Spotlight: The Senses of Love Series by Kyle Shoop

Genre: Contemporary Romance 

Words than can't be spoken can still be sung.

Sometimes the most beautiful relationships between two individuals blossom from moments of tragedy.

Charlotte and John grew up as young orphans in the secluded outskirts of a rural town. Each day, they’d sneak out to the nearby forest to escape the cold grasp of the orphanage’s tyrant-ruler, by creating an imaginary kingdom together. However, their worlds, and the safety that came from their friendship, were suddenly ripped apart when they got caught.

Years later, Charlotte conquered the marketing world in downtown Portland. Having gained normalcy in her life since her days in the orphanage, Charlotte never expected her world to be turned upside down by John abruptly being thrust back into her life.

However, the years since the orphanage had not at all been kind to John, leaving him unable to open up to Charlotte about the details. So, she reignites John’s love for playing music, finding that his songwriting is the only way to help him express what he otherwise has difficulty saying. But in doing so, the reunited couple discovers that John’s love for music may not have been the only fire waiting to be rekindled.

Would what began as two children playing in the woods in the heart of tragedy blossom into long-awaited, and much desired, love?

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The Sight of Love 

Senses of Love Book 2 

Does love at first sight exist when love is blind?

Ethan was born to paint. His pursuit of beauty and meaning through art was the only thing his heart desired above all else. Until he met Rose.

It was love at first sight. A love which was as inspiring and captivating as the delicate life which radiated from a fresh rose. Her sight intoxicating. Her personality angelic. Her love instantaneous and unselfish.

But was that love enough to last a lifetime? Art often requires sacrifice. But Ethan’s life wasn’t just full of sacrifice for his passion, it would become marked with significant loss. An unforeseeable loss beyond his control and undercutting all which he sought in life.

Each moment of life is just a brush stroke in a larger painting. Would the love between Ethan and Rose be just the first brush stroke, or instead the reason to keep painting?

Experience the second book in the compelling “Senses of Love” series.

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About the Author

Kyle Shoop is a multi-genre author of compelling stories. His new "Senses of Love" series is a romance series that provides rewarding and inspirational stories.Kyle is also the author of the Acea Bishop Trilogy, which is an action-packed fantasy series. All books in that series are now available, with Acea and the Animal Kingdom being the first book.At a young age, Kyle was recognized for his storytelling by being awarded the first-place Gold Key award for fiction writing in Washington State. After spending several years volunteering in his wife's elementary classrooms, he was inspired to write the Acea Bishop Trilogy. He is now motivated to finish his the new romance series. In addition to writing novels, Kyle is also a practicing attorney.

Kyle and is wife and two children are currently living in Utah.

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Spotlight: Gouster Girl by David E. Gumpert

Synopsis

Maybe because they are young and innocent, cute black Valerie Davis and nerdy white Jeffrey Stark are late to realize that falling in love on Chicago’s South Side in 1963 is a highly risky business for an interracial couple. At first, they help each other out of tough racial fixes—he saves her from attack at an all-white amusement park and she saves him from injury in a racial brawl at their high school. But as their romance becomes more serious, so do the racial dangers. White police target Valerie as a prostitute and black gang members see Jeffrey as trying to sexually exploit a black girl. Seemingly inevitably, the blossoming romance collides head on with the realities of Northern-style racism one hot summer afternoon at one of Chicago’s most beautiful Lake Michigan beaches, when a racial protest turns ugly, confronting the couple with terrible choices.

Gouster Girl vividly depicts the raw racism so prevalent during the early 1960s, which ushered in decades of gang violence that turned sections of Chicago into the urban killing fields they are today. Gouster Girl opens in the summer of 1963 with the white Stark family tearfully moving its belongings onto a moving truck in front of the tidy South Shore neighborhood apartment building they love, just blocks from where Michelle Obama would grow up. As they load up the truck, 16-year-old Jeff and his parents argue yet again about the racial fears and fantasies that are leading them to abandon South Shore, with its delis and shuls and beautiful beaches. Through the eyes of Jeff, Gouster Girl then takes us back to the unlikely racial violence that led to his romance with Valerie and how she variously teases and embarrasses him to confront his most deeply held racial prejudices. Valerie introduces Jeff to the highs and lows of her life– to black music and dancing, as well as police corruption, job discrimination, misguided school tracking systems and housing discrimination that keeps blacks separate and unequal.

