Spotlight: An Unexpected Earl by Anna Harrington

Publication Date: 2/23/2021

He’s determined to do right by the girl he left behind…

Twelve years ago, former brigadier Brandon Pearce had to give up the girl he loved, Amelia Howard. Now he’s the Earl of Sandhurst, but committed to stopping a criminal group that’s threatening the lives of innocent people. Amelia’s brother is in their clutches, and Pearce has to navigate the slippery slope of being back in Amelia’s life without telling her what he’s really up to.

But he’ll have to deceive her first...

Amelia is now a grown woman with a past she desperately needs to keep hidden in order to save her brother Frederick’s reputation. She’s shocked to discover that Frederick is being blackmailed—and heartbroken that, despite his protestations, Brandon Pearce appears to be on the wrong side of all this.

Pearce is playing a deep game to further his investigation, but he’s willing to do anything for a second chance with Amelia, even when he discovers she has secrets of her own…

Excerpt

“You’re soaked through and freezing because of me. I can’t stop you from putting yourself unnecessarily at risk—” When Amelia opened her mouth to protest that, Pearce cut her off. “But I can save you from catching your death of cold.” He put his hands on his hips in a commanding pose that showed him as the no-nonsense brigadier he’d become. “Now, take off that dress.” 

She refused to move and silently returned his stare. To be honest, the thought of taking off her wet clothes and finding something dry to put on tempted her. Greatly. Especially since an icy puddle was spreading around her feet at that very moment. But she’d never give him the pleasure of admitting he was right about— 

A violent shiver shuddered through her so hard that her teeth chattered. 

Pearce leveled an I-told-you-so gaze on her that had surely made his subordinates quake in their boots. 

“Fine.” With no other choice, Amelia grudgingly turned her back to him. “But I have no maid here.” She tried to inject as much irritation into her voice as possible, so he wouldn’t suspect how the thought of undressing in front of him twisted her belly into an aching tangle of desire. “So if you want me out of this dress, then you’re going to have to help me.” 

Her wet hair had tumbled down from the chase, and she lifted it off her back, out of his way, with trembling hands. 

When he reached for the row of tiny buttons on her back, she closed her eyes, willing her breath to remain steady, her pulse calm. One by one, the buttons slipped free, and her bodice loosened. 

“This is necessary,” he explained, misreading her protests. “You’ll never warm up as long as you’re in this wet thing.” 

She bit back a distressed laugh. “And here I thought you were simply attempting to see me naked.” 

She could almost hear the rueful twist of his lips. “I’ve undressed you before, you know.” 

“When I was nine.” A strained quality laced through her suddenly hoarse voice. “We’ve changed since then. If you persist in this folly, then we’ll both find out exactly how much.” 

“It isn’t folly.” He lowered his mouth over her shoulder. “And believe me, Amelia,” he murmured, his breath tickling her ear, “I know exactly how much.” 

Foolish longing ached at the back of her weakening knees. 

“All done.” The last button slipped free, and her bodice drooped low down her front. 

She grabbed at it with both hands to keep it in place as she whirled around to face him. “This isn’t at all prop—” 

Her chastisement died beneath his stare. Instantly, her anger was replaced by something else just as fierce. Something that pulsed achingly and made goose bumps spring up across her wet skin, that longed to have his hands running all over her and hers over him. His skin would be just as wet and cold as hers, she knew, but he would also be warm beneath, with smooth skin over hard muscles. The young lad she’d once loved was still there, ready for her to make love to him— 

She bit her lip to fight back a groan. Damn the man for making her want him! 

“Do you need me?” 

Did she need… Yearning pulsed through her, and she squeaked, “Pardon?” 

“To remove the rest of your clothes.” 

And that sent a wicked spiral of wanton desire shooting right out the top of her head. 

Her hand tightened its hold on her bodice as she somehow remembered to keep breathing. “I–I can manage the rest on my own, thank you.” 

“Including your corset?” His gaze scorched over her, as if he could see right through her dress. 

“Yes,” she breathed out. Her confused brain swirled. Had she just answered his question…or given permission for him to remove even more of her clothing? To do more with her than simply look? 

“All right.” But he didn’t turn his back to give her privacy. The rascal didn’t even look away. His eyes remained on her as she stood there in the firelight, her skirts clinging to her hips and legs. “Are you certain?” 

