Spotlight: Irresistible by Kristi Ayers

Genre: Contemporary Romance 

Evan, an eighteen-year-old, hard-working guy from the Happy Endings Resort in South Carolina, just wants to make a living and find love. He currently lives with his father but needs to decide if he wants to join the traveling carnival, a group of some of his closest friends he has known for some time now. Every year, they set up across the lake, and he is more than willing to help them out. But now that he’s an official adult, will he choose to travel for a job, or will someone catch his eye at the resort?Willa, a high school student on summer vacation with her father, is thrown into Happy Endings Resort against her wishes. Stuck in a small camper, she soon learns that her life back home doesn’t shy away from slapping her with varying degrees of disappointment. The issue that stung the most was when her recent ex-boyfriend hooked up with one of her best friends. The resort becomes a needed distraction, an avenue to seek out different directions, new feelings, and possibly a new love.Happy Endings Resort Series is a multi-author collaboration that centers around one location. Each book interconnects but contains its own main characters, and can be read as standalone novellas. 

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About the Author 

Kristi Ayers lives in Oklahoma where she writes in the hope of sparking infinite imaginations for all readers. She most enjoys writing young adult novels and bounces from paranormal to contemporary, finding both genres challenging and rewarding in their own unique ways. 

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Spotlight: Frozen Crimes by Chrys Fey

(Disaster Crimes, #5)
Published by: The Wild Rose Press
Publication date: September 30th 2020
Genres: Adult, Romance, Suspense

Beth and Donovan are expecting their first child. Life couldn’t get any better…until a stalker makes his presence known. This person sends disturbing messages and unsettling items, but it isn’t long before his menacing goes too far.

Hoping for a peaceful Christmas, Donovan takes Beth to Michigan. Days into their trip, a winter storm named Nemesis moves in with the goal of burying the state. Snowdrifts surround their house, and the temperature drops below freezing.

Except, the storm isn’t the only nemesis they must face. Everyone’s lives are at stake—especially that of their unborn child. Will they survive, or will they become a frozen crime?

Content Warning: stalker, hostage, violence, guns/gunshots, cheating, pregnancy/child birth

Hot (Steamy scenes but NOT erotica)

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About the Author

Chrys Fey is author of the Disaster Crimes Series, a unique concept that blends disasters, crimes, and romance. She runs the Insecure Writer’s Support Group Book Club on Goodreads and edits for Dancing Lemur Press. https://www.chrysfey.com

Connect:

https://chrysfey.com/

https://www.instagram.com/chrysfey/

https://www.facebook.com/ChrysFey/

https://twitter.com/ChrysFey

https://chrysfey.us18.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=fa9b44362c041ead027392a6a&id=df45eb9607

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7202655.Chrys_Fey

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Spotlight: A Shot of Amore by Nora James

Genre: Romance

Release Date: October 12th 

Second chance love has never been so alluring ... or dangerous.

When Sofia returns to the small town of Sant'Agosto in Central Italy to take care of her sick aunt, she doesn't expect to find Antonio, her childhood sweetheart, there. He's back from Rome, has turned into the sexiest man alive - and he carries a gun. That's because, as Vice Commander of a special operations group, he fights the Mafia on a daily basis.

Can Antonio be trusted with Sofia's heart? Or will he disappoint her as he did when they were teens?

For Antonio, the situation is even more fraught: should he push Sofia away to protect her from his dangerous world, or let her love him although it could cost her life?

Exclusive Excerpt

Suddenly, a hand tugged at Antonio’s shoulder and spun him around. His mouth fell open when he saw Sofia standing there, rage in her eyes.

‘Sofia, my god!’ His only thought was what would happen if she were somehow caught in this mission, hurt, or worse. ‘It’s not what you think.’

‘Oh, yeah?’ Her cheeks were as red as the cross on the box that the Mafia was picking up. Her arm pulled back, gathering strength, and her hand came so close to his cheek that he could feel the heat from it. She took it away without slapping him, forming a fist instead.

