Spotlight: The Moment We Fell by Kelli Warner

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Genre: YA Contemporary Romance

Release Date: June 25th 2019

Wave Runner Publishing

Summary:

Nothing good happens when people keep secrets.

Paige Bryant’s dreams of becoming a professional ballet dancer died along with her mother. Drowning in grief and plagued by guilt, Paige is blindsided by a provision in her mother’s will that sends her to live with the father she never knew. Forced to start over in a new town and at a new school where she's now the principal's daughter, Paige is convinced that her life can’t possibly get more complicated—until fate throws her into the path of the only boy her guardian tells her is off-limits.

Despite two years on the straight and narrow, Cade Matthews can’t escape his time as a juvenile delinquent. With his dad behind bars, Cade’s feelings of anger and betrayal are as relentless as the rumors he’s trying to outrun. The only person not listening to the gossip is the new girl with her own set of troubles, including a father who will never give Cade a fair shake.

As Paige tries to adjust to her new life and an uncertain future, a set of unopened journals reveals a dark family secret. When tensions rise to a boiling point, can Paige and Cade make peace with the past before it destroys them?

Excerpt

Mom wasn’t a perfect human being—none of us are—but in my eyes, she came pretty close. She was selfless, always trying to do the best she could for me, even when I didn’t appreciate it or even notice. She impacted my life in a million little ways by merely being a part of it. When I think of it like that—I finally get it. I finally understand the one thing I didn’t before. I thought my grief was a punishment for all I had done wrong, for not being able to save Mom. But the truth is—my grief is proof that I loved her, and that she loved me in return. And that, by any measure, isn’t a punishment. It’s a gift.

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About the Author

Kelli Warner writes humorous and relatable young adult and contemporary romance novels, the kind of stories that get your insides so wound up in an ooey gooey mess that you forget about the un-fun stuff in life. She's passionate for a good cup of coffee (even a bad one on a desperate day), enjoying time with friends and family, and spending lazy Saturday mornings watching the Food Network. Kelli and her husband live in Oregon with their two teenaged children and an outstanding border collie named Lucy.

Website: https://www.kelliwarner.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KelliWarnerAuthor

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kelliwarner_author/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/KelliWarner_

Giveaway

Will go live on Monday, June 17 at https://www.kelliwarner.com/giveaway/ (winner announced 6/30)

Giveaway prize package includes:

·       $50 Amazon gift card

·       Wooden sign that reads: Coffee: because adulting is hard

·       Coffee mug

·       Decorative candle

Spotlight: Remaking Christmas by Derra Snow

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Remaking Christmas
Derra Snow
Publication date: June 11th 2019
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Ada’s love life is a wreck. She knows true love and happily-ever-afters only exist in the books she reads.

It’s Christmas again. For the first time, she’s going to Green Mountain Inn to get away from her woes. But there’s not the only reason. It’s her favorite romance author Patricia Millett’s rumored hangout spot.

There, Ada runs into Warren, a charming guy, who’s also has his share of woes. But there’s more to Warren than just his good looks, something Ada could never imagine. And Ada soon finds herself lured by the hope of romance that has failed her terribly before. Will Warren restore trust her trust in love or become yet another mistake?

Goodreads / Amazon

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EXCERPT:

Turning, Ada saw the last person she expected to.
“It’s you,” she said.
“It’s you,” he said.

Still, Ada didn’t know what to say. Last time, he’d basically run away from her like she had a catching case of pneumonia, and now he was genuinely happy to see her?
Was this guy bipolar something? Either that or suffering from some dark secret.
Well, Ada reflected a bit sadly, we all have our secrets.