“No.” She wasn’t certain about anything when it came to this man…except that he made her feel beautiful. Desirable. Alive. 

Was it wrong to let him stir these feelings inside her, to luxuriate in them and the memories of how wonderful their friendship had once been? After all, it was only undressing, and only to keep her from catching cold. A completely practical, not at all sexual reason. As long as nothing intimate happened between them, there was no harm in removing her dress to warm herself, no harm in letting those feelings wash over her. 

Apparently, she was now lying to herself. 

Yet Pearce kept his distance, and she kept her gaze locked with his as her trembling fingers pulled at the cap sleeves of her dress and tugged them down her arms. The bodice came next, peeling down to her waist and then over her hips and thighs. She pushed the wet material to the floor, then stepped out of both it and her shoes. His eyes never left hers, even as she reached behind her back for her corset and tangled her shaking fingers in the lace. A tug untied the bow. She removed the corset and let it fall to the floor, leaving her in nothing but her stockings and wet shift. 

From several feet away, she saw the undulation of his throat as he swallowed. Hard. But his eyes stayed fixed on hers. 

“I think you have to agree,” she half whispered, her voice a hoarse whisper, “that a lot’s changed since I was nine.” 

A moment’s hesitation…then temptation won, and he dragged a deliberate gaze over her. The wet shift clung to her body, the material surely translucent in the firelight and revealing everything underneath. This time when she shivered, it wasn’t because she was cold. 

***

Excerpted from An Unexpected Earl by Anna Harrington. © 2021 by Anna Harrington. Used with permission of the publisher, Sourcebooks Casablanca, an imprint of Sourcebooks, Inc. All rights reserved.

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About the Author

Anna Harrington is an award-winning author of Regency romance. Anna was nominated for a RITA in 2017 and won the 2016 Maggie Award for Best Historical Romance. The Secret Life of Scoundrels. A lover of all things chocolate and coffee, when she’s not hard at work writing her next book or planning her next series, Anna loves to fly airplanes, go ballroom dancing, or tend her roses. She is an English professor in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

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Spotlight: A Shot at Normal by Marisa Reichardt

Published by: Farrar Straus and Giroux (BYR)
Publication date: February 16th 2021
Genres: Contemporary, Young Adult

Marisa Reichardt’s A Shot at Normal is a powerful and timely novel about justice, agency, family, and taking your shot, even when it seems impossible.

Dr. Villapando told me to get a good attorney. He wasn’t serious. But I am. I’m going to sue my parents.

Juniper Jade’s parents are hippies. They didn’t attend the first Woodstock, but they were there for the second one. The Jade family lives an all-organic homeschool lifestyle that means no plastics, no cell phones, and no vaccines. It isn’t exactly normal, but it’s the only thing Juniper has ever known. She doesn’t agree with her parents on everything, but she knows that to be in this family, you’ve got to stick to the rules. That is, until the unthinkable happens.

Juniper contracts the measles and unknowingly passes the disease along, with tragic consequences. She is shell-shocked. Juniper knows she is responsible and feels simultaneously helpless and furious at her parents, and herself.

Now, with the help of Nico, the boy who works at the library and loves movies and may just be more than a friend, Juniper comes to a decision: she is going to get vaccinated. Her parents refuse so Juniper arms herself with a lawyer and prepares for battle. But is waging war for her autonomy worth losing her family? How much is Juniper willing to risk for a shot at normal?

Excerpt

Now that the new school year has started and my parents have reached out to other local homeschoolers to plan field trips, I’m hoping I’ll make some new friends.

Until then, I’ll remain on the outside looking in.

Like this morning, in my room, where I spent from seven forty-fi ve to eight a.m. watching through the window as bright yellow buses pulled up to the curb in front of Playa Bonita High School. The bus doors opened and students spilled onto the sidewalk. Others rode up on bikes and skateboards. The older ones, the juniors and seniors, arrived in cars crammed with passengers, two in the front seat and three in the back. Everyone wore shorts or sundresses, because it’s still the last week of August and the heat of summer hasn’t let go of this town yet.

I could feel that heat in my armpits and the sweat marks collecting along the edges of my tank top when I woke up. I slathered on deodorant from the half- empty mason jar on my dresser like I do every morning. It’s sticky and lumpy and leaves behind a white, oily residue that stains my shirts. I’ve asked my mom for real deodorant. Or at least something from the natural health section at Whole Foods.

