Spotlight: Christmas, Alabama by Susan Sands

Photographer Rachel Prudhomme has finally settled in Ministry, Alabama. Sure, the pace is slower, and she’s had her heart blessed more times than she can count, but putting down her roots where her family is feels right, if only the town’s new doctor, and now neighbor, weren’t so hot and constantly igniting her dreams. How can she keep her vow to steer clear of men when he keeps sauntering across her path?

Excerpt

Rachel Prudhomme absorbed more truth through the lens of her camera than words, true or not, could speak. Eyes didn’t lie. Expressions caught off guard didn’t lie. 

The bride wore an exquisite white, off-the-shoulder beaded gown, and the groom, a sharply-tailored black tux. Their smiles were radiant. The wedding party smiled, and their families, despite a few obvious squabbles, smiled too. But something was off. It wasn’t obvious, and Rachel might have missed it had she not zoomed in on her subjects—the bride and groom—through the viewfinder. 
They weren’t the dreamy, happy couple they appeared to be. There was a tightness around the eyes and mouth of the groom. A sadness behind the smile of the bride. Yet, everyone was participating in this expensive and very public lie, and all were smiling their way through the photos and poses. Or maybe it wasn’t quite a lie, but more of an imbalance. 

Vows were made and cake was cut amidst the flowers and music. The band played and the guests danced. Maybe nobody knew anything was amiss, or if they did, they pretended they didn’t. Rachel had learned the hard way that this was none of her concern. Maybe they’d had a fight over the cost of the wedding, or the destination of the honeymoon. Or, perhaps he’d waited too long to propose. 

Whatever was at play here, weddings brought out the stress and inner beast in everyone, all while they smiled and played the parts of the happiest people on the planet for their families and friends. The photos were the key to remembrance. 

This was a Thanksgiving wedding. The food was heavy, harvest fare. The flowers were deep shades of crimson, linen and champagne, and golds. The greenery was heavy and dark. The autumnal tones, spicy cinnamon candles, combined with the cool temperature outside set the stage for rich, lasting memories. 

So, Rachel would do her job to cement the memories for this couple, hopefully, a lifetime’s worth. The stress, the fight, or whatever had happened prior to the ceremony wouldn’t carry through when they looked at their wedding photos in ten years if Rachel did her job well. 

The photos made the re-remembering pure perfection. “Hey, Rach, could we get a shot of Grandma Jean with the garter on her leg?” the bride asked, her smile bright. The alcohol was clearly doing its job now.

Sands, Susan. Christmas, Alabama (Alabama series Book 4) (Kindle Locations 67-70). Tule Publishing. Kindle Edition.

Buy on Amazon |  Barnes and Noble

About the Author

I grew up in Northwest Louisiana, but have strong Cajun roots (Southern Louisiana) on both sides of my family. I live in the Atlanta suburbs with my dentist husband and near-adult children, plus a few furry creatures.

I love to cook and I adore food. I play tennis, but don’t exercise nearly enough. I write Southern romantic women’s fiction. It’s a rare day when I run short of words. I’m a member of the Atlanta Writer’s Club, Georgia Romance Writers, and Romance Writers of America. I’m represented by Erin Niumata at Folio Literary Management.

I visit book clubs, bookstores, libraries, and literary festivals whenever I’m invited! I love to connect with readers!

Connect: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Spotlight: The It Girl and Me by Laini Giles

Daisy DeVoe has left her abusive husband, her father has been pinched for bootlegging, and she’s embarrassed by her rural Kentucky roots. But on the plus side, she’s climbing the ladder in the salon of Paramount Pictures, styling hair for actress Clara Bow.

Clara is a handful. The “It” Girl of the Jazz Age personifies the new woman of the 1920s onscreen, smoking, drinking bootleg hooch, and bursting with sex appeal. But her conduct off the set is even more scandalous. Hoping to impose a little order on Clara’s chaotic life, Paramount persuades Daisy to sign on as Clara’s personal secretary.