A makeout session in an isolated section of Jackson Park leads the couple into a confrontation with police, which highlights for both the realities of what we today refer to as “white privilege.” It also pushes the Stark family more fully toward a decision about whether to join other whites in fleeing South Shore.

This highly evocative coming-of-age story will alternately charm, anger terrify, and upset readers as they travel back to a time that was seemingly simpler, but was also blunt in its racial and religious prejudices.

Excerpt

It was as Nate, Lee and I were still laughingly reliving the roller coaster terror, walking past the freak show, which we always wondered about but never witnessed, that I saw Valerie again. “I think those girls go to Hyde Park,” Nate nudged me as the two walked about twenty-five feet in front of us. “I’m pretty sure one of them was in my home room last year.”  

Even now, five years removed from that moment, in the comfort of my college library, it feels like only yesterday. But it really was true—in that moment my life began changing in ways I never could have imagined. Because just then, two tall slender white guys in white t-shirts and jeans, who looked to be a few years older than the girls and us, approached them from the side and began walking with them. 

As the girls slowed, and we came closer, I could hear one of the guys: “My friend Vinnie, he’s got his convertible here. Wanna take a ride with us? There’s a party close by, we’ll stop, have some fun.” 

The two girls didn’t seem to have answered, or if they did, it wasn’t the answer they were looking for, because the two white guys moved a little closer to the girls, and Vinnie was talking in a raised voice. “Whatsamatter, we’re not good enough for ya? You rather have one of those darkies over there?” He motioned toward the African Dip, and the Negro men sitting on the stools in each of three cages. 

At that moment, one of the girls, whom I would eventually learn was Valerie, stopped in her tracks, and turned to face the two white guys. Her bouffant hairdo looked smart and fresh, her tight blue pedal pushers accentuated her blossoming small body, her bright brown eyes flashed, and the smooth light brown skin of her delicate face creased in a seemingly incongruous near snarl: “Can’t you boys take a hint? We have to spell it out for you? We don’t want a ride in your car. We don’t want anything to do with you. Just turn your white asses around and go back to where you come from.” 

My jaw dropped and my eyes widened. Not only because she had stood up to them, but how she threw their racial slurs right back at them. 

Vinnie and friend seemed even more shocked than I was. So much so that they stood frozen in their tracks, as the girls continued walking, though at a faster pace than before. With confused looks on their faces, the two white guys looked at each other and retreated to the midway’s sidelines, and joined a group of four or five other white teens, also in white t-shirts, who were guffawing. I presumed they had witnessed Valerie’s putdown, and were teasing their pals about their bungled pickup effort. 

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About the Author

David E. Gumpert grew up on the South Side of Chicago, in South Shore and Hyde Park. In the years since graduating from the University of Chicago, he has attended Columbia Journalism School and worked as a reporter for The Wall Street Journal and an editor for the Harvard Business Review and Inc. magazine. He has also authored ten nonfiction books on a variety of subjects—from entrepreneurship and small business management to food politics. His most prominent titles include How to Really Create a Successful Business Plan (from Inc. Publishing); How to Really Start Your Own Business (Inc. Publishing); Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Food Rights (Chelsea Green Publishing), and The Raw Milk Answer Book (Lauson Publishing).

He spent ten years in the 1990s and early 2000s researching his family’s history during the Holocaust. The result was a book co-authored with his deceased aunt Inge Bleier: Inge: A Girl’s Journey Through Nazi Europe (Wm. B. Eerdman Publishing).

He spent much of the last half-dozen years going back to his own roots in Chicago to research and write the historical novel, Gouster Girl. While some of it stems from his own experiences growing up in South Shore and Hyde Park, he also conducted significant additional research to complete the book in late 2019.

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Spotlight: Unconditional by Lexxie Couper

Genre: Contemporary Romance 

Life’s great — it’s the terminal degenerative disease that sucks.

Maci is young, smart and about to embark on the adventure of a lifetime. It looks like she has the world at her feet, but appearances can be deceiving. Because Maci is not like other college girls. She already knows her future is written and there’s no happy ending in sight.

For Raphael, life is all upside. He’s on the fast track to success and nothing can stop him—except his unexpected love for a girl who’s convinced she’ll hold him back.

When Maci and Raphael are drawn irresistibly together, they’ll both have to redefine everything they thought they knew about life, love and happy ever after.

