Spotlight: The Magic of a Kiss by Tracey L. Dragon

The Magic of a Kiss
Tracey L. Dragon
(Return to the Home Front, #4)
Published by: Soul Mate Publishing
Publication date: June 24th 2020
Genres: Adult, Romance

In 2015 when Nicki Stewart, an Army widow, arrives at the lake cottage bequeathed to her, she finds not only Lt. Josh Taylor, a cocky Navy Pilot, residing next door, but also an old diary left for her by Maggie, her deceased husband’s great aunt. When Nicki shares with Josh the colorful details about Hank, a man mentioned in Maggie’s diary, Josh shows her a journal written by the same guy. Before long, the two neighboring strangers become engrossed in the magic of a long-gone era.

In 1950 Maggie Frank, a prim librarian, buys a duplex cottage at Olcott Beach, NY where she learns that the man residing next door is both a womanizer and a drunkard. Hank Jones, a World War II Veteran struggling to adjust to civilian life, is at first annoyed but later intrigued by the straight-laced Maggie whose situation he finds puzzling. Before long, the two opposites become friends in an odd sort of way until the day Maggie’s secret is exposed, and they go their separate ways. When Hank returns unannounced on Christmas Eve, Maggie must decide if love can overcome the wounds of the past.

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EXCERPT:

June 1950

As Maggie Frank strolled along the pebbled shoreline, she bent periodically to pick up shells and to breathe deeply of the fresh air. The late sun’s rays on her face warmed her through and through, and for the first time in a long time, she felt a semblance of peace. That is until she spied a strange man standing on her porch hunched over trying unsuccessfully to open her front door. Thank goodness she had the foresight to lock it.

“Excuse me,” she said, when she reached him. “Can I help you?”

The rather scruffy man bent over her doorknob trying uselessly to unlock it ignored her and continued to jab his key in the lock, mumbling under his breath what sounded like some rather inventive cursing.

“Hello.” She stepped closer. “I’m the owner of the cottage you’re trying to enter. Can I help you? I think you may have the wrong place.”

Finally, the man straightened and turned to face her.

She took a step back, unnerved by his appearance. He obviously hadn’t shaved in several days or bothered to change his clothing, and she’d bet her bottom dollar that he’d slept in them the night before. The odor of alcohol wafting from his breath would have knocked a lesser body over. She couldn’t image how he still stood upright.

He squinted at her then opened his bloodshot eyes wider as if he were having trouble seeing her. “Nope, this is my cottage, I’m sure of it.”

Her heart plummeted into her stomach as the realization hit. Oh, please God, don’t let this be my neighbor. “Perhaps you should try your key in that door.” She pointed to the black one next to hers and held her breath.

“Oh,” was all he managed to mumble as he started to tilt forward.

“Whoa.” Maggie placed her hands on his shoulders to brace him against the cottage wall. “Why don’t you let me have your key, and I’ll see if it opens the other door?”

The drunken man slumped against the gray siding and held out the key, dangling it from the end of his index finger. “Feel free.” He leered. “I could use some pretty little company.”

Knowing from experience how drunks could turn belligerent at the drop of a hat, Maggie kept her mouth shut, snatched the key from him, and inserted it into the locked door next to hers. Darn. The key worked, and the door opened under her hand. Just my luck. She turned to step out of the stranger’s way but bumped into him as he lurched forward and almost fell on her. She let out a deep sigh, cursing the swear words she heard Jimmy use often enough, but usually refrained from doing so herself. She latched on to the man and managed to steer him toward the small couch in the living room where she dropped him sprawled face down.

“Not that you will remember, but I’m Maggie Frank, your neighbor,” she said.

“Hank Jones,” he muttered then promptly threw up at her feet.

Author Bio:

Tracey L. Dragon is a relocated New Yorker, former Navy Wife, and retired educator who lives in Yulee, Florida with her husband Bill and Mickey, their black and white Miniature Goldendoodle.