Thanks to Daisy, Clara’s bank account is soon flush with cash. And thanks to Clara, Daisy can finally shake off her embarrassing past and achieve respectability for herself and her family.

The trouble begins when Clara’s newest fiancé, cowboy star Rex Bell, wants to take over, and he and Daisy battle for control. Torn between her loyalty to Clara and her love for her family, Daisy has to make a difficult choice when she ends up in the county jail.

Here, Daisy sets the record straight, from her poverty-stricken childhood to her failed marriage; from a father in San Quentin to her rollercoaster time with Clara, leaving out none of the juicy details.

Buy on Amazon | Barnes and Noble

About the Author

Originally from the counterculture mecca of Austin, Texas, Laini discovered a love of reading early on, and when she was eight, decided to be Nancy Drew. This dream was dashed when she realized she was actually a big chicken, and that there were no guarantees of rescue from tarantulas, bad guys with guns, and other fiendish plot twists. She finished her first “mystery novel” (with custom illustrations) when she was nine.

She set the writing aside for a while when life got in the way, but was led back to it through her interest in genealogy and 18 months of enforced unemployment due to moving north for maple-flavored goodies and real beer. Reading old microfilm stirred new life into her interest in writing, and watching early silent films struck the match.

Like most other writers, most of her monthly budget is spent on coffee and books. She lives with her husband and their two gray cats in Edmonton, Alberta.

For more information, please visit Laini Giles’ website. You can also connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Goodreads.

The It Girl and Me

Spotlight: Proposal for Love by Sharon C. Cooper

Nathaniel Jenkins-Moore never allows romantic entanglements to get in the way of running Jenkins & Sons Construction. That is until the woman who ripped out his heart crashes back into his life. She wants to leave the past in the past, and though Nate knows a thing or two about rebuilding strong foundations, her betrayal still haunts him. He can’t forget. He won’t forgive. She can’t be trusted. But why does his heart still beat double-time whenever she’s near?

Liberty Stewart has been living a lie. Masking her shredded self-esteem and trying to overcome the emotional torment inflicted by her abusive ex-husband, she’s ready to rebuild her life. But just when she thinks she’s on track, her current assignment brings her face to face with the only man she’s ever truly loved—Nate. Too bad he hates her. Liberty knows she did Nate wrong, and getting him to trust her again might be impossible, but neither of them can deny the attraction that still runs deep.

Is the burning passion they share enough to get their troubled hearts to finally beat as one? Or is the hurt too deep for a happily ever after?

Excerpt

Liberty’s heart squeezed in anguish as she realized she had hurt him more than she originally thought. Unfortunately, nothing she could do or say would be enough to express how sorry she was for walking away from what they once had.

Pushing down the emotion threatening to explode within her, she hurried to pack her belongings.

“Nate, we both have a job to do,” she finally said but kept her head down hoping her voice sounded stronger than she felt. “What’s it going to take for you to put the past behind us and focus on the here and now?”

“I need answers,” he responded quietly.

Liberty raised her gaze to his. The hurt in his eyes sliced open an old wound and shattered the last shred of her control. The anger and fight in him had dissipated.

“What do you want me to say?” she asked, unable to catch the slight whimper that slipped through. “Do you want me to admit that walking away from you was the biggest mistake I’ve ever made? Do you want me to tell you that my life has been one huge failure after another? Do you want me to say that my world has been hell without you in it?” Her breaths came hard and ragged as her chest tightened. She didn’t want to break down in front of him, but revisiting that painful time in her life was never easy.

Nate opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Stuffing one hand into his pants pocket, he used the other to rub the back of his neck.

“You want to know why I walked away?”