“Tapioca starch and coconut oil take care of things fine,” she says. I’m sure that’s not true, because if I notice the stink of my mom’s BO, then surely I have it, too.

The girls at PBHS probably smell like strawberries and freedom. I bet they spent all morning soaking themselves in those scented body washes from that store at the mall that always smells like a fruit stand. I also bet my mom can recite the exact paraben levels in each bottle. Because that store, like the mall itself, is not a place my parents would ever let me spend money.

That’s why those girls across the street are there and I’m here. The chemicals and the toxins and the mercury levels and the melting ozone layer made my parents take a big step back from the real world. Everything from our deodorant to our food to our cleaning products to our furniture is organic. Important things, I know. But there’s such a thing as too much. My parents are rabid in their beliefs.

“Organic isn’t what’s new. It’s what’s old,” my mom says proudly. “We’re original.”

She operates in a rose- colored version of history, which is also why my sister, my brother, and I don’t get vaccinated. This makes us ineligible to enroll in schools in California. Not that I haven’t tried. When we moved, I thought maybe this was finally it. The public high school was right across the street. I’d practically still be at home. I begged to go. But couple the strict California vaccination requirements with the fact that my parents think homeschooling creates lifelong learners as opposed to kids who simply regurgitate multiple- choice information for state tests, and it was easy for them to say no. “We decide what goes into our children’s bodies and minds,” they said. So here I sit at the kitchen table, digging into my putrid pancakes, trying to figure out if selling baled herbs and essential oils this summer made me a better person.

My guess is no.

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About the Author

Marisa Reichardt is the critically acclaimed author of the YA novels UNDERWATER, AFTERSHOCKS (2020), and A SHOT AT NORMAL (2021). She has a Master of Professional Writing degree from the University of Southern California and dual degrees in English & American Literature and Creative Writing from UC San Diego. Before becoming a published author, Marisa worked in academic publications, tutored high school students in writing, and shucked oysters. These days, you can probably find her huddled over her laptop in a coffeehouse or swimming in the ocean.

Connect:

http://www.marisareichardt.com/

https://www.facebook.com/YoungAdultish

https://www.instagram.com/marisareichardtbooks/

https://twitter.com/youngadultish

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8154570.Marisa_Reichardt

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Spotlight: Wolf After My Own Heart by MaryJanice Davidson

Publication Date: 2/23/2021

Things are hot and getting hotter… Escape into this delicious shifter romance from bestselling author MaryJanice Davidson.

Oz Adway is a rare breed: an accountant who wants to get dirty. He’s a wolf shifter working for the Interspecies Placement Agency so it’s not long before he gets the opportunity to break out of his boring, safe office job. He volunteers to find runaway bear cub Sally Smalls, recently orphaned by a plane crash. Piece of cake, right? Unfortunately, Sally’s taken refuge with “ordinary” human Lila Kai. Lila has no idea what’s going on, but she’ll destroy anyone who tries to take the cub. Oz is not about to let a human jeopardize his daring career move, no matter how attractive he finds her.

Lila knows something’s different about the sexy weirdo who keeps popping up in the wrong place at the right time. She’s determined to figure out what, regardless of the escalating threats to her safety and Oz’s distracting hotness. She didn’t move into a cursed house and take in a werebear just to run when things get complicated. Together, Oz and Lila will prevail! But only if they can keep their hands off each other…

Excerpt

She was just getting the hang of the ambulance when she hit the wolf. 

The thing was bulky and difficult to control (the ambulance, not the wolf), and whenever she got it back from its semiannual mechanically induced coma, it took her a few minutes to get the hang of driving it again. 

She stood on the brakes 

(oh shit oh shit oh shit) 

and braced for the double-thump of the tires running over the animal, which didn’t come. 

Lila Kai collapsed back into her seat, her heart pounding so hard she could taste metal. She pulled over to the side of the street. A street, not a country road on the way from nowhere to somewhere. This was Lilydale, not Hastings. And even Hastings didn’t have wolves in their streets. Just deer. So what the hell? 