***The Always series is a 3-book series about love, life, laughter and hope. Originally released under the pen-name Cherie M Hudson, the Always series is Lexxie Couper unlike you've read before.***

Buy Links

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07XL84GLT

Apple: https://books.apple.com/us/book/unconditional/id1483134009

B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/unconditional-lexxie-couper/1133517162

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/unconditional-30

About the Author

International bestselling romance author Lexxie Couper started writing when she was six and hasn't stopped since. She's not a deviant, but she does have a deviant's imagination and a desire to entertain readers with her words. Add the two together and you get romances that can make you laugh, cry, shake with fear or tremble with desire...Sometimes all at once.

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Spotlight: Far Reaching Consequences by Anya Summers

Far Reaching Consequences
Anya Summers
(Crescent City Kings, #2)
Published by: Blushing Books Publications
Publication date: January 15th 2020
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Phoebe needs a second chance at life.

In the aftermath of the devastation from her failed marriage, Phoebe returns to her old stomping grounds to open her own bed and breakfast. Starting over is the bravest thing she’s ever done – or so she thinks. But opening her front door to find a blast from her past on her front porch changes all that. The teenager she’d once known has become a jaw-dropping, dominant man in his prime.

He wasn’t looking for a relationship until she blazed back into his life.

Graham runs his own construction business, remodeling homes, and building brand new ones. When his buddy gives him a lead on a new project, he never expects to run into Phoebe, the woman he shared a single kiss with eons ago. Nor is he prepared for the Dominant in him to stake his claim before the end of their first meeting. He wanted her in high school but there had been too wide a gulf separating them. Now, Graham will stop at nothing until he makes her his. But there are larger forces at work, attempting to tear them apart.

When everything Phoebe holds dear becomes a target, Graham will risk it all for the one woman he knows he can never live without.

Publisher’s Note: This steamy second chance romance contains elements of power exchange.

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Get book 1 – Lone Survivor – for only $2.99 for a limited time!

—

EXCERPT:

The rubber soles of Phoebe’s taupe-colored work boots squeaked against the golden cinnamon hardwood floor. Daisy’s paws clicked as she trotted beside her. Phoebe would have to trim Daisy’s nails again. The plantation itself was in sad disarray after decades of neglect. In some ways, the plantation was strangely like her life—or at least the way it had been, until she made the commitment to fix it. For the last thirty years, this place had stood vacant and unloved. The previous owners had been unable to sell the property and unable to invest in her upkeep. This grand old lady had become a dilapidated ruin of a bygone era.

Phoebe hoped to fix this place up, just like she had her life. She believed, with a bit of elbow grease, she would be able to turn the plantation back into a showpiece—one for which people would pay for the experience of staying there. New Orleans and the surrounding area was a pre-eminent tourist destination that Phoebe planned to capitalize on.

She eventually wanted her own airport shuttle for guests. But that was getting ahead of herself. The first step was a complete renovation.

It was only recently that Phoebe had been able to actualize her dream of owning Riverland to renovate it into a fully operational bed and breakfast. She’d used the inheritance her late grandpa, Ralph Mackenzie, had bequeathed her in his will a year ago. The tidy sum he’d left her had been enough to buy this place outright, along with the small acreage surrounding the old plantation, with money left over for the needed renovations.

Financially, it would be tight at first until she started having paying guests. That was why she waited tables at the strip joint Bayou Sin on Bourbon Street in the meantime. Not because she loved wearing skintight clothes with men trying to grope her, but it helped supplement her income.

This plantation was infused with all her hope for the future, one that belonged to her and her alone.

As she reached what had once been a grand entrance, with its heavy, double oak doors the same warm cinnamon as the floors, she drew the right-side door open, a greeting on her lips as she spread them in a fake smile like the one she wore serving drinks. Daisy’s whole body vibrated, her attention directed at the man on the opposite side of the door. The initial punch of fear disintegrated as she studied him and memories dulled by time and distance surfaced.

He was tall, a good six two, and built like a professional baseball player with broad shoulders and a head full of dark chestnut hair that was a few weeks past needing a trim. His button-down ivory dress shirt was rolled up to his elbows, leaving his tanned, brawny forearms bare. The shirt was tucked into a pair of well-worn blue jeans with a brown leather tool belt slung around his lean waist.

But it was the man’s eyes, artic blue, making her think of frost and snow, in the tan, slightly weathered face that caused a bell of recognition to sound through her and made her lips curl into a genuine smile.