Copyright © October 2017 by Sharon C. Cooper

Buy on Amazon | Barnes and Noble

About the Author

Award-winning and bestselling author, Sharon C. Cooper, is a romance-a-holic - loving anything that involves romance with a happily-ever-after, whether in books, movies, or real life. Sharon writes contemporary romance, as well as romantic suspense and enjoys rainy days, carpet picnics, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. She’s been nominated for numerous awards and is the recipient of an Emma Award for Romantic Suspense of the Year 2015 (Truth or Consequences), Emma Award - Interracial Romance of the Year 2015 (All You’ll Ever Need), and BRAB (book club) Award -Breakout Author of the Year 2014. When Sharon is not writing or working, she’s hanging out with her amazing husband, doing volunteer work or reading a good book (a romance of course). To read more about Sharon and her novels, visit www.sharoncooper.net

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Spotlight: The Lovely Dark by K.A. Last

Three teenagers.
One witch.
Twelve souls.

Harvey Anderson always knew the universe was against him, but there’s a lot of stuff he never expected to happen, like having a crush on the most popular girl at school, and then falling into a giant hole in the middle of nowhere with her. And if that wasn’t enough, somehow they managed to release a soul-sucking, ancient witch as well. So yeah, there’s that. You’d think it’d be pretty hard to beat, but knowing Harvey’s luck, it’s about to get a whole lot worse. 

Excerpt

I glance around at the empty camp. All the other groups have moved off in various directions. I bite my lip, knowing what I’m about to say isn’t going to go down too well with Toni.

“I vote for Lian’s plan,” I say.

“What?” Toni puts her hands on her hips. Her mouth opens and closes. She’s too nice to say anything really mean while Lian can hear, but I know she doesn’t like her. I’m not even sure if I like her, even though she’s given me no reason not to.

Lian looks at the map. “Point eight is north-east.” She turns on the spot. “This way.”

“That’s the wrong direction,” Toni says. 

Lian frowns. “Which way then?”

Toni holds the compass so we can all see. Lian nods then marches off, the map in front of her. Toni glares at me. I sigh and follow Lian. Toni will get over it. All I want is to get this done, and the only way to do that is to start somewhere. 

We make our way through the bush. Now and then, I hear the voices of other students. We’ve picked a route that should lead us straight to point eight, but it doesn’t cross paths with any of the other points. I begin to wonder if this plan was the best one, or if we’re wasting time. What if the farthest point has no flag? 

“Odds are they’d put a flag at the point that takes the longest to get to,” Toni says.

“Are you a mind reader?” I ask. “Because I just thought about how possible it would be that it didn’t.”

“Have a flag?”

I turn to look at her. “No, a hippopotamus. Yes, a flag.”

“You’re acting really weird today.” Toni studies the compass, and I wonder how she hasn’t fallen over. 

I stumble on a rock and mumble a swear word. “Weirder than I usually am? That’s … weird.”

Toni stops, and I almost bump into her. She looks at the compass and frowns. “The needle keeps jumping around.” She glances up and scans the trees around us.

“Can you hear that?” Lian asks.

Greg moves away from us a bit, crunching sticks and leaves. “I can’t hear anything.”

“Stand still, you big oaf.” Toni glares at him.

“Don’t tell me what to do, nerd girl.”

“Is that the best you’ve got?” 
“What are we supposed to be listening to?” I ask.

The four of us stand here, silent, with our heads cocked to the side. If someone came across us we’d probably look pretty funny.

A low howl sounds through the trees. Goosebumps rise on my arms.

“What was that?” Lian turns towards the noise.
Before anyone can answer, a crow caws and takes flight, its feathers rustling.

“Crows,” Greg says. “Don’t be scared.”

“I’m not.” Lian clutches the map to her chest

I am. “Since when do crows howl?”

Buy on Amazon | Barnes and Noble

About the Author

K. A. Last was born in Subiaco, Western Australia, and moved to Sydney when she was eight. Artistic and creative by nature, she studied Graphic Design and graduated with an Advanced Diploma. After marrying her high school sweetheart, she concentrated on her career before settling into family life. Blessed with a vivid imagination, she began writing to let off creative steam, and fell in love with it. K. A. Last is currently studying her Bachelor of Arts at Charles Sturt University, with a major in English, and minors in Children’s Literature, Art History, and Visual Culture. She now resides in the countryside on the mid-north coast of NSW.

