Spotlight: This is So Happening by Amelia Kingston

So Far, So Good, Book 2

Romantic Comedy, Contemporary Romance

Release Date: August 4, 2020

Publisher: Totally Bound Publishing

A torturously tempting love story.

Jessica ‘Jessie’ Allen is sugary sweet and perpetually perky. Running on an endless supply of enthusiasm, she’s in constant motion. The people pleaser is running herself ragged to make other people happy—anything to avoid having to figure out what would make her happy.

Devin Bennett is her complete opposite, the immovable object to Jessie’s unstoppable force. The tall, tattooed and brooding mechanic hates change and the perky blonde co-ed shoving it down his throat. Jessie is drawn to him like a valley girl to an outlet mall, but Devin dodges her advances better than a UFC fighter. The longer she’s around, the harder it is to keep his hands off her perfect body and his lips away from her sassy mouth.

For the first time in her life, Jessie knows what she wants. Devin Bennett. And she’s not above torturing him with temptation to make it happen.

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About the Author

Amelia Kingston is many things, the most interesting of which are probably California girl, writer, traveler, and dog mom. She survives on chocolate, coffee, wine, and sarcasm. Not necessarily in that order.

She’s been blessed with a patient husband who’s embraced her nomad ways and traveled with her to over 30 countries across 5 continents (I’m coming for you next, Antarctica!). She’s also been cursed with an impatient (although admittedly adorable) terrier who pouts when her dinner is 5 minutes late.

She writes about strong, stubborn, flawed women and the men who can't help but love them. Her irreverent books aim to be silly and fun with the occasional storm cloud to remind us to appreciate the sunny days. As a hopeless romantic, her favorite stories are the ones that remind us all that while love is rarely perfect, it’s always worth chasing.

Connect:

Website: https://www.authorameliakingston.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/akingstonbooks

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

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

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/amelia-kingston

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Spotlight: Talk Derby to Me by R.H. Tucker

Talk Derby to Me
R.H. Tucker
Publication date: August 3rd 2020
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult

As the editor-in-chief of his high school newspaper, Evan Maldonado is right on track for college next year and pursuing his dream of being a journalist. To put the finishing touch on his college applications, he’s taking an intern position with a well-known newspaper where he’ll receive a letter of recommendation from the editor. There’s just one little problem. The business intern spot he was expecting to get is taken. The only other position they have available is covering the local roller derby league.

Mari Valdez isn’t worried about getting into college. All she’s concerned with is getting through the repulsive world of high school. Sure, she has her best friend, but she still has to put up with teasing because of her multi-colored hair or bruises. The bruises are from roller derby, by the way, the only thing that Mari looks forward to. It’s been her safe haven since her world imploded.

In order to get more information on the derby league, Evan follows Mari to her practices and games. To call their friendship rocky would be an understatement, but the more Evan and Mari are together, the more they seem to connect. When Mari’s personal life boils over, she finds herself confiding in Evan. And just when everything seems to be coming together for the two, a horrible mistake may separate them for good.

Talk Derby to Me is a stand-alone, YA romance novel.

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—

EXCERPT:

There are only a few minutes left before the bell rings for the end of lunch, so I grab my backpack, sling it over my shoulder, and head over to them. The lunch tables Vince and I sit at are under a roof, off to the side of the courtyard, but the entire thing is open air. Mari and Albie are sitting in their usual grassy spot, next to a huge tree. There aren’t many clouds above, but I feel like it’s about to rain on me. There’s no reason she’d agree to this, but I have to take the chance. I want that letter of recommendation.

Albie is the first to see me approach. “How ya doin’, Chief?” she says in the twenties flapper accent again. She really never gets tired of that joke.

“Uh, hey. What’s up, Albie?” She smiles, but Mari doesn’t look up from the book she’s reading. She has the cover wrapped around, reading with one hand.

I step closer, trying to see what she’s reading. I’m hoping to make a little comment as an ice breaker, but she gazes up at me, annoyed. “Can I help you?”

“I need you,” I blurt out, then immediately cough in embarrassment.

“Excuse me?” she says.