She put the ambulance in Park, kept the engine running, and hopped down. She checked the headlights—nothing. The side of the road—nothing. She even took a tentative couple of steps into the brown brush lining the ditch 

(don’t think about the zillions of horror movies that start like this) 

—nothing. No wolf, limping or otherwise. Or…coyote, maybe? 

Which made sense, now that she thought about it. Because whatever it was, it hadn’t been just huge, it had been fast, too. It had come out of nowhere and to nowhere it returned, all in the space of half a second. Maybe she just clipped it. 

Is that a metaphor for something? Life? Death? Taxes? Transitions? Romance? 

Mmmm…probably not the latter. There was just no way to twist clipping a random wolf into an allegory about her nonexistent dating life. The fact that she’d given even half a second of thought to that was proof that she needed to lay off the Cosmos (the drink and the magazine). 

She went back to her decommissioned ambulance, rebuckled her seat belt, put it in Drive, checked her rearview, ignored the urge to ponder more metaphors-that-weren’t, then pulled out, and headed back toward her rental house. The adrenaline rush had been unwelcome as always, but— 

“God damn it!” 

Two kids had darted out from nowhere 

(what the hell is up with this street?) 

and were flagging her down, waving their little arms around so fast they looked like little bony windmills in a gale. 

This time, at least, she didn’t have to stand on the brakes, and once she had stopped, she rolled down her window. “What’s going on, li’l weirdos?” 

Both children were gesturing frantically. “C’mere, you have to help, she’s hurt!” 

And more than a few horror movies start like this, too. 

Again with park, unbuckling, opening door, climbing out. The boy and girl who had jumped in front of her looked like they were about eight, dressed in the de rigeur kid gear of jeans and sweatshirts and battered sneakers. They had the corn-fed reddish-blond looks of many Minnesotans. “Who’s hurt?” 

“I dunno, she just is, we found her, come on. Bring your ambulance gear!” 

“It’s not an ambulance.” 

“’Course it’s an ambulance!” 

“No, I mean it’s decommissioned, so it’s not really an amb—” 

Tiring of her explanation, the girl seized Lila’s hand and started hauling her up the street. Lila looked behind her, half expecting to see the wolf creeping up on them and felt a little let down to see the way was clear. Which was insane. Strange enough to see such a creature under any circumstances, never mind smack in the middle of town. But she wanted to see it again; how was that for nuts? 

I probably need a nap. 

The girl hauled on her hand again and hooked left 

“Jeez, kid. Do you work out?” 

and then led her down a short alley, to where a small huddled form was curled into a blanket. 

“See?” the girl asked, clamping down hard on Lila’s fingers in her excitement. 

“Yeah, see?” the boy, presumably her brother, added. “She’s right there!” 

“Isn’t this a school night?” But she bent over the small figure, blinked as her brain tried to process the image, gently touched it on the shoulder, then pinched her own leg 

(Nope. Not dreaming.) 

and looked up at the kids. “All right, first, that’s not a kid, it’s a bear cub for some reason. Second, I’m not a vet. Most important, I’m not an EMT, either.” 

Instead of answering, the girl whacked the boy on the arm and hissed something that sounded like, “Unstable!” 

“My high school guidance counselor would agree.” Lila bent back over the curled up mass of black, fluffy, whimpering fur that cowered away from her and glared with dark eyes. “I’m not sure what it is you think I can do.” She looked back up only to see the children’s expressions had transformed; they were actually edging away from her. “Why are you doing that? You guys lured me here. If anyone should be uneasy, it’s me. Shouldn’t you have picked my pocket by now?” She looked around the utterly deserted alley. For the first time, she realized she couldn’t hear anything: no bugs, no birds, nothing. And not much light from the lone streetlight. Downright creepy. 

She checked the mouth of the alley for the wolf and was again disappointed to see nothing. 

“You’re right, sorry,” the boy said. 

“Yeah, sorrywebotheredyougoodbyenow.” 

Lila sighed. She was in it the minute she’d stepped down from the vehicle that wasn’t an ambulance. “God damn it. Okay, so, just because I can’t help doesn’t mean someone else can’t.” She stood, only to see the children take several steps back. “Maybe call animal control?” She had to, she realized. You couldn’t just leave a random bear cub in a random alley after random kids flagged down a random adult. 