“Sorry about before,” he said now. “This place has a lot of memories for me. Good and bad. I’m still trying to get over the bad.”
“It’s okay,” Ada admitted. “I came here to get over some things, too.”
He nodded, not prying more. That worked for Ada just fine. She wouldn’t ask him to show her his if he didn’t ask her to show him hers.
Warren’s gaze had moved to the cookies in her hand. “Good choice.”
Ada’s brow rose – really?
Warren gave an adorable, crooked smile that Ada was starting to realize was his signature. “Ok, got me. Main thing is, are you a cookie and book type of person or not?”
“Definitely,” Ada said. “Although we probably don’t like the same type of books.”
” Try me.”
“Okay.” Ada could feel her cheeks heating up already. Harlequins were her guilty pleasure, emphasis on the guilty. She never had any problem confiding in other women of her little hobby, but for some reason, maybe because of Robbie’s outright mockery of them, she always had trouble telling men. “Okay. I read romances.”
Warren’s face, sometimes such an open book, was hard to read.
“There,” Ada said. “Laugh if you want. But I even came here because I heard one of my favorite romance novelists Patricia Millett does.”
“I’m not going to laugh,” he said simply.
“But you think it’s stupid,” Ada persisted.
“No,” he said. “Not at all. There’s something about romances that other books don’t have. Maybe it’s the happy endings or the belief of the best in human relationships, I don’t know. But whatever it is, it’s nothing worth taking lightly or laughing about.”
Ada’s jaw dropped. “What are you, some kind of literature prof?”
“Something like that, yeah.”
“Aren’t you going to ask what my job is?” she teased.
“Only if you want me to.”
“No,” she decided. Her office job bored her to tears. “Ask me about my cat.”
“All right. Tell me about your cat.”
Ada was about to say, I could do you one better and have you meet him, but she clamped her lips shut. What was going on with her?
Being around Warren like this made her forget herself. She felt so open and free, like she could say anything, and he would still smile at her with those kind eyes. She felt like she’d lost ten years in ten minutes.
Ada bit her lip. She had to be careful. Despite how she left, she hardly knew Warren, and hardly even knew what he did for a living. Literature professor? Was he serious?



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Spotlight: Detour to Paradise by River Ames

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Detour to Paradise
by River Ames
Genre: Sweet Contemporary Romance 

Lucas Rockworth—a hard-driving force of nature has been ordered by his doctor to take some time off and get his blood pressure under control. You would think buying a cabin in the natural splendor known as Gray Horse Lake, Idaho, would do the trick. All that mountain greenery, crystal blue lakes and rivers, and nature-run-amok had to be exactly what the doctor had ordered.

Enter Sarah Burke… The innocently enticing young entrepreneur who’s opening an equestrian camp for children with handicaps.

Her initial impression of him is clearly wrong. For some reason, known to the reader but unknown to him, Sarah mistakenly believes that Lucas Rockworth is a shy, sensitive man. After having to deal a lifetime with a dominating older brother and controlling father, she finds these traits very appealing.

Her recent breakup with someone who could best be described as a bully has Sarah longing for a kinder, gentler man in her life.

Lucas tells himself that, since he makes his living as a general contractor, he has the hands-on experience to make himself into anything Miss Sarah Burke is looking for.

It shouldn’t be that great a stretch to become a modern, sensitive kind of guy, should it? She wants Mr. Rogers… Well, darn, he can manage that for the short time he’s in Idaho.

How hard can it be to tame his darker, more cynical side?

As for Sarah Burke? She thinks she’s met a real life version of Mr. Rogers. But, the reader knows its Rambo who’s come a’courting.

Would the real Lucas Rockworth care to step forward?





River Ames spent the first eighteen years of her life in Southern California. Here is a partial list of some of the cities in which she lived: Pasadena, South Pasadena, Duarte, El Monte, Arcadia La Puente, Lomita, West Covina, Pacifica, Santa Monica, Palmdale, and Hacienda Heights. In some of those cities, she lived at six different addresses. In the city of La Puente, River's family lived in four different houses on the same street. The non-glamorous reason for all the moves was habitual eviction necessitated for non-payment of rent. It was an interesting way to grow up.

River attended twenty-six different elementary schools, two different junior high schools and four different high schools. In one elementary school, she was a student for only three days.

Perhaps, because she was so frequently identified as the "new girl," the pattern of River being an observer instead of a participant in the interactions going on around her seemed a logical fit for her personality.

When she was thirteen, River read "Gone with the Wind." She skipped three days of school in order to finish the book in one sitting. Disappointed in Rhett for "not giving a damn," River wrote her own sequel--in long hand, on three-hole punch, notebook paper. The opening line? "Tomorrow dawned bright and fair." In less than fifty pages, Scarlett had been transformed into Jane Eyre and Rhett had fallen in love with her all over again.

After Southern California, River has spent the next part of her life living in the semi-rural town of Idaho Falls, Idaho. She is a graduate of Idaho State University, majoring in Health Education Sciences and Addiction Counseling. She's worked the past ten years at a Behavioral Health Center where she assisted children, teenagers, and adults committed in a 24/7 secured facility because of mental health challenges they are experiencing.

River's books celebrate the good-natured humor that lays at the heart of most of our human predicaments. The conflicts are significant, yet it is her characters and their quirky (yet somehow universally relatable) thoughts, words, and choices that reflect a light-hearted peek into a world we wish was real. The amazing thing is that these worlds are real to readers for the time they visit there.

