Spotlight: The Adults by Caroline Hulse

A couple (now separated), plus their daughter, plus their new partners, all on an epic Christmas vacation. What could go wrong? This razor-sharp novel puts a darkly comic twist on seasonal favorites like Love Actually and The Holiday.

Meet The Adults.

Claire and Matt are no longer together but decide that it would be best for their daughter, Scarlett, to have a “normal” family Christmas. They can’t agree on whose idea it was to go to the Happy Forest holiday park, or who said they should bring their new partners. But someone did—and it’s too late to pull the plug. Claire brings her new boyfriend, Patrick (never Pat), a seemingly sensible, eligible from a distance Ironman in Waiting. Matt brings the new love of his life, Alex, funny, smart, and extremely patient. Scarlett, who is seven, brings her imaginary friend Posey. He’s a giant rabbit. Together the five (or six?) of them grit their teeth over Forced Fun Activities, drink a little too much after Scarlett’s bedtime, overshare classified secrets about their pasts . . . and before you know it, their holiday is a powder keg that ends where this novel begins—with a tearful, frightened call to the police.

What happened? They said they’d all be adults about this. . . .

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About the Author

Caroline Hulse spends most of her days writing, having fulfilled her dream of having a job she could do in pajamas. She also works in human resources sometimes. She is openly competitive and loves playing board and card games. She can often be found in casino poker rooms. She lives with her husband in Manchester, England.

Spotlight: The First Rule of Hook-Ups by Nina Crespo

Someone once told me that there are worst things than being left at the altar. Well, not many, in my experience. That was six months ago, though, and my life has moved on. Heck, I have a new job lined up and I'm leaving town.

But, I can't deny that my love life kind of sucks.

That’s why I let my friends convince me to join them for Club Escapade’s Breakup Bash. And we might just be disillusioned enough to actually enjoy it. Last time we were here, it was for my bachelorette party. That night, I met one of the dancers – Raphael – and when he flirted with me, I almost forgot I was engaged. And there's a part of me that never forgot him.

Now, it seems my friends have wandered off and I’m thinking about calling it a night. Until the music begins and I see Raphael, my secret fantasy, on stage. And this time, I’m definitely not engaged...

Excerpt

Alexa: I can’t believe I’m at a Breakup Bash, a party for women who have been dumped. I’m not that desperate. Then the music starts, and the sexiest man on earth is on stage. Maybe I am desperate…

***

Screams of excitement and applause yanked her from the brink of an orgasm.

The music faded.

His chest heaved as if he’d run a race.

Her heart echoed in her ears. She moved to sit up, and her shin bumped his prominent erection.

He gritted his teeth with a sucked in breath. “Don’t. Move.” He nodded to someone backstage. As soon as the gold curtain dropped, Raphael eased off her. He hitched up his jeans, but it was obvious that he couldn’t zip past the bulge in his briefs.

She gripped his outstretched hand and scooted to the floor.

His gaze lingered on her mouth. He leaned in.

Desire pooled inside of her, and her legs wobbled. Months ago, she’d beaten herself up over the kiss they’d shared. Back then, he’d pressed his lips to hers and left her wondering about how he’d taste. What it would feel like to drift her tongue over his. Now she could find out.

Raphael halted millimeters away, then shook his head as if in answer to a silent question. He took off his cowboy hat and dropped it on her head. “One of the guys will show you back to your seat.” He spun on his heels and left.

Huh? No kiss? That’s not how this was supposed to end. “Wait!”

The blond-haired Hunk stood in front of her.

She ignored the gentlemanly offer of his arm and pushed past him.

A dozen or more of the Hot Body Hunks in various stages of undress rushed around behind the curtain and down the corridor to the left.

Raphael stalked down the one ahead of her.

She went after him, her heels clicking rapidly on the white tiles.

He glanced back. “This is a private area.”

“You forgot something.”

“Keep the damn hat.” He stopped at the end of the hallway and stabbed a code into a keypad next to a green metal door.

“That’s not why I’m here. I want that kiss you promised me.”

“Promised?” He released a harsh chuckle and yanked the door open. “Fairy tale’s over. This is reality. Any kiss I give you now, princess, ends with you only wearing the hat.”

Fairy tale and reality? Those two fickle bitches could kick rocks. She’d been left at the altar. Now, she’d been abandoned on a fake hay bale. She’d had it with guys not following through. Raphael revved her up.

He damn well needed to finish what he had started.

“My name’s Alexa, not princess, and I know what I want.” Alexa marched up to him and wound her arms around his neck. “For you to stop making excuses and ….”

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About the Author

Nina Crespo lives in Florida where she indulges in her favorite passions — the beach, a good glass of wine, date night with her own real-life hero and dancing. Her lifelong addiction to romance began in her teens while on a “borrowing spree” in her older sister’s bedroom where she discovered her first romance novel. Let Nina’s sensual contemporary stories and steamy paranormal tales feed your own addiction for love, romance, and happily ever after.