But in the time it took her to fish out her phone and begin looking up Lilydale Animal Control—or would that be Saint Paul?—the children had (cue the dramatic music) vanished. Like the wolf, her patience, and her faith in the good people at Apartment Guide. 

“Nice quiet neighborhood,” she muttered to the Realtor who wasn’t there. “Lots of families. It’s in the middle of a national park. Bargain.” 

She’d been a Lilydale resident for fewer than eighteen hours and had no idea who to call. And after a day of unpacking, she was standing in an alley at 8:00 p.m. After hitting a wolf. The one thing she did know: she—they—couldn’t stay there indefinitely. 

“You’d tell me if you were a metaphor, right, teeny tiny bear cub?” 

She scooped it up, surprised by how light it was, given that it was the size of a small golden retriever 

(it must be mostly fur, the way birds are mostly feathers) 

then checked for the wolf one more time, and headed back to her nonbulance.

***

Excerpted from Wolf After My Own Heart by MaryJanice Davidson. © 2021 by MaryJanice Davidson. Used with permission of the publisher, Sourcebooks Casablanca, an imprint of Sourcebooks, Inc. All rights reserved.

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About the Author

MaryJanice Davidson is the NYT and USA Today best-selling author of the UNDEAD and UNWED paranormal romcom series. Her books have been published in over a dozen languages and have been bestsellers worldwide. A former model and medical test subject (two jobs that are close than you’d think), she lives with her family in St. Paul, MN.  

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Spotlight: The Sweetest Valentine by Lacey Baker

(Sweetland Valley, #1)
Publication date: February 16th 2021
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

When the idea for a new script brings Hollywood actor Kelan Hunter to the Wine & Chocolate Festival in the small town of Sweetland Valley, MD, sparks fly with the charming candy shop owner who has a list of reasons for why their love isn’t meant to be.

Ruthlessly organized Sydni Murray’s life goal checklist was derailed after her broken engagement last Valentine’s Day. Now, with the holiday fast approaching again and the town’s biggest chocolate festival on the horizon, she must put her biases about love on the backburner. Until Kelan walks into her shop with his model good looks and a box of his grandparents’ love letters that melt her heart.

But happy ever after may not be in the cards for the couple as Sydni’s in danger of losing her shop and Kelan’s plan to stay in Sweetland is threatened by an unbelievable career opportunity.

Excerpt

There was a movie star standing in her shop, posing for pictures with two of her dearest friends and all Syd could think about was how many more milk and dark chocolate truffles she needed to make to complete Savannah Cantrell’s order. She’d intended to spend the morning in the kitchen working on the order but Sharay, her part-time clerk, was down with the flu. That left her the only one here to run the store today. Not that she minded, Sinfully Sweet was her dream come true. Owning and running her own specialty chocolate shop after the detour she’d taken on her career path was an accomplishment Syd was thankful for every day.

    “Unfortunately, we’ve been in here way too long. We’ve got to get going before Aunt Louisa becomes hysterical with worry.” Julia’s hand on her shoulder had Syd turning at the sound of her voice.

    “Huh? Oh, yes, you’re right. You were supposed to be over at the community center putting up decorations today.” Luckily for Syd, Marabelle Stanley was an early bird and any events that she oversaw she liked to get a head start on. With Syd having to work today she wasn’t available to help Marabelle. 

    It was Saturday, the week before the Wine & Chocolate Festival and tomorrow after church was the pre-festival kick-off with Marabelle’s Valentine’s Day luncheon. Louisa Kirk, Julia’s aunt, was Marabelle’s shadow and the sugar to Marabelle’s often bitter attitude. 

    Julia rolled her eyes. “Yes, we’ll have to hustle to get there without being too late, but I couldn’t resist getting that cupcake. I’m ordering a dozen from Gina since you only have a limited supply here.”

    “Great news! Kelan’s going to be in town for a few weeks and he’s agreed to stop by the luncheon tomorrow.” Nessa’s exuberance as she bounced over to them was infectious and Syd found herself smiling.

    “That’s very nice of him,” she replied and looked behind Nessa to where Kelan Hunter was staring down at his phone. No doubt checking his availability for the off-the-cuff commitment he’d just made. Surely a man like him would be too busy for a small-town luncheon. 

    “Let’s go tell Aunt Louisa,” Julia said nodding toward the door. “You gonna be alright here alone with him?”