‘I’ll neutralise her,’ hissed Marta, raising a fist ready to knock the wind out of Sofia.

‘Marta, no! It’s an order.’ Antonio latched onto Marta’s arm, holding it back. The last thing he needed was to draw attention to the two women while Luca was dealing with the Mafiosi.

‘That’s right, Mr Big Shot. Tell all your chicks what to do.’ Sofia was yelling now, trembling like a leaf ready to fall off a tree. ‘Last night, if you hadn’t burned the food, we would have been in bed. And today you say you have to go to work when you’re parading around with some woman. You heard me, lady, he would have cheated on you, too, last night, if I’d let him. Antonio De Santis, you are a disgusting, filthy pig. What am I saying? Compared to you, pigs are adorable.’

Antonio turned to check on the ambulance men, at the same time as they stared at him. ‘Fuck! It’s a set up!’ yelled one of them, probably recognising Antonio, and the Mafiosi both pulled out their guns while running back to the ambulance, the box in hand.

Luca fumbled for his gun, half crouching down, while Marta aimed calmly at the first man and took the shot.

Meanwhile, one of the Mafiosi aimed at Sofia. ‘Hey, De Santis, this is for your bitch and you!’

‘No!’ screamed Antonio, throwing himself in front of her and pushing her out of the way so hard that she seemed to fly through the air.

In that instant, pain rushed through his body and he had no idea where it originated. He was all pain, nothing but pain, every single one of his nerve endings on high alert, the agony robbing him of his breath.

He fell to his knees, aware only of how cold he suddenly became, and he wanted to scream, he wanted to cry, but even tears seemed to require more energy than was left in him.

And then Antonio’s world turned black.

Pitch black, as if someone had switched him off.

His last thought was that Sofia had to make it out alive.

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About Nora James

Nora James grew up in Australia, before spending several years in Paris where she studied, worked and met the Frenchman who would soon become her husband. In her mid-twenties she returned to Western Australia with her spouse, read law at UWA and travelled extensively through her employment as an international resources lawyer and translator.

In 2016 she and her husband returned to France. She now writes novels from the home in coastal Brittany that the couple share with their daughter and a menagerie of furry friends.

When Nora’s not dreaming up stories she can be found in the garden growing vegetables, in the kitchen cooking up a storm or on the couch reading a good book. 

Connect with Nora:  Facebook | Twitter | Website 

Spotlight: The Innocent's Forgotten Wedding by Lynne Graham

The Italian husband she can’t remember…or resist!After a terrible car crash, Brooke can’t remember her own name—much less her wedding day! Finding irresistible Lorenzo Tassini at her bedside—and a gold band on her finger—is shocking.Honor-bound to care for his estranged wife, Lorenzo whisks her to his luxury Tuscan villa. But Brooke’s nothing like Lorenzo remembers! Her sweetness surprises him, as does the chemistry between them, blazing like never before. Stunned to discover her virginity, Lorenzo must uncover the secrets of the woman wearing his ring…

Excerpt

Early the following morning, alarm bells rang and lights flashed from the machinery by the bed. The woman came awake and went into panic, eyes focusing on an unfamiliar room and then on the ar-rival of two nurses, their faces both concerned and excited at the same time. She clawed at the breath-ing tube in her throat because she couldn’t speak and the women tried to both restrain and soothe her, telling her over and over again that the doc-tor was coming, everything would be all right and that there was nothing to worry about. She thought they were crazy. Her body wouldn’t move. She could only move one hand and her arm felt as if it didn’t belong to her. How could she possibly have nothing to worry about? Why were they talking nonsense? Did they think she was stupid?

The panic kept on clawing at her, even after the doctor arrived and the breathing tube was re-moved. He kept on asking her questions, questions she couldn’t answer until she couldn’t hide from the truth any longer. She didn’t know who she was. What was her name? She didn’t know why she was lying in a hospital bed. She didn’t have a last memory to offer because her mind was a blank, a complete blank. It was a ridiculous relief to receive an approving nod when she evidently got the name of the Prime Minister right and contrived to name colours correctly.