Readers have said: "In a River Ames book, one minute I'm laughing out loud, and the next I have a lump in my throat."

River is currently readying a historical novel, "Gideon's Justice." This three-part novel is Book I in a three volume western series set in the Colorado Territory.




Follow the tour HERE for exclusive excerpts, guest posts and a giveaway!





Cover Reveal: Finding Me by Kelly Gunderman with Giveaway

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Publication Date: July 30, 2019

Publisher: Swoon Romance

Can you ever truly love someone who robbed you of everything?

Sixteen-year-old Claire Williams spends most of her days feeling angry and alone. After a car accident took her mother and Claire’s ability to walk, life in a wheelchair is the new normal.

When she’s sent to live with her grandmother, away from school and friends, Claire has a chance for a fresh start. Just when Claire thinks she can handle things, she runs into Todd - the son of the man who caused the car accident.

At first, Claire wants nothing to do with him, but the more time they spend together, the more she hates to admit her feelings. She’s slowly falling in love with Todd.

Now, Claire’s father wants to move and take Claire with him. But she can’t go. Not now when everything is falling into place, and she’s just now finding herself. Claire’s defiant. She won’t leave Greenwood, her new friends, her grandmother, or Todd.

Can Claire find the strength to let her dad go on with his life while leaving her behind to live hers, or will she allow the guilt and shame of surviving the accident pull her back under?

Buy on Amazon

About the Author

Kelly Gunderman was born a child of the late eighties in small-town Pennsylvania. A bibliophile in her own right, she is hoping to one day surpass the number of pages she has turned with those she has written of her own accord.

Having recently completed her Bachelor’s in Early Childhood Development, Kelly suddenly found herself with a bit more free time than usual, and began her immediately successful foray into blogging and Freelance Writing, which subsequently led to her renewed desire to finally put her ideas and imaginings “on paper.”

Focusing primarily on the Young Adult genre, Kelly has recently finished and her first novel, Finding Me, which is set to be published in early 2019 by Swoon Romance.

She currently resides in her original home town with her husband, their two daughters, and a few cats that constantly challenge the sanity of all with their ill-advised attempts at what can only be assumed to be world domination.

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Goodreads

Spotlight: Covering All the Bases by Jody Holford

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Talk about a wild day... As if being summoned to the deathbed of a grandfather she didn’t know existed wasn’t enough––Isla Bennett meets the man of her dreams. Spends an amazing day playing tourist around Nashville with him. And then finds out she’s inherited the Nashville Slammers major league baseball team. Oh, and her new dream man? He’s the Slammers’ star power hitter. Isla just went from amazing first date to holy heck I’m your boss in the span of a day.

Liam Cruz can’t believe how refreshing it was to spend a day with someone who didn’t know his batting average, the size of his last contract, or heck, even that he’s a baseball player. Now Isla’s thrust into the spotlight, and though she’s more than capable of handling herself professionally, he takes it upon himself to teach her everything he can about the game that is his whole life. But they’ll have to keep it on the DL.

Because doing what’s best for the team means they can never be together––and that might be the toughest play of all.

Excerpt

His broad shoulders and short cropped hair made him look a little dangerous and a whole lot capable. Of many things.

“What’s going on in that head of yours, Red?” He tugged on a lock of her hair and gave her a smile that shot fireworks through her blood.

“I was just thinking that I don’t want to waste the day or two I have here thinking about my brother, my dad, or anything else.”

Liam stepped closer. “Seems like you could use a little break from them.”

She laughed at his dead-on assessment. “How is it that you hardly know me and you see things other people don’t?”

In her professional life, everyone had the utmost respect for her father and brother. The dynamic duo of the fitness center world. Never mind the long days and nights and hours that Isla spent making things come together. Things like the deal with Conroy Hotels. Her father’s gyms were going to be a part of ten Conroy properties starting in the new year. Thanks to Isla. Only, no one had thanked her, except Jonathan Conroy, who she’d struck the deal with. He’d been gracious and kind. A great negotiator. He’d treated her as an equal.

“Maybe it’s because I’m looking so close,” he said, his voice lowering. Had she moved? Did he? She wasn’t sure, but the front of each of their bodies was touching, and despite the chill in the air, Isla’s skin warmed beneath her layers.

“Hmm. You are looking quite close,” she said, not intending for her voice to come out so husky.

Liam ran his thumb over her cheek, then back, down over her lower lip. Her knees went loose and she pressed her hand to his chest. It was hard and solid like the brick wall at her back. But so much hotter. With his jacket open, she pressed her hand to his soft shirt and felt the sleek muscle beneath.