Tracey's first publication came at the age of twelve when the short poem she wrote about the Apollo moon landing was published in her hometown newspaper. After seven military moves, raising two Navy brats, and twenty years teaching troubled youth and incarcerated adults, she is now able to put her full attention to publishing the children's stories and historic romance novels she's written over the years as a hobby.

Tracey's Adult Fiction Series, "Return to the Home Front" is a collection of dual-time military themed romance novels: The first three books "Cherished Wings", "When the Geese Fly North" are available in print and Kindle editions now. The third, "When Love Simply Is" will be released in October 2019 by Soul Mate Publishing.

Her "Military Brat Series" for children is also available with 3 stories available now and additional titles coming soon.

Tracey enjoys running, crocheting, and spending time with her grandchildren.
She is a member of Romance Writers of America and Florida Author & Publishers Association.

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Spotlight: Tea by the Sea by Donna Hemans

TEA BY THE SEA is a literary novel, a story of a family uniting and unraveling told seamlessly and with smart, clear prose.  From Brooklyn to Jamaica, TEA BY THE SEA traces Plum Valentine’s circuitous route to find her daughter and the child’s father, who walked out of a hospital with the day-old baby girl without explanation. Seventeen years later, weary of her unfruitful search, Plum sees an article in a community newspaper with a photo of the man for whom she has spent half her life searching. He has become an Episcopal priest. Her plan: confront him and walk away with the daughter he took from her. Instead, Plum finds herself locked in his church with her daughter and by the time it’s all over, Plum is the one in the back seat of a police car facing charges. 

TEA BY THE SEA is a poignant, multilayer story, that is beautifully written and touches on so many important and relevant issues including immigration, family secrets, mother-daughter relationships, parental kidnapping, betrayal and motherhood.

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About the Author

Jamaican-born Donna Hemans is the author of the novel River Woman, winner of the 2003-4 Towson University Prize for Literature. TEA BY THE SEA, for which she won the Lignum Vitae Una Marson Award for Adult Literature, is her second novel. Her short fiction has appeared in Vol. 1 Brooklyn, The Caribbean Writer, Crab Orchard Review, Witness, and the anthology Stories from Blue Latitudes: Caribbean Women Writers at Home and Abroad, among others. She received her undergraduate degree from Fordham University and an MFA from American University. She lives in Maryland, and is also the owner of DC Writers Room, a co-working studio for writers based in Washington, D.C.

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Spotlight: Crude by Sloan Storm

Crude
Sloan Storm
Publication date: June 26th 2020
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Hunky oil billionaire Colt Kincade demands I sell him my ranch. But I refuse, and he’s not happy about it.

Pfft. Whatever. Mr. Tall, Dark and Country thinks he can get whatever he wants, huh?

Well, I’m not some social-climbing, gold-digging, moon-eyed-orbiter lusting after him just because he’s hotter than a two-dollar pistol. He may have tongues wagging all across the Lone Star state, but his charms won’t work on me.

I hate everything about him – his tantalizing Texas drawl, his swaggering God’s gift attitude, his soul-searing, come-and-get-it-girls stare.

And no. I don’t care that he loves dogs, his momma or his daddy’s dusty old pickup.

He’s trouble. Trouble I do not need. Besides, I’ve got problems of my own.

Broke? Yep.

Single? Sadly.

Desperate? Getting there.

The truth is, I’m running out of time, out of options, and out of hope.

I need the money he’s offering.

But even worse, my heart thinks it needs Colt, too.

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—

EXCERPT:

I’m not sure what was harder.

Slipping and sliding all over the place from that damn hot yoga or trying to keep my cock from tying in a knot. I had a vague idea of what I expected her to look like…

And it sure as hell wasn’t this.

I went there with one thing in mind… completing my mission and closing the deal.

But, after watching her curvy figure prowl around the classroom for an hour, drilling of a different sort was on my mind. However, despite her earlier behavior, or maybe because of it, Jessie kept it professional, stopping by once or twice to correct my form.

