Spotlight: The Ocean Between Us by Michelle Heard

Dying to experience life, I cross an ocean to get away from my fears. I find my safe haven in the form of Detective Aiden Holden. He shows me what love is, but then our lives collide. Our little world shatters, and I'm caught in the crossfire.

I'm forced to return home, to let go of the only person who has made me feel like I could be more.

How do you return to a cage once you’ve tasted freedom?

My only hope is that Aiden will cross an ocean for me.

Excerpt

When I open the front door, Emma forces a smile to her lips, but I can see it doesn’t reach her eyes.
It feels like I’ve lost her, and my heart clenches painfully.
Emma steps inside, her body tense as she glances around the foyer, and up at the stairs.
I hate that she’s uncomfortable in my home.
Having little to no strength left after the nightmare of a week, it feels like I’m about to break.
“Emma.” I close the door and take a step closer to her. “Tell me what happened. What you’re feelin’ and thinkin’? Let me help you.”
My eyes get stuck on the purple discoloration around her neck.
I know from experience what causes marks like that. Emma was choked. It explains why her voice is practically gone.
Rage makes me bite the words out, “What happened to your neck?”
When she presses her lips firmly together, refusing to talk, I take a step closer to her. Her body instantly goes tense, and she clenches her hands.
Fuck, not that.
“Emma, what did they do to you?” My voice is low with fear.
“Nothing,” she whispers.
I can’t stand the distance between us and I take the few steps separating us. I take hold of Emma’s clenched hands and pin them to my chest. She won’t open them or look at me.
“Please, Em. Let me share the pain. Let me help you through this.” She shakes her head, her breath catching in her throat. I brush my fingers over her cheek and lean closer. “Who hit you?”
She opens her mouth, and at first, only a rasp of air comes out.
It hurts like hell to see her like this.
Then she presses her forehead against my chest and finally whispers, “Colton.”
Fucking bastard. I wish I’d killed him when I had the chance.
I wrap my arms around her, wishing I could give her all of the strength I have left. I’m used to being in control, to being able to handle everything, but all my power has been stripped away from me.
Pressing a kiss to her temple, I softly say, “Tell me what they did so I can make them pay.”
She pushes against my chest, and I take a step back.
Her face is tight with anger. “You think you can actually do something about it?”
I frame her face and make her look at me. “Emma, I can. I’m not your dad. I’ll prosecute them with everything I have.”
“This is not about my fucking dad,” she screams, her voice breaking over the words. “You can’t do anything about it, Aiden. It fucking happened. It’s done. Nothing you do will change that.”
Her arms wrap around her waist, and hunching over, a broken cry tears from her. My heart shatters at the sight of her crumbling right before my eyes.
I move forward, but she sags to the floor, whimpering, “Don’t touch me.”
Feeling helpless as fuck, I watch the woman I love with every single beat of my heart, fall apart.
I sit down beside her, needing to let her know I’m not going anywhere.

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About the Author

Michelle Heard is a Bestselling Romance Author who likes her books hot, dirty, and with a touch of darkness. She loves an alpha hero who is not scared to fight for his woman.

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Spotlight: Sparkles In Love by Sarah Gai

Sparkles In Love
Sarah Gai
(Sparkles Book Club, #1)
Publication date: March 18th 2017
Genres: Adult, Comedy, Romance

A Romantic Comedy with a plus size heroine! You will fall in love INSTANTLY!

Meet Jess. Accident prone and unlucky in love. Her life has hit a stalemate. What better way to change things up than by playing Matchmaker. But Jess gets more than what she’s bargained for. It also doesn’t help that she lives next door to the worlds sexiest man. When things go wrong and Jess is faced with her own feelings, will she admit them?, Run? or finally catch a break!

‘Fall in love with this tutu toting, pink wig wearing cutie and come along for some major laughs, with her and her friends!’

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—

EXCERPT:

I remembered my mission and left Haley, speeding up my pace as I searched for the tallest head in the bar. Brax wasn’t hard to find—he towered over ninety percent of the other patrons filling the place.