“Whoa, moving awfully fast there. Buy a girl dinner first.” Albie laughs.

“No, sorry.” I shake my head at myself. “I don’t mean I need need you. I mean, I need an in with you.”

Her eyes widen. “You need a what with me?”

“No, like—” I growl in embarrassment and stupidity at myself. “Sorry. Okay, so, I got a reporting internship with Riverside Tribune. I was supposed to write articles in their business section, but I got stuck with roller derby.”

She scowls, curling a lip, staring at me. It takes a full five seconds for it to dawn on me how rude that sounded. “No! Not stuck, I didn’t mean it like that.”

“How’d you mean it, then, White Boy Evan?”

First of all, I’m a little caught off guard that she knows my name. Secondly, it sounds racist, so that’s what I jump to first. “I’m half Mexican. Only my mom’s white.”

“And?”

“Well, I’m just saying, you said White Boy Evan.”

“You look white.”

I hold up a finger. “The politically correct way of saying that is Caucasian.”

“Yeah? What’s the politically correct way of saying stop talking to me?”

Taking a deep breath, I attempt to gather my thoughts and figure out a way of recovering the bang-up job of an introduction and request. She stares back at me, brushing a strand of green hair from her forehead, then quirks an eyebrow. It’s like she’s daring me to say something else.

There’s no time, though. I’m just about to try again when the bell rings. She hops to her feet, grabs her backpack, and struts away without another word, leaving Albie and me behind.

“That could’ve gone better,” I say, slumping my shoulders.

“Yeah,” Albie agrees, throwing her arm over my shoulders. “You really know how to talk to the ladies, Chief.”

Author Bio:

RH Tucker writes cute & edgy YA romance. He also lives in Southern California, consumes too much caffeine, eats too much pizza, and firmly believes Rocky Road is the best flavor of ice cream.

You can sign up for my newsletter for previews, excerpts, and short stories at:
https://www.subscribepage.com/rhtuckernewsletter

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Spotlight: Kickflip Summer by Danielle Jacks

Genre: YA Contemporary Romance

Release Date: July 15th 2020

Kara

All I want is one last summer of fun with my best friend, Toby.Blue Oaks Theme Park seems like a perfect place to work while blowing off some steam. It’s our last summer before university and we want to make every day count. The thing I didn’t consider was being attracted to my new boss.But it’s just one summer. One quick fling. What harm can it do?

Bear

Returning home is something I can’t avoid. My dad wants me to start getting serious about my future, while I want to spend the summer teaching kids skateboarding.As always, he gets his own way, but when a cute brunette – literally – knocks me off my feet, I’m finding the theme park interesting in a whole new way.A summer romance. Totally insubstantial. I can handle that. Right?Two people brought together by chance. Both finding something they don’t know they need. A sweet romance about finding a home in the heart.

Excerpt

Bear’s point of view

“Do you ever think about taking something that isn’t yours?” I ask. 

I run my palm through my hair. Her eyes meet mine briefly before she looks away. I don’t know what her deal is with Toby. Are they misunderstood friends who eventually will become more? Isn’t that how it goes in the movies? Kara isn’t mine, but it doesn’t stop me from wanting her. Would it be so bad to give in to an urge? Our eyes meet again and she takes hold of my shirt, pulling me towards her. 

“Like a stolen kiss, you mean?”

Before I can answer, her mouth comes crashing down on mine. Every nerve ending in my body comes alive. Her lips are warm and soft. The taste of apple and honey fills my senses as I drink her in. A kiss has never felt this good, and my hands stray up her back and into her silky hair. I can’t get enough and I don’t want this to end. She read my mind. This is exactly what I meant when I asked the question. Kissing Kara is like nothing I’ve experienced before. She’s beautiful and delicious. Her touch is sweet and addictive. Kissing her is my undoing. I already want more. I already crave more.  

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About the Author

Danielle lives in Yorkshire, England, with her husband, daughter, and tortoise. She enjoys reading, long walks, and crafting. Her dreams include writing stories, visiting magical places, and staying young at heart. The people who know her describe her as someone who has her head in the clouds and her mind in a book.