‘What happened to me?’ she whispered brokenly, her breath rasping. ‘Have I been ill?’

‘You were in an accident.’ The doctor paused there, exchanging a glance with the staff surround-ing the bed.

‘What’s my name?’ she asked shakily.

‘Your name is Brooke… Brooke Tassini.’ The name meant absolutely nothing to her, didn’t even sound slightly familiar.

‘Your husband will be here very soon.’ Brooke’s eyes widened to their fullest extent in shock. ‘I have a husband?’

For some reason, the nurses smiled. ‘Oh, yes, you have a husband.’

‘A very handsome husband,’ one of the women added.

Brooke stared down at her bare wedding fin-ger. She was married. Oh, my goodness, she was married. Did she have children? she asked. No…no children as far as they knew, they said, and a tinge of relief threaded through the panic she was only just holding at bay. Then she felt guilty about that sense of relief. She liked children, didn’t she? But it was scary enough to have a husband she didn’t remember—it would be simply appalling if she had contrived to forget her children as well.

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About the Author

Lynne Graham lives in Northern Ireland and has been a keen romance reader since her teens. Happily married, Lynne has five children. Her eldest is her only natural child. Her other children, who are every bit as dear to her heart, are adopted. The family has a variety of pets, and Lynne loves gardening, cooking, collecting allsorts and is crazy about every aspect of Christmas.

Spotlight: Jubilee by Jenn Givhan

Who understands why I needed you?

Why I need you still?

When Bianca appears late one night at her brother’s house in Santa Ana, she is barely conscious, though not alone. Jubilee, wrapped in a fuzzy pink romper is buckled into a car seat. Jubilee, who Bianca feeds and clothes and bathes and loves. Jubilee, who Bianca could not leave behind. Jubilee, a doll in her arms.

Told in alternating points of view, Jubilee reveals both the haunting power of our lived experiences and the surreal possibility of the present to heal the past.

The first thread, “Before Jubilee,” follows Bianca in her girlhood home on the Mexicali border as she struggles with her high school sweetheart Gabe and a secret they’ve shared since she was fifteen.

The second thread, “With Jubilee,” is told from the point of view of her new love, Joshua, who along with Bianca’s family helps her cope with a mysterious trauma by accepting Jubilee as part of the family. But as Joshua’s love for Bianca grows, so does his fear that Jubilee has the power to tear his tiny family apart.

Alternating chapters give readers a unique perspective on Bianca’s present and on her relationship with Jubilee as her past life with Gabe comes to a catastrophic end.

In this searing story about a young woman’s reach to escape what haunts her and the mind’s clever inventions that help us survive the greatest losses, Jennifer Givhan draws on her immense talent as a poet to create an intensely beautiful yet complex treatment of reality, delusion, and imagination with an entirely fresh perspective of parenting in the borderlands. Both Bianca and Joshua choose to believe the world is beautiful, even as their survival means they cannot shy away from the violent, painful moments life brings.

Jubilee is at once a darkly suspenseful psychological drama and a luminous reflection on how beauty emerges from even the most traumatic of experiences. 

Excerpt

“Bee, I’ll hold your baby so you can rest.”

She choked out a sob, letting him take Jubilee as she wobbled backward, landing on a couch that reminded her of the borrowed one she’d been bleeding on for two days, in the empty house-for-sale two hundred miles away. But soft and beige and beckoning, this one whispered safe. Whispered let go.

            Her eyes fluttered. Matty said, “Wait, what the hell?” His voice reminded her of a flashing siren. It sounded an alarm. Something cold and blacktop and ugly. She squinted, willing herself not to fall asleep. Was something wrong with Jubilee? She tried opening her mouth to speak, but her tongue scraped sand. She’d become a noiseless womb. Mami’s here, she thought of saying. But she couldn’t recognize her own thoughts.