Connect: Website | Facebook | Goodreads | PInterest | Instagram | Twitter

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Spotlight: Thirty Day Boyfriend by Whitney G.

I should've never agreed to this arrangement...

Thirty days ago, my boss—Mr. Wolf of Wall Street,  came to me with an offer I couldn’t refuse: Sign my name on the dotted line and pretend to be his fiancée for one month. If I agreed, he would let me out of my employment contract with a “very generous” severance package.

The rules were pretty simple: No intimate kissing, no actual sex. Just pretend to love each other for the press, even though I’ve secretly wanted to knock that sexy smirk off his face since the first day we met. 

I definitely didn’t need to think twice about this. I signed my name and started counting down the seconds to when I would never have to deal with his special brand of ass-holery again. 

I only made it to one minute...

We argued the entire four-hour flight to his hometown, failed to make a convincing impression with the welcoming press, and right when I was about to knock that arrogant look off his face in real life? He purposely dropped his bath towel in front of me, distracting me with his nine-inch cock to "show me who the bigger person was" in our relationship. Then he gave me his trademark smirk once again and asked if I wanted to consummate our marriage.

Tragically, this is only day one. 
We still have 29 more days to go...

Buy on Amazon | Barnes and Noble

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.)

Don’t forget to sign up for Whitney’s monthly newsletter here: http://bit.ly/1p9fEYF

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Spotlight: Thigh Highs by Katia Rose

Thigh Highs
Katia Rose
Publication date: October 26th 2017
Genres: Adult, Comedy, Romance

Modelling lingerie for her arch-nemesis was not on Christina’s to-do list.

Then again, neither was he.

Aaron Penn might be the talk of the advertising school they both attend, but to Christina he’s just an egomaniac with a cocky smirk to match. Fast forward to the end of term, when a class project gone wrong has her stripping down to a negligee and letting Aaron photograph her to advertise a line of women’s underwear.

She expects suggestive comments and smarmy-eyed stares, but when Aaron gets behind the camera he treats her body like a work of art. Even though all she’s got on is a scrap of satin, the room suddenly feels way too hot.

As the tension between them builds to expensive-panty-melting-levels, Christina finds herself caught between falling for the complicated artist who knows just what poses to put her in, and wondering why he acts like such an irritating hotshot around everyone else.

Goodreads / Amazon

—

EXCERPT:

“No way,” I gasp, staring at the very large, very professional-looking camera in Aaron’s hands. “Did you just steal that?”

He looks up after setting the camera down on the desk next to the carefully arranged lingerie.

“Really?” he demands, cocking a brow. “Is your opinion of me actually so bad that your first assumption is to think I stole this?”

I give him a look that suggests exactly that.

“I didn’t steal it,” he confirms. “It’s mine. I…”

His eyes drift to the floor and he takes a moment to heft the gear bag he has thrown over his shoulder onto the desk, turning away from me as he does.

“I do photography sometimes,” he continues. “It’s just a hobby. I was going to come back in here after the shoot and play around a bit.”

“That looks like more than just a hobby.” I gesture towards all his gear as he turns back to face me.

He shrugs, avoiding my eye. “I mean, I have to look good in all my selfies.”

“It’s like being a douchebag is just a reflex for you,” I sigh. “I almost can’t even blame you for it.”

He starts unzipping the bag and pulls out a few lenses. As I watch, it occurs to me that even though we’ve now got a camera and someone who knows how to use it, our problems are far from solved.

“So do you have a C cup model hiding in that bag?” I ask him. “Because if not, we’re still screwed.”

“You must be at least a C cup,” he responds, not looking up from the lenses.

I’m about to ask what that has to do with anything when the realization of what he’s suggesting hits.

Oh hell no.

Author Bio:

Katia Rose is not much of a Pina Colada person, but she does like getting caught in the rain. She prefers her romance served steamy with a side of smart, and is a sucker for quirky characters. A habit of jetting off to distant countries means she’s rarely in one place for very long, but she calls the frigid northland that is Canada home.

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter

GIVEAWAY!
a Rafflecopter giveaway