I spotted him over near the stage, his hands above his head leaning against the wall. As I got closer, I could see he was talking to a woman, who was much shorter than he. She had her back against the wall and her eyes were all starry as they peered up at him. Typical. I hadn’t even been there an hour and I had to put up with that. Not that it bothered me at all. Nope, not one single bit. Brax was a grown man who could do whatever he wanted. Who was I kidding? I was so jealous it hurt. God, why couldn’t he look at me like that?

Setting my irritation and jealousy aside, I pushed my way through the crowd and planted myself right in the middle of their partnering; facing the woman, I smiled.

“Sorry, I only need one moment of my neighbor’s time. Just one little second,” I said and raised my pointer finger to face height so she understood over the music.

I didn’t wait for her reply but immediately turned and stared up into the face of a God—crap, I mean Brax. I didn’t have time for lusty thoughts about him right now.

Brax opened his mouth to speak, but I covered it with my palm.

“No time for your cocky words, my friend. Did you do what I asked? Just nod, that’s all I need from you tonight. Save your words for what’s-her-face behind me.”

I could feel Brax laugh, his mouth moving behind my hand as he nodded up and down.

“Great, where is he?” I continued.

Brax just raised an eyebrow as I waited for his reply. I realized why he wasn’t answering and quickly removed my palm from his mouth.

“You look adorable tonight, Jess.”

Those velvety words streamed from his mouth, well, actually, were hollered, but my mind wanted to imagine it another way. Stupid man! He had no idea what he did to me. It took a lot of effort to act as if his presence didn’t affect me. Every. Damn. Day.

I hit him in the stomach. I wasn’t falling for his smoothness this time. Other girls would, but I’ve been living next to him for years and have heard it all before.

“Knock it off. Now hurry up and tell me where Goatee Guy is,” I demanded, entirely over the conversation already.

Brax peered around me before leaning over my shoulder to whisper something in the woman’s ear behind me. I knew then what being the meat in a sandwich felt like and it was pretty darn uncomfortable as my backside pushed into her front. Nevertheless, she didn’t seem to care as she giggled girlishly into my ear.

Brax stood up straight once more and flung an arm around my shoulder, pulling me away from the side of the club and making way for us through the crowd. As we reached the bar, I pushed his arm off and away and took a seat on a vacant stool. His two arms placed themselves on either side of my body, caging me in as I waited for one of the bartenders to take my order.

“First off, his name is not Goatee Guy. He’s my brother and his name is Thomas. But I’ll let him know what you call him. And yes, Thomas is here,” Brax whispered in my ear. If that bar wasn’t holding me up, the floor and I would have been quite acquainted.

“So, where is he then?” I managed to groan out. I hoped I sounded annoyed and not super flustered, which is what I was feeling with his uber-close proximity.

“I don’t know. I’m not his keeper, but he’s here somewhere,” Brax snorted. “Why is it so important to get him here anyway? I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love hanging with my baby bro, but you were adamant he had to come tonight, which makes me think you’re up to something,” Brax spoke into my ear again.

I couldn’t take it. Screw the drink, I needed fresh air A.S.A.P. Ducking under his arm, I pushed him out of the way and made a beeline for the beer garden. But as I pushed open the glass door, I felt the impact and heard, “Argh!!!” Oh God, I’d pushed the door straight into some poor guy’s nose!

I let go of the door and brought my hands up to cover my face, too scared to look. Oh God, oh God, oh God. I felt the chilly gust of air as the door was flung open again. Taking a peek out through the crack between my fingers, I saw none other than Goatee, I mean Thomas, holding a hand over his bleeding nose.

“Shit! Thomas! Oh my God, I’m so sorry!” I cried.

Grabbing him by the shirtsleeve, I took the lead and began pulling him as fast as I could through the crowd and towards the back offices where I knew Damon kept his first-aid kit. Being accident prone, I had to know exactly where he kept the medical supplies. Usually, I was fine—it was other people that really needed to steer clear of me completely or give me a tremendously wide-berth.