Facebook page:https://www.facebook.com/Danielle-Jacks-Author-111528483937105/?view_public_for=111528483937105

Email: daniellejacksauthor@outlook.com

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Spotlight: Everyone Dies Famous by Len Joy

Everyone Dies Famous is a story from the heartland about the uncommon lives of everyday people. A moving narrative that takes place on a single day, it explores characters coming to terms with the hand they have been dealt. 

It's July 2003 and the small town of Maple Springs, Missouri, is suffering through a month-long drought. Dancer Stonemason, a long-forgotten hometown hero still grieving over the death of his oldest son, is moving into town to live with his more dependable younger son. He hires Wayne Mesirow, an Iraq war veteran, to help him liquidate his late son's business. 

The heat wave breaks and the skies darken. Dancer tries to settle an old score while Wayne discovers the true cost of his wife's betrayal and his thoughts turn to revenge.

Excerpt

Excerpted from Everyone Dies Famous. Copyright © 2020 Len Joy. All rights reserved. Published by BQB Publishing.

7:00 PM—July 18, 2003

Zeke Mesirow left his apartment in Crestview Manor as soon as Big John Thomas on KUKU-FM announced—using his serious radio voice instead of his fake hillbilly twang—that they were bringing the bodies to the high school gymnasium. 

The tornado had arrived from the north, surprising the so-called experts. It cut an equal opportunity path of destruction through Maple Springs, flattening the black Baptist church on the west side where Zeke’s very white ex-wife used to sing in the choir, and blowing away the sanctimonious Presbyterians on the east side. It pinballed down Main Street, chewing up the Tastee-Freeze, Hank Dabney’s Esso Station, Dr. Manickavel’s emergency care clinic, and the Main Street Diner, but sparing the useless bank, Crutchfield’s boarded up general store, and the VFW Lodge. 

As it roared out of town, it destroyed the Chevy dealership where Zeke’s son had once worked and the fancy townhouse development project Ted Landis was building across the road from Crestview Manor.

Zeke wanted to call his son, but Wayne didn’t own a cellphone. The road into town was impassable. Uprooted trees, overturned vehicles, chunks of concrete, twisted rebar, and pickup-stick configurations of aluminum sliding, roof tiles, and wallboard were strewn across the highway. It didn’t matter—he couldn’t drive anyway. His truck had disappeared.

A soft mist hung in the air like a wet fog, and it was eerily quiet as he started walking down the highway to the high school. At the outskirts of town he saw a man, his dark business suit turned gray with grit, standing in his front lawn clutching an open briefcase and staring down the road like he was waiting for the bus. A few blocks farther on an old woman wrapped up in a ratty bathrobe swept brick fragments from her front stoop. The stoop was all that was left of her home. As Zeke turned on to Hill Street, a teenager on an ancient Huffy with a twisted front tire pedaled slowly by, weaving around the debris, his head swiveling like he was trying to figure out which pile of rubble was his home.

The high school at the end of the Summit Avenue looked untouched. A highway patrol car and Sheriff Patrick Quinlan’s cruiser flanked the driveway leading to the front of the school, and there was an ambulance and a fire truck in front of the entrance to the gymnasium. Two men were lifting someone off a stretcher into the ambulance. 

Sheriff Quinlan leaned against the open door of his car like he needed it for support. Water dripped from the brim of his hat and his uniform was plastered to his skin. A mud-splattered Silverado rolled past Zeke and stopped at the driveway entrance. There were two body bags in the truck bed. Body bags just like they’d had in Nam. Quinlan waved the truck through. 

As Zeke approached the sheriff, Quinlan held up his hand. “You have to go to City Hall, Zeke. The mayor’s handling the missing persons reports.”

Zeke Mesirow frowned. They had been friends once.

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About the Author

Len Joy is an award-winning author of the novels, American Past Time (2014), Better Days (2018) and Everyone Dies Famous (August 2020). He is a nationally ranked triathlete and competes internationally representing the United States as part of TEAM USA. For more information, please visit https://www.lenjoybooks.com and follow Len on Facebook and Twitter.