“Graham? Graham Layton, is that really you? You’re the contractor Dante recommended?” Joy filtered into her voice as she stared at the blast from her past. It had been almost nineteen years since the night of the winter formal in high school. The night she had always considered one of the best of her life.

Author Bio:

Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Anya grew up listening to Cardinals baseball and reading anything she could get her hands on. She remembers her mother saying if only she would read the right type of books instead binging her way through the romance aisles at the bookstore, she'd have been a doctor. While Anya never did get that doctorate, she graduated cum laude from the University of Missouri-St. Louis with a M.A. in History.

Anya is a Bestselling and Award-Winning Author published in multiple fiction genres. She also writes urban fantasy and paranormal romance under the name, Maggie Mae Gallagher. A total geek at her core, when she is not writing, she adores attending the latest comic con or spending time with her family. She currently lives in the midwest with her two furry felines.

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Spotlight: Just A Little More by Allie York

Piper finally has her life together and Derek thinks everything is perfect. It seems like they may be in for just a little more when their world is turned upside down. Readers will devour this accidental pregnancy romance. The beloved 425 Madison series is back with season two, JUST A LITTLE MORE by Allie York is now live! 

Only on Amazon + Read for FREE on Kindle Unlimited 

Amazon ➝ https://amzn.to/35DwOoe

Goodreads ➝ http://bit.ly/JALMGR

Series: 425 Madison Ave, #10

Genres: Contemporary Romance

Synopsis: 

Piper

Dream career - check.

Amazing luxury apartment - check.

Stable relationship (with sexiest man ever) - check.

I finally have my life together. Or I did until the universe decided to throw one heck of a curveball. 

Nothing could prepare me for the rollercoaster I’ve boarded.

Derek

Move from Alabama to NYC - check.

Job at the hottest restaurant in the city - check. 

Stable relationship (with sexiest woman ever) - check.

Five years after my last heartbreak and I’m finally living my best life. 

Everything is perfect, until the surprise of a lifetime. 

My future and my past collide, turning my world upside down -when I’m finally starting to get things right. 

Piper and Derek are in for just a little more - after all, 425 Madison is the perfect place to fall in love!

Don’t Miss Just Swipe Right by Allie York from the first season of 425 Madison Ave.

Excerpt

Copyright @ 2020 Allie York 

“It’s going to be okay,” he finally speaks just as we step out into the crisp morning air.

“If you say so.” I realize how terrible I sound and sigh. “I’m sure it’s nothing, so it’ll all be okay.”

“Even if it’s not nothing.” Derek stops us in the middle of the sidewalk and makes me look at him. I nod and he kisses my forehead before we start walking again, still hand in hand. A quiet solidarity for what’s about to unfold. I feel like, at this point, we both know how this is turning out, but I hope like hell that I’m wrong. My brain fills with fog and I walk along with him in a daze. I decide that all the what ifs don’t matter until things are for sure, so I push it all out of my mind. I might be pregnant, and it is definitely Derek’s. I can handle anything no matter what comes my way. I was raised with that thinking, as was Eliza. No matter what life throws at us, we can handle it. If it’s possible to ramble in your inner monologue, I do it, for the entire block to the drug store. Inside I purchase a set of two tests to be safe and the woman gives us a smile that is either pitying or happy, I can’t tell. Derek keeps his hand in mine until we are standing back in front of my apartment door. When he lets me go, I feel a little hollow. I grasp the drug store bag in both hands. 

“Do you want me to go with you?” He doesn’t meet my eyes. 

“To pee?” I ask, cracking a smile. Maybe it’s not a good time to laugh, but I do. 

“I mean inside. I’m not going with you to pee.” Derek finally smiles too.

“Actually, I think I need a minute alone,” I admit. 

“I’ll wait in the living room,” he agrees.

“Okay.” 

“Okay.” He wraps his arms around me, crushing me to his chest, and kisses the top of my head. “You do what you need to do and yell when you need me.” Derek nods matter-of-factly and kisses me. “I… you know how much I care about you, right?” 

“Me too.” I know our conversation makes no sense, but it’s what we have right now.    

About the Author

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. 

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Cover Reveal: Wild Minds Duet by J. Saman

Today we are revealing the gorgeous covers for J. Saman’s WILD MINDS Duet! Check it out and be sure to grab your copy for the fantastic sale price on February 27th! 