Did that matter to me, though?

Hell no.

Wherever her tiny hands touched, my skin lit up like red-hot charcoal.

After class ended, I hung around, sipping on some cold water and toweling off. Shit, sweat poured from places I didn’t know it could. No idea how people made a regular habit of this insanity.

That room was hotter than all git out.

She chatted with one of the folks in the class, I polished off my drink and headed her direction. Thing is, I had to be careful. Sending the wrong message would get me in a heap of trouble and no closer to the actual reason I’d come there.

I closed in on her, our eyes met.

What a damn angel.

Lucky for me she didn’t bear any resemblance to ole Clint. Poor bastard was so ugly his momma had to tie a pork chop around his neck so the dogs would play with him.

No, she got her looks from her mother.

Especially those eyes – big and blue and bright – like nothing I’d ever seen.

Jessie tucked a wisp of loose hair behind her ear.

“I was pretty impressed with you,” she said before finishing her dig with a cute little wink. “Not bad. Usually big guys like yourself quit the first time around. They never come back after that.”

I enjoyed her teasing.

How couldn’t I?

“That a fact? What makes you think this is my first time?”

Jessie shot me a liar’s look, wrapping her fingers around her hips.

“Fair enough.” Held up my hands, showed her my palms. “I guess you could say this is my first yoga rodeo.”

So, my initial plan was to just get it over with, explain what I was doing there, see how she reacted. But, the longer we talked, the more impossible I realized that would be. Bullets were already flying, ricocheting on the battlefield, and I needed a new strategy.

After all, I’d have to reveal everything to her.

No way in hell that would work.

Think about it…

Somehow a random stranger knew everything about her life, including her adoption. Also, I knew her birth father, was a friend of his. If that wasn’t enough to have her kicking me out the front door, she was the heir to a ranch I needed in the worst way.

Course I was under the gun to get the damn deal done before Tucker tracked her down. My gut told me there had to be another way to make it happen, but my brain hadn’t bothered to provide me any details. Getting an eyeful of that tight, lean body of hers though, I knew one thing for sure.

That dog wouldn’t hunt.

This wasn’t the time or place to be in deal-making mode.

“So,” she began, snapping me out of my strategizing. “Are you from out of town? Here on business?”

“No, Dallas born and bred.”

“Uh huh.” Jessie deadpanned. “Hmm, why do I feel like you don’t belong in a yoga studio?”

“Because I don’t. Said so yourself.”

“Well, do you think you’ll come back? Hot yoga isn’t the easiest class for a beginner. We have other options.”

“Do you teach any of those options?”

“No. I only teach the advanced classes.”

“I suppose I’ll have to take my chances then. Hope I don’t turn myself into a pretzel in the meantime.”

She chirped a melodic laugh – the type a man never tires of hearing. It was like the first bird you hear when Spring’s sprung at last. When she finished, Jessie drew her hands together at her waiflike waist, smiling so bright, I swore I saw it twinkle.

“Well, it was nice meeting you. I’ve got one more class to teach, so if you’ll excuse me, I need to get ready for it.”

“Pleasure,” I replied, stepping to one side and letting her pass.

When she walked off, my body caught fire. Barely an hour in her presence and that little woman stirred sensations inside of me that’d been dormant for a long damn time. She turned and looked at me over her shoulder, catching me in the act.

Didn’t matter. I wasn’t ashamed of anything.

I stared right back at her, letting her know there’d be more sweat in our future and not a yoga mat in sight.

After she left though, I blew out a long breath.

I wouldn’t go so far as to say her beauty and gentle spirit hypnotized me, but it was awful close. That little dove was a far cry from the viper pit of the social scene around Dallas. Over the years, I’d seen some women do crazy shit to remain in my orbit.

But Jessie?

She didn’t know a thing about me.

She was just… herself.

No pretending. No gold-digging. No horseshit games.