    Syd shrugged. “He’s an actor not a serial killer, right?” 

    Julia waved a hand as she headed toward the door. “You know what I mean. And regardless of his good looks and official career, he’s a stranger in Sweetland so you call me if you need me.”

    “Get outta here,” she told them while moving toward the door. “I’ll call you later.”

    “Don’t forget. I want to hear about everything you two talk about after I’m gone,” Nessa told her before walking out.

    “Girl, bye,” she replied laughing as she stepped back pulling the door closed. The bell overhead jingled again and she turned back to see that Kelan had moved from where he’d been standing across the store.

    Now, just a couple feet away from her, he stood with one hand in his jacket pocket. A casual stance that made her feel more relaxed than she probably should be with a guy she’d just met. 

    “Look, I don’t mean to take up your time. I just have a few questions.”

    “Right.” She nodded. “About the post office and a letter that wasn’t written to you.” It all sounded extremely vague and admittedly more than a little confusing. The bigger issue was that she just didn’t have time for any of this today.

    “It was here a long time ago but in the late seventies there was a big fire and the majority of this block was destroyed. The post office was relocated two blocks over to Liberty Street and when the reconstruction here was finished, the Town Council decided to keep the post office there because the space was bigger.”

“I see,” he said with a shake of his head. Then he looked around the store again. “How long have you been here? What was this place before you moved in?”

“You ask questions like a reporter.” And with that observation she figured the best way to get rid of him was to answer the questions and send him on his way. “I’ve been here for five years. Took a mortgage out on the building after I returned from Germany.” 

His brows were raised when he returned his attention to her and she couldn’t tell if it was because of her reporter comment or her mention of Germany. Oftentimes people mistakenly assumed that small town folk never left their small town to see any of the world. Syd had made a point not to be that person and if everything went according to her updated five-year plan, she’d continue to shatter that myth. 

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About the Author

Lacey Baker, a Maryland native, lives with her husband, three children, two grandchildren and English Bulldog in what most would call Suburban America--a townhouse development where everybody knows each other and each other's kids. Family cook-outs, reunion vacations, and growing up in church have all inspired Lacey to work towards her dreams and to write about the endurance of family and the quest to find everlasting love. To date she has written in several genres including small town romance, YA paranormal (as Artist Arthur), a cozy mystery series titled Rumors and adult paranormal (as A.C. Arthur).

Connect:

https://acarthur.com/faq/who-is-lacey-baker/

https://www.facebook.com/ac.arthur.1

https://www.pinterest.ca/acarthur22/_saved/

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https://twitter.com/AcArthur

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6458381.Lacey_Baker

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Spotlight: Old Mrs. Kimble's Mansion by George T. Arnold

Suspenseful Drama

Date Published January 2021

 Publisher: Speaking Volumes

Forty-four-year-old Forrest Alderson isn’t at all sure of his motives for returning from self-imposed exile to Asher Heights, West Virginia, to see his hometown for the first time since he graduated from college. All he knows for certain is it’s something he has to do if he is to find out whether he can break free from the tragedy that compelled him to flee or whether he is forever doomed to be imprisoned by it.

He has spent the intervening twenty-three years in sacrificial preparation, striving obsessively to become enormously wealthy with one exclusive goal: to at long last take possession of Old Mrs. Kimble’s mansion, no matter the cost, and let that magnificent structure he has coveted since he was a poor boy stand as proof to one and all that native son Forrest Walker Alderson has done himself proud.

Or could it be his return is motivated – as his attorney, Olivia Fillmore, fears – by revenge, an evil desire to rub his great wealth and success into the face of the one person who caused him to hermit himself away all those years without a wife, children, or even a close friend?

To have any chance of finding the answers he so desperately needs, Forrest will have to struggle through a challenging new romance, an addiction to a perilous old love, a sensational murder trial, and the inevitable decision about what to do with the rest of his life.

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About the Author

George T. Arnold, Ph.D., is a professor emeritus in the W. Page Pitt School of Journalism and Mass Communications at Marshall University where he taught news and feature writing, language skills, ethics, and media law for 36 years. He worked full-time for seven years as a newspaper reporter to finance bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Marshall, and he has a doctorate in journalism and mass communications from Ohio University.

