saying.”
 
Palmer nodded, eyes narrowing. “But how do I respond?”
 
“Tell him, ‘Making plans and with luck we might catch up. Have a great week.’ And add an emoji. A smiley face.”
 
Palmer typed the words, then hesitated. “The smiley face isn’t my style.”
 
“It’s effective.”
 
“Dating 101 over?” Mazur asked as he filled a paper cup with coffee.
 
Palmer shrugged, pushed a few buttons, and slid the phone in her back pocket. “Just because you don’t care about a love life, Mazur, doesn’t mean the rest of us live a monastic existence.”
 
He stiffened a fraction as he filled his own cup. “The other detectives and cops are headed into the briefing room.” 

“Of course,” 

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About the Author

New York Times and USA Today bestselling novelist Mary Burton is the highly praised author of twenty-eight published romance and suspense novels and five novellas. She lives in Virginia with her husband and three miniature dachshunds.

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Read an exclusive excerpt from Fool Me Once by Catherine Bybee

Cynical divorce attorney Lori Cumberland lives by one motto: Love is grand, but divorce is a hundred grand. With one failed marriage under her own personal belt, Lori had fallen hard and early—and it isn’t something she plans on repeating. She’s content focusing on the temporary marriages of her rich and famous clients. When she joins some of her recent divorcées on a celebratory cruise, her only vow is fun, sun, and new friends. But Lori finds herself tempted by a jury of one.

For Reed Barlow, falling into the world of private investigation was easy. He knows the law and knows how to avoid breaking it—all while doing his job. His rule to live by? No emotion, no involvement…until Lori. His charming smile and cocky attitude distracts Lori and lowers her guard, which is exactly what Reed desires.

But what appears as a one-time-only flirtation may be a plot orchestrated by Reed. As he’s taking his investigation to a dangerous level, it’s Lori who could end up in jeopardy. Reed has only one shot for Lori to grant him a second chance. But if he comes clean with her, he blows his cover. And that just might cost him the opportunity for an alliance of family…and of love.

Exclusive Excerpt

The movie ended and all but a few stayed behind to enjoy the quiet night outside. The ship glided over the ocean with almost unnoticeable movement, the breeze picking up as the night grew on.
 
“I say we paraglide tomorrow.”
 
Lori had curled up on the lounger, Reed kept his arm around her and talked against her ear while they watched the stars.
 
“Jump off a cliff with a tent over my head?” she teased, but didn’t seem as dead against high adrenaline activities as she had when they first met.
 
“How about off the back of a boat?”
 
She seemed to contemplate that image. “Over the water?”
 
“I don’t think you can do it off a back of a boat that isn’t over water.”
 
She pushed at his feet with hers. “Smart-ass.”
 
“C’mon. Push yourself.”
 
“I can’t tell if you’re manipulating me or bullying me.”
 
He should have been insulted. “You haven’t said no.”
 
Her lips pushed together. “I’m thinking about it.”
 
“I bet Avery would do it.”
 
“Avery is younger than I am.”
 
“Oh, you’re so old.” His voice was rich with sarcasm.
 
“Plastic surgery and fillers. I do live in LA.”
 
For half a second he found himself searching for telltale scars.
 
“Now who’s gullible?”
 
“So I’ll book us in the morning.”
 
“I should ask the others if they want to join us.”
 
“Is that a yes?”
 
“It isn’t a firm no.”
 
That’s a start. “So you’re in LA.”
 
“Isn’t everyone?” she asked.
 
“Feels like it at three in the afternoon on the freeway.”
 
“I know, the traffic starts earlier and earlier.”
 
“I’m in Santa Monica,” he told her.
 
“House or condo?”
 
“Renting. I haven’t decided if I’m going to stick there.” Which wasn’t completely true. But since his business was run out of a cell phone and a post office box, it was easy to stay mobile.
 
“I have a condo downtown.”
 
“Loft space?”
 
“No, high-rise. I love it. Close to my office, close to the courts.” She snuggled deeper in his blanket.
 
“I’d like to see how you live.” While the line was one he’d used in the past to gather information, he said it now with an unwelcome wave of guilt. He pushed it aside.
 
She hesitated. “Do … do you think this can continue outside of a cruise ship?” she asked, tilting her head up to see his face.
 
“Honest answer?” he asked.
 
“Of course.”
 
“I don’t know. I haven’t completely figured out what this is. Have you?”
 
Lori settled back in the crook of his arms. “Well, we’re both adults.”
 
“We are that.” He held her closer, as if emphasizing their age.
 