 Stay connected with Nina on TwitterFacebookInstagram, BookBub, or through her newsletter.

Spotlight: Raise Your Game by Cassia Leo

Logan Pierce, New York’s most notorious womanizer, has just offered me a raise and promotion…if I pretend to be his wife.

But neither of us anticipate his brother’s attempts to sabotage our fake marriage.

Now, Logan and I are a team, and it’s game on. This raise is going to cost me.

From New York Times bestselling author Cassia Leo comes a sexy, laugh-out-loud romantic comedy of epic proportions.

Logan Pierce is our new CEO and he needs me as much as I need him.

Logan has thirty days to save Close-Up magazine from bankruptcy. And he needs me to pretend to be his wife at a couples’ retreat, where Logan and I will attempt to snag an exclusive celebrity scoop that will revive our readership. If I can help him save Close-Up, he’ll inherit his father’s publishing empire and I’ll get promoted to editor, with a very healthy raise.

Logan has thirty days to prove to his father that he’s not just a bad boy womanizer. And I have seven days to prove my investigative journalism skills to Logan at a couples’ retreat meant to revive the sex lives of dissatisfied married couples.

This raise is going to cost me.

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About the Author

New York Times bestselling author Cassia Leo loves her coffee, chocolate, and margaritas with salt. When she’s not writing, she spends way too much time re-watching Game of Thrones and Sex and the City. When she’s not binge watching, she’s usually enjoying the Oregon rain with a hot cup of coffee and a book.

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Spotlight: My Life As a Mixtape by LJ Evans

We are so excited that MY LIFE AS A MIXTAPE by LJ Evans is finally here. As the last and final installment in her My Life As An Album series inspired by music and romance., we just know you’ll love Lonnie and Wynn’s story. Keep scrolling to read an exclusive excerpt and don’t miss a chance to win the WHOLE My Life As An Album series in print…and signed!

From award winning author, LJ Evans, comes the last story in the MY LIFE AS AN ALBUM SERIES, inspired by music and romance.

LONNIE

I came to Tennessee to help a friend.

And now, I’m stuck.

By the Southern charm,

By the sweet tea and

By a tall, red-headed "Strawberry Shortcake."


And when my world crumbles apart,

Wynn is there to help me pick up the pieces.

To show me the way.


WYNN

My life was a huge disappointment.

My marriage,

My job,

Everything slipped away.


Coming home seemed like the final failure.

But then I meet him,

Lonnie  Brennan, the sexy bass player,

Who adds laughter to my life.


And now, I realize that I can

Change my tune,

Sing a new song.  

Excerpt

Copyright © 2018 LJ Evans

“Okay. But being twenty-five,” she emphasized her age like I should have known it. “And already having a divorce under your belt doesn’t bode well for any future endeavors.”

I turned back to the sky because looking at her was harder than I could have ever expected.

“One mistake doesn’t make you a failure,” I replied automatically but truthfully.

She didn’t respond, and we just laid there watching the stars wink into existence in a way I never got to see in L.A. Here in this part of Tennessee, they were out nightly. And here at the lake, they were stunning. Like her, glimmering...shiny...heart wrenching.

“Look at it this way,” I told her. “Now you get to have a whole bunch more firsts.”

“What?” she asked. I could feel her looking at me now, and I risked turning my head to meet her eyes. They were so pale that it was hard to see them in the darkness that had settled over us as the sun disappeared.

“You know. First time getting drunk...after the divorce. Well, hell, you already did that.” She smiled weakly, and I continued. “How about first date...after the divorce? First kiss...after the divorce. First time making love...after the divorce. It’s like you get a whole shitload of do-overs now but with more experience than you had when you did those things the first time. You can do them better than you did them as a kid.”

She held her breath at my words and stared at me.

Then she leaned slightly forward and kissed my cheek. Her lips hit my skin and filled me with a scent of berries and lake and I had to clench my fingers into my fist to prevent myself from pulling her all the way to me and devouring all of her, not just those sweet, full lips.

“Thank you,” she breathed out as she settled back on the dock and stared at the night.

“For what?”

“For trying to make me feel better. For reminding me that there’s more to life than this moment.”

But as soon as she said it, I was struck with a longing I don’t normally have. A longing to have this particular moment last forever. Because laying on the dock in the dusk with this beautiful creature might be something I could do three hundred and sixty-five days a year. And that was definitely not in any of my plans.

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About LJ Evans

Award winning author, LJ Evans, lives in the California Central Valley with her husband, daughter, and the three terrors called cats. She's been writing, almost as a compulsion, since she was a little girl and will often pull the car over to write when a song lyric strikes her. While she currently spends her days teaching 1st grade in a local public school, she spends her free time reading and writing, as well as binge watching original shows like The Crown, Victoria, and Stranger Things.