His textbook/resource book, Media Writer’s Handbook, a Guide to Common Writing and Editing Problems, is in its seventh edition and third decade of continuous publication. It has been purchased at more than 300 colleges and universities in the United States and abroad.

Dr. Arnold is the author of more than 50 professional and academic articles and has written a short story, One Minute Past Christmas, and two novels, Wyandotte Bound, and Old Mrs. Kimble’s Mansion.

Connect:

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/George-T-Arnold-Author-101305861520553/

Facebook Profile: https://www.facebook.com/george.arnold.54379

Publisher's Author Page: http://www.speakingvolumes.us/authors/george-t-arnold/

Promo Link: http://bookbuzz.net/blog/mystery-suspense-old-mrs-kimbles-mansion-by-george-t-arnold/

Spotlight: Love in the City: Limited Edition Romantic Comedy Box Set

Publication date: February 16th 2021
Genres: Adult, Comedy, Romance

Get ready for thirteen heart pounding and laugh out loud rom-coms from thirteen bestselling and award winning authors, including Amazon chart toppers and USA Today bestsellers. Filled with mystery, second chances, soulmates, brother’s best friends, bad boys, nobility, and the cute guy in the cubicle next to you, these stories will captivate you and leave you wishing for more.
 
Download this limited edition box set while you can and indulge in these sweet and sexy leading men and strong and beautiful heroines while they fall in love in cities around the world.
 
Sariah Wilson – All’s Fair in Love and War 
Becky Monson -The Love Potion 
Jennifer Peel – Love the One You’re With 
Kirsty Greenwood – Love Will Save the Day
Whitney Dineen – Love for Sale 
Aven Ellis – Love, the Viscount, & Me
Shari L. Tapscott – Little Lost Love Letter
Lucy McConnell – Love: Going Up?
Kate O’Keeffe – A Very English Love Story
Erin Huss – Love, Lies, and Limo Rides
Melissa Baldwin – Thanks for the Love
Stephanie Fowers – Love at the Masquerade
Kathryn R. Biel – Vision of Love

Excerpt

Love the One You’re With—Jennifer Peel

“You punched in the wrong code,” I whispered, a bit on edge. I mean, it wasn’t like I was getting ready to sneak into the home of one of the most recognizable women in the country right now. Okay, that was exactly what I was doing.

“Don’t get your panties in a wad, darlin’.” Dallas tried the code again to get into Vivian’s gated community. He had the fanciest car of anyone I knew—a Range Rover. And he was more than willing to help in the heist. Not only was he a troublemaker, but he was willing to do anything in the hope that Jake would move out of his place. I’d warned Dallas this was no guarantee that Jake and I were getting back together. In fact, I hadn’t even told Jake about the video yet. I thought maybe I should get the picture back first and then we should talk face-to-face.

“Don’t fuss at him,” Abs scolded me. “You’ll only make him nervous.”

I rolled my eyes. She was sitting in the front with Dallas, and the two had been flirting nonstop on the drive over here.

Dallas flashed Abs a devilish grin. “I’m excellent under pressure,” he drawled.

Even in the dark, I could see Abs blush. “Is that so? Would you like to prove that to me?”

Oh. My. Hello Kitty. I’d started saying that instead of hell when Maribelle was younger because there was nothing like your six-year-old telling your pastor that he gave a hell of a sermon. “Y’all, we are kind of in the middle of something important here. Can we push pause on the flirtation button?”

“I like the sound of pushing buttons,” Dallas said seductively. “Just tell me where.”

Abs giggled.

I threw up my hands and fell back against the seat. “I can’t deal with you two.”

Dallas turned around and pursed his lips together. “Now, darlin’, don’t go acting like someone licked the red off your candy. I got this under control.” Without looking, he reached out of the car window and punched in the code X had given me. The large wrought iron gate began to swing in, allowing us access to one of the glitziest neighborhoods in Nashville—Forest Hills.

“See, darlin’, I got this.”

I blew out a deep breath. I was glad someone had this under control. I didn’t know why I was doing this. If I wanted to, I could have had the picture reprinted and bought a new frame for Jake. It was just that something about Vivian got under my skin. The way she and the show’s producers manipulated those videos was wrong. They were intentionally hurting people’s lives. The lives I cared most about in the world—Maribelle’s and Jake’s. Even if Jake could be insensitive, I still loved the man. He was my first love, my only love.

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