Spotlight: Dating by the Book by Mary Ann Marlowe

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Dating by the Book
Mary Ann Marlowe
Published by: Kensington
Publication date: June 25th 2019
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Is love just something you find in books?

Six months ago, writer and bookstore owner Maddie Hanson was left at the altar. Since then, she’s had zero interest in romance—despite the fact that she runs a book club full of sexy eligible bachelors. But when her latest novel is panned by an anonymous blogger who goes by the name Silver Fox—and who accuses her of knowing nothing about passion—she decides to prove her nemesis wrong by seeking a romance hero in real life . . .

There’s the smoldering rock musician, the bookish college professor, and her competitive childhood friend who may want to steal her bookstore more than her heart. Even Silver Fox is getting in on the action, sending Maddie alarmingly—and intoxicatingly—flirtatious emails. And that’s not all. Her ex wants her back.

Now Maddie is about to discover that like any good story, life has twists and turns, and love can happen when you least expect it—with the person you least expect . .

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EXCERPT:

The cry of You’ve got mail! broke the silence, and I made the mistake of checking my phone. The preview showed me an incoming email from Silver Fox. I steeled my nerves for the inevitable sting and clicked the link with one eye closed, bracing for a deadly attack. Here he was a total stranger, and the prospect alone of what he might say had my heart racing worse than a Stephen King novel.

I bounced my foot on the spindle of the stool and dove headfirst into what I was sure would be a flogging.

Ms. Kincaid,

I don’t know why I’m responding to you, but I confess that I keep arguing with you in my head, so I’ve finally decided to tell you a thing or two.

First, you’re wrong if you think reviewers don’t hear from authors. We hear plenty, and trust me when I tell you that responses can be pretty vicious. I sometimes ignore them, but believe it or not, I do realize that authors are people, too, which is why I find myself wanting to mentor you to a better mental place. My main argument is that you shouldn’t respond to reviewers because your opinion is no longer valid. Or let me rephrase it—your opinion is no more valid than mine.

Second, I find myself once again in the position of defending my own personal situation. While I do enjoy video games as much as anyone of my generation, it’s not my primary occupation. In fact, writing reviews is my hobby. I may do this in my underwear, but not simultaneously at my mother’s house.

Third, I do have a healthy imagination, and I can read between the lines. You may have romantic experience, but I suspect you’ve forgotten what it feels like to truly be in love. Unfortunately for me, love is a feeling I’m all too familiar with, and I recognize when someone is faking it. If I could offer you some free advice, I’d urge you to get out and get more experience—romance, sex, heartache. Live a little. If you haven’t felt your stomach flip when your hand brushes someone else’s, if your spine doesn’t tingle when you think back on your first kiss, you can’t bring those feelings to your readers.

Or ignore me. I’m sure there will be plenty of readers who don’t care about the romance anyway. You can write for them.

SF

Heartache? He wanted me to intentionally fly into that turbulence again? It had taken me six months to nurse myself from the depths of the abyss before I could sink my fingernails into the ledge and heave myself up and out. Silver Fox expected me to just do it again? Sure.

But what if he was right? What if the cocoon I’d wrapped myself in was preventing me from writing a genuine relationship? Worse, what if it was preventing me from moving on with my life?

I poked at my bruised heart and didn’t recoil in agony. Had it dried up and died?

“Live a little.” Like that was so easy.

I made a fresh latte and walked over to sit with fellow romance-phobe Charlie.

“What are you working on, Charlie?”

“Reading.” He closed his laptop and stretched. “Why do you think so much of literature is about waiting? Why can’t it all just be the good parts? Why do I have to wade through hundreds of pages lost in the mines of Moria before getting to some real action?”

“Are we talking about Tolkien?”

“It’s just a metaphor. So much wandering around. My patience grows short.”

“Sounds like my life. I strayed from the path in Mirkwood forest and can’t find my way back.”

“Have you considered flipping pages?”

“Of my life?” I laughed, trying to imagine how that would work.

“Why not? Choose your own adventure.” He pointed his index finger toward an invisible lightbulb. “Stuck in the mines? Go over the mountain.”

“Madness.”

“Maybe, but it’s still a choice. Or just go to the next chapter. It can’t be that hard.”

I considered his premise. “But what if you skipped over all the boring or hard parts of life? You’d go straight to your death bed!”

“Hmm. I think you can always choose to stray from the path.” He stirred his coffee. “And with that in mind, I’m going to make a monumental decision to start a new book.” His eyes sharpened with sincerity. “You could, too.”

Charlie the Chronicler had struck again.

“Choose your own adventure . . .”

Peter wasn’t even in this chapter of my life. How long was I expected to wait for the return of the king? Did I have to return to the original path? Did I have to wait for Peter to come back around?

Or could I consider other avenues?

What if, instead of sitting in my own self-pity, I took a chance on a perilous quest fraught with messy complications, whose successful completion seemed impossible? It wasn’t like there was safety hiding in the mines anyway. I’d already spent six months in the dark, chased by a cave troll of emotional destruction. I might not die of heartbreak, but loneliness rose up like a flaming Balrog from the depths of hell, and only I could choose to fly to higher ground.

I wanted to emerge as the heroine of my own adventure. A badass heroine controlling her own destiny.


Author Bio:

Some Kind of Magic is Mary Ann Marlowe's first novel. When not writing, she works by day as a computer programmer/DBA. She spent ten years as a university-level French professor, and her resume includes stints as an au pair in Calais, a hotel intern in Paris, a German tutor, a college radio disc jockey, and a webmaster for several online musician fandoms, plus she has a second-degree black belt. She has lived in twelve states and three countries and loves to travel. She now lives in central Virginia where she is hard at work on her second novel. She loves to hear from readers and can be reached through her website at www.maryannmarlowe.com, on Facebook, www.facebook.com/marlowemaryann/, and at twitter.com/maryannmarlowe.