If you ask her the one thing she won’t do, it’s pretty much anything that involves dirt—sports, gardening, or otherwise. But she loves to write about all of those things, and her first published heroine was pretty much involved with dirt on a daily basis. Which is exactly what LJ loves about fiction novels—the characters can be everything you’re not and still make their way into your heart.

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Spotlight: Still Savannah by Sandra Owens

Still Savannah
Sandra Owens
(Blue Ridge Valley, #3)
Publication date: October 23rd 2018
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

He was her first love, the boy who broke her heart. When her life falls apart she turns to the man he is today. She is a wounded soul, and he is just the man who can help her heal, but only if he dares to risk his heart again.

Known simply as Savannah, a beautiful face on the covers of glamour magazines, Savannah Graham has the perfect life… or so it seems to the world. Behind closed doors her reality is far from perfect. When a person she should be able to trust threatens her, she returns home to Blue Ridge Valley, the only place she feels safe. The valley is also where he lives, her first and only love.

Adam Hunter stepped out of Savannah Graham’s life nine years ago so she could follow her dream. She was his first love, and there is still an ache in his heart for what he lost every time he sees her face on the cover of a magazine. Now she’s home, needing protection, and he can’t refuse. When the danger is over, she will return to her glamorous life. So she’s not the only thing he has to protect, he also needs to safeguard his heart.

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EXCERPT:

“Savvy?”

“Mmm?” I opened my eyes to see Adam peering at me.

“Why are you in bed with me?”

“I couldn’t sleep. What time is it?”

“It’s early. Come here.” He pulled me to him, spooning me. “Go back to sleep.”

“’Kay.” But I couldn’t, not with his body wrapped around mine and his face buried in my hair. I wanted to stay cocooned by him, though, so I pretended to sleep while soaking up everything about this moment—his body heat, his scent, his skin pressed against mine. His breaths evened out, and when I was sure he was asleep again, I pulled his hand against my chest, linked our fingers, and pushed back so that every part of me was touching him. He gave a sigh of what sounded like contentment that brought tears to my eyes.

Our chance had passed. I knew that, but I would selfishly horde these special moments until it was time to leave him again. Apparently I did go to sleep because when I woke up, Adam was on his back and I was sprawled over him with one of my legs captured by his.

Unable to resist, I touched his bottom lip with a finger, smiling when his lips twitched. Before he opened his eyes and found me covering him like a blanket, I started to ease away.

The arm he had around my back tightened. “Going somewhere?”

“I guess we should get up.”

“Is that what you really want to do? I’m asking because you were molesting my mouth a few seconds ago. Thought maybe you had something else on your mind.”

“No,” I whispered. “It’s not what I want.”

He flipped me over, and with his chest over mine, he looked down at me. “Tell me what you want, Savannah.”

“This off.” I tugged at the T-shirt he’d worn to bed.

I’d only been with two men, Adam and Jackson. With Adam, intimacy had been a beautiful thing. The boy who had loved me had made love to me as if I were his treasure. Jackson in bed had been all about power and control. It had been ugly and humiliating. I wanted Adam to wipe those memories away. I wanted to be treasured again.

“This won’t mean anything. Are you sure you’re good with that?”

No, I wasn’t. I wanted it to mean everything, and his words sent an ache to my heart. But he was right. We weren’t Adam and Savannah anymore. We were only two consenting adults who would share some time together before we each went back to our lives.

I put my finger on his lips. “Shhh. Make love to me, Adam. That’s all I’m asking for.”

His eyes turned soft as he lowered his mouth to mine. His lips brushed over mine, teasing at first, then growing hungrier. The kiss grew deeper, more passionate, the soft caresses firmer and more demanding. It felt as if sparks flew around us, electrifying the air. He slid his hands to my back, slipping under the camisole I’d worn to bed. His fingers trailed up and down my spine, causing me to shiver as pleasure followed the path of his hands. When his tongue probed the seam of my lips, I opened for him. I would always open for this man.

While his tongue explored my mouth, I was busy exploring his body. The new muscles he’d acquired since we were together—the ones I’d been dying to touch—were firm and rock-hard against my fingertips. Heat poured from him, warming me. I had the stray thought that if Adam was always next to me, I’d never be cold again.

“Are you sure you want this?” he said again.

I liked that he asked, and I knew if I said no, that he would stop. “I’m sure. Are you?”

“God, yes.”

There was so much emotion in those two words, as if this meant more to him than just sex with a random woman. He rolled away, pushed off the bed, and stood.

“Adam?” Had he changed his mind? If so, I might die.