“I like what I see,” he said, his face coming closer.

“Me too,” she whispered. A little too much. Could she blame her overtaxed emotions? Probably not. There was something about Liam.

The first touch of his lips pushed thoughts of anything other than him, of getting closer, out of her brain. One of his hands threaded through her hair, anchoring her where he wanted so he could slant his mouth over hers, teasing and testing, before diving all the way in.

Isla’s fingers fisted in his shirt, curling the material in her palm as she arched to get closer, to take more. Liam gentled the kiss, slowing it down before he leaned back, enough so he could speak but so they were still sharing the same air, their breath mingling and intertwining sort of like their bodies.

“Wow,” he whispered, pressing his brow to hers.

“Yeah. Wow.” Two or three days of doing exactly that didn’t seem like nearly enough.

Liam’s hands ran down her arms, back up, over her shoulders, and then he pulled her close and wrapped his around her, hugging her tight and pressing a kiss to the top of her head. Isla sank in. If she could only have a couple days with him, she was going to enjoy every second of it. Which meant blocking out all of the questions and the uncertainty.

When he pulled back, Liam’s eyes were a mix of desire and sweetness. “You like Johnny Cash?”

Isla laughed at the quick change of subject. “The Man in Black? Sure.”

“I was hoping you’d say that,” he said, taking her hand again. “Come on.”

Buy on Amazon | Barnes and Noble

About the Author

Jody Holford is a multi-published author who has a soft spot for happily ever after. So much so, she tattooed the words on her arm. She’s a mom and a wife, a friend, sister, daughter, teacher, and book-lover. Her stories have a little heat and a lot of heart. And maybe, some swoon-worthy moments that will make you smile.

Connect:

Website: http://www.jodyholfordauthor.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Authorjodyholford

Twitter: https://twitter.com/jody_holford

Goodreads: https://goo.gl/TdCW7S

Spotlight: Stay by Allie York

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Allie York is back with a novella, STAY, from her lovable The Shores series. Blair Smith takes her work seriously and her men casually. Jaxon Stone spent his whole life picking himself up from a life in foster care, always looking for the family he never had. Fans of accidental pregnancy romance will adore this steamy yet heartful read.

Synopsis:

Blair Smith is her own woman. She’s strong, independent, and proud of it. Owning a wildly successful boutique by day and having a different date every night is her idea of living the dream. Blair takes her work seriously and her men casually, until she makes the best decision with the worst possible man.

Jaxon Stone spent his whole life picking himself up. From a child in foster care to a teen in juvie, life always seemed to dish out the worst. Once he landed at The Shores Animal Hospital Jax found a family. The only thing missing is someone to share that family with.

Only on Amazon + Read for FREE on Kindle Unlimited

Excerpt:

Copyright @ Allie York 2019

Jax swaggered over just as the coffee pot beeped. He reached around me, leaning in close to take the pot, and pouring two cups before putting it back. “You always drink that much? I thought you were a health freak.” He dumped way too much sugar in the coffee.

        “It’s all about balance.” I shrugged putting a teaspoon of sugar in mine. “I’ll go to the gym tomorrow, and it will all balance out.” I sipped my coffee, watching him lean against the counter like he belonged in my kitchen. “Do you go?”

        “To the gym? Yeah, that one across town, Frankie’s.” He stared at the coffee, then me. “I’ve slept with too many women at World Fitness to go back. It got weird.” I nearly spit my coffee.

        “How many?” I looked into his gray eyes. Maybe it was the daiquiris, but Jax was sexy. In his button down, all the tattoos were covered, but I knew they were there. His arms had these skulls and stuff on them, but he never looked like a thug. He looked like a badass. Only Jax could pull it off. When he didn’t answer, I walked past him to the living room, and he followed.

        “Maybe eight?” Jax sat at the other end of the couch, slouching back in a classic manspread. I curled my legs under me, trying not to give him a clear shot up my skirt. At least my buzz left me a little dignity.

        “Maybe eight? You don’t know?” I teased, sipping my coffee.

        “No,” Jax said it like he couldn’t give me a number if he tried.

Don’t Miss Book #1 in the series, SIT. Get your copy today, it’s on SALE for a limited time!

Amazon → https://amzn.to/2MA35Zp

Author Allie York:

Allie is a mom and dog groomer by day. At night she is posted at her laptop writing or reading in a cozy corner. She has a soft spot for gooey romance, over-creamed coffee, and anything cute and furry.

Follow Allie: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | BookBub | Amazon | Instagram