“Shit, Bianca. What’s going on?” He seemed repulsed by Jubilee, holding her away from his body unnaturally. Was he angry Bianca had stayed in the Valley with Gabe, then come back with Gabe’s baby? Matty had always hated Gabe. A childhood of abuse had given Matty a sixth sense that Bianca hadn’t developed. Where she trusted everyone, he trusted no one. Yet surely Matty would forgive her mistakes, now that she was here, that she’d come home. Accept her for what she’d become. That’s why she’d gone to him instead of Mama.

Hug her, she tried saying. The words wouldn’t form. Hold her tight. It’s calming.

            “Bianca? What is this?”

            She closed her eyes. Matty’s living room swelled and shrank, a lung, breathing her in, breathing her out.

            “Handro,” Matty yelled. “Come help me. Something’s wrong with my sister.”

            Jubilee was safe. The flashflood was gone. The arroyo was dry. Bianca was a lungfish. Drowning.

“Handro? Get my phone. I need help…”

            Hail Mary, full of grace. Switch off the light and grant me peace.

And the light switched off.

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About the Author

Jennifer Givhan, a Mexican-American writer and activist from the Southwestern desert, is the author of four full-length poetry collections, most recently Rosa’s Einstein (Camino Del Sol Poetry Series), two chapbooks, and the novels Trinity Sight and Jubilee (Blackstone Publishing). Her work has appeared in The Best of the Net, Best New Poets, Poetry Daily, Verse Daily, POETRY Magazine, The Rumpus, The New Republic, AGNI, TriQuarterly, The Nation, Crazyhorse, Witness, Southern Humanities Review, and Kenyon Review. She has received, among other honors, a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, a PEN/Rosenthal Emerging Voices fellowship, and New Ohio Review’s Poetry Prize, chosen by Tyehimba Jess. Givhan holds a Master’s degree in English from California State University Fullerton and an MFA from Warren Wilson College, and she can be found discussing feminist motherhood at jennifergivhan.com as well as Facebook & Twitter @JennGivhan and Ig @thebrujapoeta.

Spotlight: The People We Meet Along The Way by Beth Rinyu

Publication date: September 17th 2020
Genres: Romance, Women’s Fiction

Would you be able to grant the same forgiveness to someone else that you’re so desperately seeking yourself?

Jillian O’Rourke’s marriage died long before her husband’s tragic accident. Years of battling with infertility and demanding careers melted their once solid relationship. Bearing the burden of guilt over his death, Jillian gets lost in despair and a series of what ifs. But one chance encounter with a stranger, changes everything. Now being faced with newfound knowledge and a painful decision, Jillian must push past her anger, learn to forgive and open her heart in ways she never could’ve imagined.  As she comes to grips with the devastation of her past, she learns to embrace the possibility of a future she never thought possible.  A bittersweet story of love, forgiveness, and the unexpected destiny that is sometimes handed to us in life from the people we meet along the way.

Excerpt

“I just wish you didn’t hate me so much.” I concentrated on the coffee in my cup as I swirled the wooden stirrer round and round. 

“I don’t hate you,” I said, focusing my attention back to him. “I hate what we did. I hate that I let it define who I was for so long, and I hate that I hurt someone I cared about so much because of it. But I don’t hate you—you were just one of the many cracks in my life.” 

He creased his forehead. “I don’t understand.” 

I gazed at him long and hard, finally fearless of the shame the man staring back at me conjured up inside of me. He held no control over me, and he never had. I stood up and pushed my chair in as he sat there waiting for an explanation. “And I wouldn’t have expected you to. Goodbye, Jonathan.”

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About the Author

Ever since I can remember, I have always enjoyed Creative Writing. There was always something about being able to travel to a different place or become a different person with just the stroke of a pen - or in today's world a touch of the keyboard. I love creating deep characters who you will love or love to hate.

My life is not as interesting as my books or the characters in them, but then again whose life is? My happy place is a seat by the ocean with my feet in the sand or on the busy streets of New York City. You will more than likely find one of these places as the setting for most of my books.

Connect:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BethRinyu/
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/beth-rinyu
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Beth-Rinyu/e/B00AS4G9Q2
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bethrinyu/
Blog: https://bethy97.blogspot.com