“Condom,” he murmured as he headed for the dresser where he’d left his wallet.

I watched him, appreciating the view of his back, of the shoulders that had grown in width since high school. When he turned, condom in hand, his beautiful eyes held mine prisoner as he prowled back to me. My heart, already thumping in my chest, beat even harder.

He stopped at the edge of the bed, his gaze still on me, and dropped the condom on the night table. When he put his hands on the waist of his sweatpants and raised a brow, giving me one last chance to say no, I sat up and pulled my camisole over my head. A thrill shot through me when he exhaled a long breath as the blue of his eyes darkened.

“So beautiful,” he whispered and then pushed his sweats down his hips.

No, he was the beautiful one. Being here with him, the way he was looking at me with heat burning in his eyes, made me feel intoxicated, as if I’d consumed an entire bottle of wine. He leaned over and kissed me again. This kiss was different. It was gentle and tender, and if I didn’t know better, I would have thought he had feelings for me. Don’t start thinking like that, Savannah, I warned myself. He’d broken my heart once, and I wouldn’t let him do that to me again.

“I’m going to feast on you,” he said, stretching out next to me. He cupped a breast. “I’m going to taste you here.” He danced his fingers down my stomach to my sex. “And here.”

“Are you asking permission?”

“No, Savannah. I’m taking what I want.

Author Bio:

A best selling, award winning author, Sandra Owens lives in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. Her family and friends often question her sanity, but have ceased being surprised by what she might get up to next. She's jumped out of a plane, flown in an aerobatic plane while the pilot performed death-defying stunts, has flown Air Combat (two fighter planes dogfighting, pretending to shoot at each other with laser guns), and rode a Harley motorcycle for years. She regrets nothing.

A member of Romance Writers of America's Honor Roll, Sandra is a 2013 Golden Heart® Finalist for her contemporary romance, CRAZY FOR HER. In addition to her contemporary romantic suspense novels, she writes Regency stories.

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Spotlight: An Autumn in Paris by Alix Nichols

An Autumn in Paris
Alix Nichols
Publication date: November 1st 2018
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Because of Audrey Hepburn, I have foolishly…

a) bought into the whole “Paris is always a good idea” thing without any offscreen evidence,
b) uprooted my son and left my bittersweet memories behind,
c) allowed Thomas—the handsome, caring, way-out-of-my-league vet—to disrupt the humdrum life I had self-prescribed for my Broken Heart Syndrome.

Behind his easy smile and swoon-worthy pecs, Thomas conceals an open wound. No matter how hot his kisses or how genuine his affection, he’s still reeling. He can’t move on.

And I can’t risk falling for him. I have a child to raise—a preteen boy who needs his mom to be all there.

But as autumn strips the trees of their leaves, falling for Thomas is exactly what I do. Throwing caution to the wind, I dare to hope for a future with him…

…until the past comes knocking.

Can we handle it or will it break us forever?

Whether you’re a fan of timeless movies like “Sabrina” or prefer steamy contemporary romance novels, “An Autumn in Paris” has something for you to love.

Escape to Paris, and let this sweet, fun and sensual tale give you all the feels!

Goodreads / Amazon

EXCERPT:

Baloo clings to me, scrabbling and whining as I try to set him down.

“Do you know the breed?” Dr. Brousse asks, studying Baloo.

I try to peel his paws off me. “Likely a Terrier cross. He’s a rescue dog.”

Losing my patience with the uncooperative Baloo, I force him onto the table without realizing that one of his paws is in my shirt.

The fabric tears, buttons fly off, and the next instant I’m staring at my breasts on full display, nipples prodding my unpadded, wire-free bra. I lift my eyes in horror and catch him staring at my boobs.

He averts his gaze immediately.

I cover my chest with my left hand, the right one gripping Baloo so he wouldn’t fall off the high table.

The vet takes hold of the dog. “I have him.”

Letting go, I yank the lapels of my shirt over my breasts and hold them together, hoping my face isn’t too red.

Except, I know it is. My cheeks and ears feel hot enough to spontaneously combust at any moment.


Author Bio:

Alix Nichols is an unapologetic caffeine addict and a longtime fan of Mr. Darcy. She pens sexy romantic comedies and sci-fi romances that "keep you hanging off the edge of your seat" (RT Book Reviews). At the age of six, she released her first book. It featured highly creative spelling on a dozen pages stitched together and bound in velvet paper. Decades later, she still writes. Her spelling has improved (somewhat), and she became a Kindle Scout winner (2015), USA Today bestseller (2017) and Amazon All-Star for being one of the 100 most-read authors in Kindle Unlimited (2017, 2018). She lives in France with her family and their almost-human dog.

**To read a rom-com and a sci-fi novelette FREE, visit: alixnichols.com/freebies (just copy and paste into your browser).**

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