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Spotlight: A Rainbow Above Us by Sharon Sala

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Publication Date: June 25, 2019

Hurricane Fanny left no one in Blessings, Georgia unscathed—including Rowan Harper, the only surviving member of her family. Rebuilding her life now seems almost impossible.

Bowie James comes back to help repair his grandmother’s house, but he doesn’t intend to stay long. He and his mother were forced out of Blessings a decade ago, and he’s neither forgiven nor forgotten those responsible.

But Rowan is kindhearted, beautiful, and lost, and Bowie discovers that he can entrust her with his deepest secrets. If only their love could bring hope and healing to everyone around them, maybe they’d be willing to give it a chance…

Excerpt

Bowie pulled up at his motor home and got out. He was almost at the steps when he heard a laugh that cut to his core. He knew it was Rowan. He didn’t know what had made her laugh like that, but it was such a joyful belly laugh that he was already grinning when he unlocked the door and walked in.

The trio was sitting at the dining table, playing cards. Ella looked up and waved.

“You’re back! Thank God. We’re playing strip poker, and I’m losing.”

He grinned. His aunt Ella was missing both shoes and her skirt. Luckily for all of them, she still favored slips.

But it was Rowan who startled him most. The quiet, dark--eyed beauty was doubled over with laughter, and every time she looked up at Pearl, she started laughing all over again.

Pearl was blushing. “It’s not funny, missy. Just because you’re still wearing all of your underwear doesn’t mean you shouldn’t worry.”

Rowan couldn’t even look up. She just rolled out of her chair onto the floor, laughing until tears were running down her face.

Pearl slapped the cards she was holding facedown on the table and pointed at Rowan.

“Bowie, take this snippet with you to Piggly Wiggly so we can put our clothes back on. I’ve never played such a game in my life.”

Ella laughed. “Mama, don’t lie. I remember you and Daddy playing this after you put me to bed.”

Pearl gasped and then blushed again. “Well, never mind.”

Rowan groaned. “Oh my God…somebody help me up. I can’t breathe,” she said, and then covered
her face.

Bowie couldn’t take his eyes off her…flat on her back on his floor, so gloriously sexy he could hardly think.

“Well, get her up and out of here,” Pearl said, and then hid a grin. Even she was entranced by the unexpected delight.

Bowie moved toward Rowan. When she held up her hand, he grasped her by the wrist, her hand engulfed within his fist, and pulled her upright.

“Thank you,” Rowan said, and then turned loose of him and ran around the table to hug Pearl. “I’m sorry, sweetie, but thank you for the first joy I’ve felt since before the storm.”

Pearl kissed the side of Rowan’s cheek and hugged her back. “I’m happy to have been of service.”

Rowan started giggling again. “I need my shoes. I think I left them in the master bedroom. I’ll be right back,” she said, and bolted toward the back of the motor home.

Bowie was a dedicated bachelor with an image to protect, but they had yet to pass one night under the same roof, and he was already feeling a complication in his life that he didn’t need.

“I’m back,” Rowan said, and snagged their grocery list from the table.

“Then I guess we’re off,” Bowie said. “You sure you two don’t want to come with us?”

Ella shook her head. “I guess we’ll pass. I’m not dressed, and Mama isn’t wearing underwear, so there’s that.”

Rowan was still giggling when she got in the front seat with Bowie and buckled up.

“Oh my word…I didn’t know I could still laugh. That was the best medicine ever,” she said, and then burst into tears and started apologizing.

Bowie handed her a pack of tissues from the console.

“Honey, don’t apologize. I grew up with three women. There’s little I haven’t already seen or heard about.” Then he grinned. “I can’t believe you got Gran to play strip poker.”

“It was Ella’s suggestion, and then she kept losing. Pearl is the one who made me laugh, though. I guess she figured if she shed her drawers, she could still maintain her dignity…unlike Ella, who just peeled stuff off as she went.”

Now Bowie was chuckling, imagining Gran getting up and taking off her panties.

“What did she do with them?” he asked.

“She heard you drive up and sat on them,” Rowan said. “That’s when I burst out laughing.”

That image was too priceless to ignore. Bowie laughed all the way to the Piggly Wiggly.

Right before they got out, Bowie paused. “I don’t know what’s on the list, but if you have things you need that you might be embarrassed about, I can easily wait up front and just pay when you’re finished.”

Rowan shrugged. “Mama died when I was ten. Daddy raised me. He’s the one who told me about the birds and the bees and all the girl stuff. I’m used to shopping for all that with a man, so I’m fine if you are.”

“Then we’re good,” Bowie said. “Remember…three women and me.”

Rowan grinned. “We’re quite a pair, aren’t we?” she said, and jumped out. He got out and followed her into the store, trying not to think about what it would be like to be part of her world.

***

Excerpted from A Rainbow Above Us by Sharon Sala. © 2019 by Sharon Sala. Used with permission of the publisher, Sourcebooks Casablanca, an imprint of Sourcebooks, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Blessings, Georgia Series:

You and Only You (Book 1)

I'll Stand by You (Book 2)

Saving Jake (Book 3)

A Piece of My Heart (Book 4)

The Color of Love (Book 5)

Come Back to Me (Book 6)

Forever My Hero (Book 7)

A Rainbow Above Us (Book 8)

About the Author

SHARON SALA has over one hundred books in print and has published in five different genres. She is an eight-time RITA finalist, five-time Career Achievement winner from RT Book Reviews, and five-time winner of the National Reader’s Choice Award. Writing changed her life, her world, and her fate. She lives in Norman, Oklahoma. Visit her on the web at sharonsala.net.

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.




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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?

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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.

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