As we walked along the corridor, the perfect opportunity presented itself—May was just coming out of the women’s bathroom. That’s when I decided to push Thomas in front of her.

“May, you have to help him! I’m freaking out about all the blood.”

“Oh, jeepers. What happened?” May asked urgently, trying cautiously to peer behind Thomas’ hands to inspect the damage.

“I happened. I pushed a door into his face, which, mind you, I’m going to have to talk to Damon about the dangers…”

“Yes, you do that, Jess,” May cut my rambling. She grabbed Thomas and led him to the end of the corridor and through the door into the office.

I watched them disappear and couldn’t help but smile. Plan “Help May Find Love” was officially in play! Damn, this whole matchmaker thing was working like a charm. Maybe I had found my new calling—Sparkles the Matchmaker fairy.

The sad thing was I had no idea exactly what was about to be set in motion.

Author Bio:

Wow! How do I sum up my life? .... Well, I'm a mother of Three little princes who light my life. A wife to a very patient husband who puts up with my hectic thinking. A completely imperfect woman who sees the grace of God everyday. Especially when I toe the lines with my writing. I don't give you fairytales, I bring a lot of the real world into my stories. A tattooed, plus size, coffee drinking, wears her heart on her sleeve, incessant chatterer!
My love is writing and reading fiction. I'm also one of the world's worst cooks, but I love food!
As for being an Author, I seriously can not pick a Genre and stick to it. Yes, i'm pretty mixed up. I need comedy, tear jerkers, flawed characters, a little adventure and a big escape. So, I write it all!!!
I spend way too much time on Facebook. I LOVE to chat with other readers and writers. So if you want to contact me or join the fun then Come and join Sarah Gai's Sparkle Girls Group. See excerpts from upcoming books, teasers, behind the scenes, Cover reveals and giveaways! What are you waiting for? https://www.facebook.com/sarahgaiauthor/

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Cover Reveal: Cholama Moon by Anne Schroeder

Cholama Moon
Anne Schroeder
(Central Coast Series, #1)
Publication date: October 12th 2018
Genres: Adult, Historical, Romance

Young Virginia Nugent’s privileged life ends with the death of her mother and her father’s guilt-ridden descent into addiction. She is torn between her love of the ranch and her desire to escape, until a Southern friend of her late mother makes an offer that can change her life. Four years later, she returns from boarding school in Santa Cruz, the gorgeous image of her mother. She has become a lady, but she must make a life amid the earthquakes, banditos, remoteness and human failing of her beloved Cholama Valley. A faithful story of early California with real places, people and events, and a lot of imagination.

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Author Bio:

Anne Schroeder describes herself as a calorically-challenged Aphrodite with an unmistakable fervor for life. Second of seven children, she was born in Ventura County, California, the subject of her first memoir, BRANCHES ON THE CONEJO: Leaving the Soil after Five Generations.

In 1971 she graduated from Cal Poly, SLO, in the first wave of the Social and Sexual Revolution with a degree in Social Science, a husband, toddler and part-time job. Her memoir ORDINARY APHRODITE is an adventure tale about a life of small steps in the Boomer women's experience. Her fiction and memoir have won numerous awards.

She served as 2015 President of Women Writing the West, 2016 WILLA Literary Competition Chair and is a member of Western Writers of America. Her Central Coast Series features well researched, character-driven novels about the history of Central California in the Mission California era. CHOLAMA MOON is the first in the series, a western romance with gritty attitude. MARIA INES was released in October 2016. It follows a Mission Indian girl through the Spanish, Mexican and Yanqui conquests of California.