“Neither of us are married or otherwise attached.”
 
“True.”
 
“It’s safe to say there is some chemistry.” She kept rattling off her list of obstacles they’d already overcome.
 
“I like the chemistry,” he said against the lobe of her ear.
 
“We live in the same general area of the world. Which is a coincidence I’d question if I were somewhere other than a cruise ship in the Mediterranean.”
 
“Maybe it’s fate.” He hoped she hadn’t noticed his hand pause during her last comment.
 
“I’m not a big believer in fate. In my world, things happen on purpose, not accident.”
 
It was his turn to twist this around on her. “So you’ve been stalking me and set us up to meet?”
 
She laughed, as he anticipated.
 
His gut twisted with a taste of guilt licking the edges of his psyche.
 
“No, that would be on you,” she said.
 
“Guilty,” he admitted. “Ever since I saw you at the bar that first day on board, I’ve been stalking you.”
 
Her amusement leveled into something much deeper. His lines were working, he felt it in how her body relaxed against his, how when she looked up at him, her eyes peered deeper into his.
 
“To what end?” she slowly asked.
 
His hand that had been lingering on her arm took a long stroke up until the back of his fingers stroked the edges of one breast.
 
She shivered under his touch.
 
“I can think of a couple.”
 
Lori lifted her chin and turned up toward him. “Only a couple?”
 
“You know of more?” he teased.
 
“Maybe.” Her word sounded like sin.
 
He liked the banter.
 
Lori sighed and closed her eyes.
 
He lowered his lips.
 
“I have a question,” she said before he could kiss her.
 
“Ask it,” he said.
 
“Why are we sitting on this deck when we both have perfectly good private rooms?” She opened her eyes, stared at his lips.
 
“That is a very good question.”

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About the Author

New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling author Catherine Bybee has written twenty-seven books that have collectively sold more than three million copies and have been translated into twelve languages. Raised in Washington State, Bybee moved to Southern California in hopes of becoming a movie star. After growing bored with waiting tables, she returned to school and became a registered nurse, spending most of her career in urban emergency rooms. She now writes full-time and has penned the Not Quite series, the Weekday Brides series, the Most Likely To series, and the First Wives series.

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Spotlight: My Image of You by Melanie Moreland

A globe-trotting bad boy chases the one that got away in this addictive novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Contract.

My name is Adam Kincaid, and I’m the best at what I do. After losing my parents, I decided to follow in their footsteps, and now I’m the most daring freelance photographer in the world.

Maybe some think I’m a loner, but I don’t care. All that matters is the shot: braving danger and devastation in search of a single image with the power to tell someone’s story. But as good as I am, accidents happen—and thank god for that, because it’s what leads me to her. . .

Alexandra Robbins. My nurse. My savior.

With her fiery red hair and crystal-clear blue eyes, the camera loves her . . . and I have to have her. We soon find that we’re perfect together. We just fit, physically and emotionally. And yet something isn’t right. Something from her past is haunting her, and no matter what I do to help her break free, I lose her.

Today is the day I try to win her back. Not only do I need an explanation, I need her in my bed once again. I don’t just want a damn picture—I want her. Because what we have is a love that never fades away. . .

Excerpt

“There are so many things I want to do with you,” I assured her, and licked my lips as I stared at her, my voice husky. “To you.”

“Tell me,” she insisted, her fingers curled into fists at her sides.

I stepped behind her, wrapping my arm around her waist and pulling her to my chest. I smoothed my fingers up her arm, trailing them along her skin. Small goose bumps broke out, pebbling the surface as I dropped my head down into her neck, kissing and swirling my tongue. “I’m going to explore you—everywhere. I’ll touch and discover every part of you. I want to know what makes you gasp, what drives you to distraction. I’ll find out what I can do to make you groan and beg me to take you. I’ll know your body better than you do.” I drew her skin between my teeth, biting and sucking. “I want to kiss you . . . taste you everywhere.” I slipped my hands under her shirt, teasing the softness of her stomach and side, stroking upward until my hand cupped her breast lightly. “I bet you taste different all over. Sweet some places”—I dropped my hand down, running it along the edge of her waistband—“musky and tangy others.”

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About the Author

New York Times/USA Today bestselling author Melanie Moreland, lives a happy and content life in a quiet area of Ontario with her beloved husband of twenty-seven-plus years and their rescue cat Amber. Nothing means more to her than her friends and family, and she cherishes every moment spent with them. 