“Hmm,” I muttered, wiping my brow with the towel. “This is gonna be a problem.”

A serious problem.

Damn it to hell, Colt.

Author Bio:

Sloan Storm pens imaginative yarns based on dominant men and the women who challenge them. As such, power plays and passion are the heart of each and every story.

The writer's creative tendencies may drift as the mood strikes, but the essence of all tales told wind up back at the same place... the polarizing difference between the sexes.

After all, what else is there in life?

When not glued to a keyboard creating tales of whimsy, Sloan loves to talk to fans! If you want to connect, you can do it in any number of ways:

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Cover Reveal: Never Let Me Go by Kianna Alexander

 Single dad

 Adorable baby girl

 The nanny who falls in love with them both

Enter to win first two books in the Southern Gentlemen series: https://bit.ly/2YbwtYp

About Never Let Me Go:

Tender, emotional contemporary romance—you’ll fall in love with this band-of-brothers and the strong women they’re determined to win.

Architect Maxwell Devers is laser-focused on winning the contract to build a new cultural arts center--his biggest project yet. But as a single dad of a beautiful baby girl, he has to find some help if he’s going to stay on track.

Yvonne Markham is thrilled to get her first nanny assignment. She knows the high-paying job will speed her progress toward owning a child care center of her own. Maxwell’s daughter is a delight, and she quickly comes to love the bouncing baby girl. Falling for her handsome new boss, however, was not part of the plan…

Hang on to your heartstrings: This multicultural romance features a single father, a sweet baby daughter, and the nanny who falls in love with them both.

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Kianna:

Like any good Southern belle, Kianna Alexander wears many hats: loving wife, doting mama, advice-dispensing sister, and gabbing girlfriend. She's a voracious reader, an amateur seamstress and occasional painter in oils. Chocolate, American history, sweet tea and Idris Elba are a few of her favorite things. A native of the TarHeel state, Kianna still lives there with her husband, two kids, and a collection of well-loved vintage 80's Barbie dolls. For more about Kianna and her books, visit her website at: http://authorkiannaalexander.com/

Cover Reveal: The Proposal by Maya Hughes

The Proposal
Maya Hughes
(Cupcakes & Cocktails #1)
Publication date: July 16th 2020
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

When I envisioned Zara Logan dropping to her knees in front of me, this wasn’t what I had in mind…

I was expecting a lot less glaring and a lot more moaning.

Instead, she’s proposing an enticing deal that I can’t bear to walk away from.

To land one of the city’s biggest clients, she wants us to put our differences aside and play fake fiancés for the next thirty days.

So, I slip the diamond ring onto her finger and agree to play the perfect fiancé. How hard can this be?

A hell of a lot harder than I thought…

She’s infuriatingly stubborn and she thinks I’m a cocky jerk with an enormous ego. (She’s right, but I can definitely back it up…)

As our long days stretch into even later nights, it’s getting harder to remember we’re only playing pretend, which means one thing.

She won’t be faking it for long…

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Author Bio:

Maya Hughes, that's me!, can often be found sneaking in another chapter while hiding in the bathroom from her kids! :-) I'm a romance writer who loves taking inspiration from everyday life, namely my husband and biggest fan. Inspiration also strikes when I hear a song, meet someone new or daydream while at soccer practice.

I'm the mom of three little ones, the wife to an amazing husband and also work full time. Some of my favorite things are cupcakes, cinnamon rolls, white wine, laughing until I can't breathe, traveling with my family and Jeff Goldblum.

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Spotlight: The Salvation Duet by Evelyn Montgomery

Resurrection
Evelyn Montgomery
(The Salvation Duet, #1)
Publication date: May 29th 2020
Genres: Adult, Romance, Suspense

Rose
My husband is gone and all that remains are his clothes, his shoes, our memories.
The bathroom is filled with his shaver, his toothbrush, his hair brush – but the last thing he left behind was a folded flag that now sits in the living room.
My children will never know their father.
I will never know how it feels to grow old with him.
All that I have left are the voices.
The voices that haunt me day and night and never leave me alone. The ones telling me I’d be better off six feet under instead of him.
But they stop when he comes along.
Justin Gatz.
My boss.
My new best friend, and a savior I never expected.