In this era of publishing it is hard for a writer to distinguish herself from the herd. I so appreciate my reader/fans and their valuable input. I strive to be an inspirational voice for people of the land, both modern and historical. For me, joy in writing comes from finding forgotten research books. I love combining facts with storytelling to create an unforgettable saga that remains in the heart long after the last page is read. For a bit morem here's a link to a recent interview by a fellow author. https://judithgrout.com/2018/05/10/interview-anne-schroeder/

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Spotlight; You Only Need One: A Serious Sassy Romance by Lauren Connolly

You Only Need One

My One Series by Lauren Connolly Publication Date: November 14, 2018 Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Preorder: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon CA | Amazon AU | Barnes & Noble | iBooks

She’s agreed to give him her kidney, but he wants her heart. Ben Gerhard lives his days reliant on a machine to keep him alive. His kidney failure has progressed rapidly, and none of his family or friends are matches to donate. Then relief comes in the form of Holly Foster. She’s bossy, adorable, and willing to undergo surgery to save Ben. Problem is, the more time he spends around her, the more he wants her to see him as a something other than the sick guy she’s agreed to help. Holly gets Ben to share hidden parts of himself, all the while keeping him at a distance. Holly cannot be attracted to Ben Gerhard. That’s what she tells herself repeatedly even as his charming smile, constant jokes, and soothing presence entice her to let her guard down. But anything other than a friendly relationship would put the kidney exchange at risk, and there is nothing in the world Holly wants more than to save her brother. They’ve been burned in the past, and this time needs to go smoothly. Problem is, Holly is finding that the guy whose life she’s agreed to save is becoming an integral part of her own. If she’s not careful, he’ll take more than she’s willing to give…

About Lauren Connolly

Lauren Connolly lives in Northern Ohio at the moment, but she has a wanderer’s soul, so who knows where she’ll end up next? Librarian by day, writer by night, she is currently working on a contemporary romance series set in Philadelphia. She enjoys writing about strong, intelligent, capable women and men finding love in the modern world. In her free time Lauren attempts to cuddle with her grumpy Cocker Spaniel, experiments with vegetarian recipes she discovers online, fills her bookshelves with more romances than she’ll ever have time to read, and takes advantage of far flung friends and family for interesting travel opportunities.

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Spotlight: Rachel's Search by Oscar Patton

A Satilla County Novel

Historical Fiction

Date Published: July 2018

Publisher: Outskirts Press

What does the second coming of the Klan portend for Satilla County? Is it one more sign evil is winning? Setting out to find answers, a northern-born young journalist experiences life in the deep South, the struggle to survive for whites and blacks. Her search turns personal and horrific when her best friend disappears.

Boston born journalist Rachel Mellon sees the second coming of the Klan in 1915 as more fuel on a fire already burning out of control, not only in Satilla County but around the world. To her, the new South appears to be as bad as the old, or worse.  Challenged by her editor, she goes out to experience life for herself out there in the pine woods. She finds poor whites and even poorer blacks struggling to survive against great odds.  She finds suffering and hatred but also hope and love.  When best friend Eve disappears, Rachel's search turns personal and horrific.

About the Author

Oscar Patton is the author of the Satilla County series of novels. He says, "I use history, memory, and imagination to create regional stories with universal, timeless themes.  As William Faulkner put it, I write about the 'human heart in conflict with itself.'"

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Read an excerpt from Lone Star Christmas: Cowboy Christmas Eve by Delores Fossen

A family crisis brings him home…

Just in time for Christmas

Cattleman Callen Laramie has no intention of returning to his hometown of Coldwater, Texas, until a Christmas wedding and a family secret convince him he has no choice. And when he’s reunited with his childhood crush, the girl who’d always been off-limits, Callen knows leaving might not be so easy this time.

Shelby McCall is as pretty as a Christmas snowfall, and Callen wants to kiss her under the mistletoe…and the Christmas tree…and the stars. But once Shelby knows the whole truth behind this homecoming, will their holiday fling come to an abrupt end? Or will she accept the gift of his heart?

Excerpt

“I got Buck and Rosy’s wedding invitation,” Callen threw out there.

“Yeah. Buck popped the question a couple of weeks ago, and they’re throwing together this big wedding deal for Christmas Eve. They’re inviting all the kids Buck has ever fostered. All of them,” Judd emphasized. “So, no, you’re not special and didn’t get singled out because you’re a stinkin’ rich prodigal son or some such shit. All of them,” he repeated.