Title: Love To Hate Her 

Author: J. Saman 

Genre: Contemporary Romance 

Release Date: February 27th 

About Love To Hate Her: 

A rare moment of weakness. 

A burning desire impossible to deny.

Forbidden words I should never have spoken.  

Seven years ago, I confessed my darkest secret to my brother’s girlfriend. When she broke up with him and walked out of our lives, she took my secret with her.

But, with my band set to go on tour around the world, I have a problem. I need a nanny for my autistic daughter. And unfortunately, Viola Starr, my brother’s ex, is the perfect fit.

Now, there is no escaping her. Or our past. 

Especially when my brother seems determined to win her back.

Five months and she’ll be out of my life again.

Five months of ignoring lingering, heated glances. 

The fire she draws out of me. The way she loves my daughter.

Five months… And my world is about to come crashing down around me.

Exclusive Excerpt: 

Her fingers rake through my hair, tugging until my eyes drag up to hers. 

“I have a million reasons to leave, Jasper. A million. You push me past my every limit day in and day out. You hate me. Ignore me. Fight with me. Tease me. Tempt me. Make me feel alive and forgotten in the same breath. I have a million reasons to leave. I need one reason to stay. One reason that isn’t your little girl.” 

I stare into her, my fingers brushing back the long strands of her hair from her face. I hold that reason on my tongue, tasting its sweetness as it burns me like venom. It’s a truth I can’t let go. One I’m not ready for her to have. 

I’ll probably never be. 

“He loves you. You love him. How’s that for a reason?”

She shakes her head at me, her frustration palpable. “Is that what you’re really thinking right now while I’m sitting on your lap in the dark? With all that we’ve done together this past week? That I love him?” 

“It’s the only thing that matters between us.” 

“You’re a liar.”

“Am I?” I question, tilting my head, Jules’s words pounding through my skull so loud I can hardly see, let alone think, past them. She loves him. Not you. Again, what reason would Jules have to lie to me about that? They’re best friends. Best friends who likely tell each other everything. Isn’t that what girls do?

“I don’t want to hurt like this when I look at you anymore. I’m tired of hating you while not being able to stop thinking about you.” 

My lips descend into the base of her neck, directly over her pulse that thrums beneath me. My eyes close, and I inhale a silent breath. I’m tired of loving you while not being able to have you. 

“You don’t hate me, Viola.”

“You’re right. I don’t hate you, Jasper. You’re the one who can’t make up his mind.”

“What is it you’re looking for from me?” I speak against her skin. “What is it you think I have to give you when you belong to him? You want me to stop hating you? Done. You want me to be nice? I can fucking try. You want me to fuck this thing out of us? I will. Tell me what you want, and I’ll give you anything. Because while you have a million reasons to go, and you’re looking for one to stay other than my daughter, she’s the only reason I can give you to stay when I have a million for you to go.” 

Her breath hitches, her head falling back as my tongue swipes out, stealing a taste. 

My hands drop from her hair, sliding along her narrow shoulders, over the top of her chest, down her ribs, my thumbs brushing the sides of her full tits through her shirt as I go. Her body trembles against mine as my hands grasp her waist, my nose gliding up the long column of her neck. 

My body unable to hold back as I lick and suck and kiss her there. 

Only there. 

If I kiss her mouth, there will be no going back.

Title: Hate To Love Him 

Author: J. Saman 

Genre: Contemporary Romance 

Release Date: March 19th 

About Hate To Love Him: 

A gorgeous, brooding rock god. 

An unstoppable chemistry we fight to ignore. 

Desperate passion I want indelibly inked on my soul. 

Jobless and financially destitute, I have no choice but to see this tour through. Even with my boss hating my guts. A fact he goes out of his way to prove every chance he gets. 

Lucky for me, the best part of Jasper Diamond is his daughter. But being the nanny on the road with one of the world’s biggest rock bands poses more challenges than I was expecting – including falling for the elusive front man. 

But with the world chasing after us, how long can we hide what others are determined to exploit? 

They say there is a thin line between love and hate.

That all good things must come to an end.

Set on a collision course, nothing could have prepared us for this.

Or for what fate has in store for us.

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About J. Saman: 

J. Saman loves all types of novels, but finds herself always going back to writing/reading romances. She's addicted to Diet Coke and sour candy, and swears way too much. She's an admitted lover of picking at old wounds, second chance romances, love triangles and the perfect amount of angst . She writes smart, strong women and sexy alpha (slightly nerdy) men who have a softer side.

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