Justin
I left Knoxville for a reason.
I promised myself I’d never get close to anyone ever again.
All I do is ruin, damage, destroy everything I touch.
But she sees me. Through me. To the place I don’t let anyone into.
She sucks me in and I suddenly find myself playing house with her and her two kids wondering how the hell I got here and when I am finally going to stop.
All I do is ruin.
I know all too well her demons, having served my country like her late husband and still concealing secrets of my own.
I watch her fall apart. I watch her wrestle with her mind. I see her struggle and know I have to help, if only for a while.
Rose Gables.
I can’t get enough of her.
She might need a savior, but what she doesn’t know is she is the one doing all the saving and I’m a damn fool to think I can ever walk away.

Awakening
Evelyn Montgomery
(The Salvation Duet, #2)
Publication date: June 19th 2020
Genres: Adult, Romance, Suspense

Justin

A dark past.

A secret identity.

A future ruined by the one thing I can never control.

My curse.

I swore to protect them.

I promised to always stand by her side.

But how can I do that when all I have ever run from comes crashing back into my life and steals away all the hope I had for a future.

I swore to protect them, and I will.

I will do all I have to do to keep them safe.

Always.

Even if in the end, it is over my dead body.

Rose

Fear.

Regret.

Voices I fear I will never overcome.

The final battle for my soul rages inside and I am suddenly paralyzed from stopping it.

But I finally see the light.

The truth.

Find my strength.

The enemy doesn’t stand a chance when the victim finally chooses to survive.

When I finally learn it has no power over me.

My will is stronger now with him by my side.

Always has been. Always will be.

Forever.

Goodreads / Amazon

—

EXCERPT:

ROSE
One. Two. Three.

Breathe.

I will the voices to stop. The ones that haunt me day and night and every second they can in between. I hear my daughter’s cry echoed by my son’s laughter and know I need to go out there. I know I need to make sure everything is alright, but damn it if I can’t pull myself up off this floor in the tiny closet me and Michael used to call our own.

I look up and see his fatigues. Tears prick the back of my eyes as a burn quickly rises in my chest.

It’s not possible.

A little more than 6 months later and I still can’t believe he is never coming back. Never coming home to me and our son and will never get the chance to meet his daughter who came just three short weeks after his passing.

It’s quiet in my mind for the first time in hours, but the noises that rage out in our little living room have me finally pushing myself up off the carpet and slowly putting one foot in front of the other. The scene that unfolds when I turn the corner makes me wish I could turn right back around and continue to hide where I finally found peace, if only for a few seconds.

Worthless. You have to hide from your own children? What kind of fucked up mother are you? Michael would be so ashamed.

I shake my head and try to will the voice to stop as I blink back the tears that finally decide to fall and I make my way over to Olivia in her highchair. Hanging over the edge, she is screaming at the top of her lungs while her little brother, Liam, spins in circles in front of her with his favorite truck making all sorts of loud noises.

Wiping my eyes, I pick her up and try and steady my nerves.

Quiet. The voices are quiet. But for how long, I wonder as anxiety kicks in and I walk with my daughter in my arms to sit in Michael’s favorite recliner. The tears fall harder as I clutch my daughter to my chest and swear I can almost smell him, hear him, feel him in the small house we used to call our home.

Author Bio:

From the beaches of California to the hollers in Central Kentucky, I always knew one thing I wanted out of life - I wanted to write!
Growing up on the West Coast, I started on that journey but didn't publish my first book until me and my family of 5 moved to Central Kentucky to start a new life.
Although I miss my old world in sunny California, I have found a new love for the south that I always knew existed and you can see throughout my novels.

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