Spotlight: Hopelessly Perfect by S.E. Rose

Falling in love is one thing that you can’t control. Lanie Moore likes her life to be perfect. Perfect job. Perfect house. Perfect everything. She doesn’t have time for a love life.Brixton Crane flies by the seat of his pants. Permanent plans aren’t his thing. This world traveler just planted some roots near his childhood home.When a sick child needs their help, the careful Lanie and the free-wheeling Brixton agree to work together.But neither expected that their perfect match might just be their polar opposite.And if they’re brave enough to tear down their walls, the perfect love might be the one once deemed imperfect.

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Meet S.E. Rose:

S.E. Rose hails from the Washington D.C. area.  She currently resides with her husband, two children, and always at least two cats.  While she works at a desk during the day, her evenings and weekends are devoted to writing and editing her romance novels.  She loves all things wine, coffee, tea and dark chocolate; that’s right, dark chocolate. In her spare time, she enjoys photography, traveling, going to concerts, and reading. 

Connect with S.E. Rose:

Website: www.seroseauthor.com

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

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/SERosesReadersGarden/ 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/seroseauthor 

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

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17720618.S_E_Rose 

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/S.E.-Rose/e/B07BB1ZJK7/ 

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/s-e-rose

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtFdeENgpUzZkQTIM1ItYsA?view_as=subscriber

Spotlight: Rash and Rationality by Ellen Mint

Rash & Rationality 

Happily Ever Austen Series Book 2 

by Ellen Mint 

Genre: Contemporary Romance 

Love is a lot closer and more complicated than Marty ever dreamed. 

Marty Dashwood is a true romantic. Hearts, chocolates, kisses on the hand—the whole nine yards. His killjoy brother Eldon doesn’t believe in love at first sight, but one day Marty will have the perfect meet-cute, she’ll fall helplessly in love with him and they’ll live happily ever after. 

Brandy’s worked with Marty for almost two years. He’s the best friend she could ever have hoped for after the accident that took her husband. So she should be happy that Marty finally found what he’d always wanted, right? 

So why does it feel like every time she sees Marty with the ‘Social-Media Angel’ he rescued from a mugger, a piece breaks off her heart? How can she explain any of this to him before she loses her best friend forever? 

Reader advisory: Rash and Rationality is a modern gender-swapped friends-to-lovers Sense & Sensibility, set in a cozy bookshop. 

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Pride & Pancakes 

Happily Ever Austen Series Book 1 

When a cold-hearted singer and a hard-headed journalist are trapped together in a blizzard, there will be sparks—and pancakes. 

When Beth Cho is tasked with interviewing elusive musician Tristan Harty, it’s hate at first sight. Despite his sapphire-blue eyes and lithe frame, he’s got to be the most infuriating man on the planet. 

Tristan Harty is already sick of reporters and this one is proving no different. Sure, she might be adorable with her ebony hair and big brown eyes, but her incessant need to dig into his past is dragging on his last nerve. 

The bickering duo vow never to meet again, but Mother Nature has other plans for them, trapping them in a Vermont cabin via a blizzard. The more Beth learns about the aristocratic Tristan, the harder it is for her to keep her professional distance, just as Tristan discovers that a loving heart beats inside the beautiful reporter. 

But what happens when the snowstorm’s over, and the melted Tristan and enamored Beth are free to leave? Can their reluctant attraction bloom into a deeper love now their cold-as-ice judgment has thawed? 

Reader advisory: Pride and Pancakes is a sweet yet steamy contemporary story inspired by the immortal Pride & Prejudice. There are references to sexual abuse, death from drug overdose and death in car crash. 

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Ellen Mint adores the adorkable heroes who charm with their shy smiles and heroines that pack a punch. She has a needy black lab named after Granny Weatherwax from Discworld. Sadly, her dog is more of a Magrat.

When she's not writing imposing incubi or saucy aliens, she does silly things like make a tiny library full of her books. Her background is in genetics and she married a food scientist so the two of them nerd out over things like gut bacteria. She also loves gaming, particularly some of the bigger RPG titles. If you want to get her talking for hours, just bring up Dragon Age. 

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Here's a link to my landing page: https://ellenmint.blog/summer-giveaway/

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