Judd sounded as pleased about that as Callen would have been had he still been living there. He had no idea why someone would want to take that kind of step back into the past. It didn’t matter that Buck had been good to them. The only one who had been. It was that being there brought back all the stuff that’d happened before they’d made it to Buck.

“Is Buck okay?” Callen asked.

“Of course he is,” Judd snapped. Then he paused. “Why wouldn’t he be? Just gather the blasted eggs!” he added onto that after another whiny ewww. “Why wouldn’t Buck be okay?”

Callen didn’t want to explain the punch-in-the-gut feeling he’d got with Rosy’s Please come. Buck needs to see you, and it turned out that he didn’t have to explain it.

“Here’s Shelby, thank God,” Judd grumbled before Callen had to come up with anything. “She’ll answer any questions you have about the wedding. It’s Callen,” he said to Shelby. “Just leave my phone on the porch when you’re done.”

“No!” Callen couldn’t say it fast enough. “That’s all right. I was just—”

“Callen,” Shelby greeted him.

Apparently, his unplanned hard-ons weren’t a thing of the past after all. Even though Shelby was definitely a woman now, she could still purr his name.

He got a flash image of her face. Okay, of her body, too. All willowy and soft with that tumble of blond hair and clear green eyes. And her mouth. Oh man. That mouth had always had his number.

“I didn’t expect you to be at Judd’s,” he said, not actually fishing for information. But he was. He was also trying to fight back what appeared to be jeal­ousy. It was something he didn’t feel very often.

“Oh, I’m not. I was over here at Dad’s, taking care of a few things while he’s at an appointment. He got some new foster kids in, and when I heard the dis­cussion about eggs, I came outside. That’s when Judd handed me his phone and said I had to talk to you. You got the wedding invitation?” she asked.

“I did.” He left it at that, hoping she’d fill in the blanks of the questions he wasn’t sure how to ask.

“We couldn’t change Rosy’s mind about using that picture of Billy in the veil. Trust me, we tried.”

Callen found himself smiling. A bad combina­tion when mixed with arousal. Still, he could push it aside, and he did that by glancing around his office. He had every nonsexual thing he wanted here, and if he wanted sex, there were far less complicated ways than going after Shelby. Buck probably still owned at least one good castrating knife.

“I called Rosy, but she didn’t answer,” Callen ex­plained.

“She’s in town but should be back soon. She doesn’t answer her phone if she’s driving.”

Callen couldn’t decide if that was a good or bad thing on a personal level for him. If Rosy had an­swered, then he wouldn’t be talking to Shelby right now. He wouldn’t feel the need for a cold shower or an explanation.

“Rosy should be back any minute now. You want me to have her call you?” Shelby asked.

“No. I just wanted to tell them best wishes for the wedding. I’ll send a gift and a card.” And he’d write a personal note to Buck.

“You’re not coming?” Shelby said.

Best to do this fast and efficient. “No. I have plans. Business plans. A trip. I’ll be out of the state.” And he cursed himself for having to justify himself to a woman who could lead to castration.

“Oh.”

That was it. Two letters of the alphabet. One word. But it was practically drowning in emotion. Exactly what specific emotion, Callen didn’t know, but that gut-punch feeling went at him again hard and fast.

“Shelby?” someone called out. It sounded like the whiny girl. “Never mind. Here comes Miss Rosy.”

“I guess it’s an important business trip?” Shelby continued, her voice a whisper now.

“Yes, longtime clients. I do this trip with them every year—”

“Callen, you need to come,” Shelby interrupted. “Soon,” she added. “It’s bad news.”

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About the Author

USA Today bestselling author, Delores Fossen, has sold over 70 novels with millions of copies of her books in print worldwide. She’s received the Booksellers’ Best Award, the Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award and was a finalist for the prestigious Rita ®. In addition, she’s had nearly a hundred short stories and articles published in national magazines.

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