While seriously addicted to coffee, and highly challenged with all things computer-related and technical, she relishes baking, cooking, and trying new recipes for people to sample. She loves to throw dinner parties, and also enjoys travelling, here and abroad, but finds coming home is always the best part of any trip. 
 
Melanie delights in a good romance story with some bumps along the way, but is a true believer in happily ever after. When her head isn’t buried in a book, it is bent over a keyboard, furiously typing away as her characters dictate their creative storylines to her, often with a large glass of wine keeping her company.

Connect: Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter: @MorelandMelanie

Spotlight: From Freezer to Table by Polly Conner and Rachel Tiemeyer

Freezer cooking has never been so easy, fun, and totally delicious.

From Freezer to Table is the ultimate guidebook for transforming the way your family cooks, eats, and freezes. The chapters are packed with freezer cooking basics, practical tips for Freezer Cooking Parties and Freezer Clubs, and plenty of motivation and tools to make freezer cooking second nature. With more than 75 simple, family-friendly recipes—all made from whole food ingredients—this book shows how you can stock your freezer with favorites, like Mixed Berry Oat Scones, Parmesan and Herb Chicken Tenders, and slow-cooker Killer Carnitas.

Prepare to reclaim your kitchen from processed foods, all while saving your wallet, your waistline, and your time! With a freezer full of the easy dishes in this book, you can enjoy tasty, stress-free meals around the table with those you love, even on your busiest days.

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About the Authors

Rachel Tiemeyer and Polly Conner are the creators of Thriving Home, a food and lifestyle blog sharing the freezer cooking lifestyle, whole food recipes, and encouragement for families on the parenting journey. With three kids each and constantly strapped for time, Rachel and Polly are self-proclaimed “freezer cooking evangelists” who are passionate about equipping families to enjoy healthy, homemade meals around the table together. They live with their husbands and children in Columbia, Missouri.

Spotlight: Wrong by Jana Aston

Wrong
Jana Aston
Publication date: October 7th 2015
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

I have a history of picking the wrong guy. Gay? Player? Momma’s boy? Check, check and check.

Now I can’t stop fantasizing about one of the customers at the coffee shop I work at between classes. It’s just a harmless crush, right? It’s not like I ever see this guy outside of the coffee shop. It’s not like I’m going to see him while attempting to get birth control at the student clinic. While wearing a paper gown. While sitting on an exam table. Because he’s the doctor. Shoot. Me.

But what if, for once, the man I’ve had the dirtiest, most scandalous fantasies about turned out to be everything but wrong?

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FREE on September 19th only!

—

EXCERPT:

“Sophie, he’s going to be back for more. Trust me.”

I load a tray of cupcakes and slide them into the bakery case. “I don’t know, Everly. He’s really sophisticated and clearly lives a lifestyle a long ways from Cowbell Lane,” I say, referencing my grandparents’ home in Willow Grove.

“Bitch, please. The guy is pushing forty and you’re a hot co-ed with a brand-new tight, shiny pussy. He’ll be back.”

My eyes widen. “Everly, Jesus!”

“Just saying.” She holds her hands up in mock defense before breaking into a huge grin.

“You don’t really think he’s forty, do you?”

“He just turned thirty-six in August.”

“How do you know that?”

“Google.”

“You Googled him?”

“You didn’t?” Everly looks aghast.

“Uh, no.” Truthfully I thought about it, but I didn’t want to get any more invested in him than I already am.

“Well, look what the pussy dragged in.” Everly is smirking.

“Everly, that’s not the saying. It’s ‘cat.’ ‘Look what the cat dragged in.'”

“Oh, I think I’ve got the saying right. He’s here.”

My stomach explodes in nerves as I glance towards the door. Luke is here. I wondered if he’d stick to his normal Tuesday routine and stop here for coffee. I’ve figured out this Grind Me location is between his Rittenhouse Square condo and the student clinic, but it’s hardly the only route he could take or stop he could make.

My heart is beating so fast as I take him in. Is he going to speak to me or go back to just ordering coffee and leaving like he has the last several weeks?

He’s in a navy suit today, crisp white shirt and a silvery blue tie. And then my heart stops beating so fast. There’s a hand on his arm. I follow that hand to the redhead from Saturday night.

Author Bio:

Jana Aston likes cats, big coffee cups and books about billionaires who deflower virgins. She wrote her debut novel while fielding customer service calls about electrical bills, and she's ever grateful for the fictional gynecologist in Wrong that readers embraced so much she was able to make working in her pajamas a reality. Jana’s novels have appeared on the NYT, USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists, some multiple times. She likes multiples.

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