Spotlight: 1012 Curvy Way by Shaw Hart & Cameron Hart

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Synopsis:

Ken Coleman has a problem.

He’s the town doctor in Cherry Falls, which is normally a pretty fun job, only his nurse just retired and now his easy-going routine is shattered and he’s desperate to find someone to fill the position.

He’s focused on keeping his clinic running smoothly but a certain raven haired beauty is wreaking havoc with his concentration.

Gracie just might be the solution.

Gracie owns the local flower shop and she lives to create the perfect bouquet that can brighten someone’s day. When she notices how stressed-out Dr. Coleman is, she decides to do what she does best and send him flowers.

The two of them grow close but work commitments and Ken’s too high standards it might just be too much for them to overcome.

Will she be able to convince him to slow down and smell the roses?

Excerpt

“Oh! Sorry, I didn’t hear you come in,” Gracie apologizes as she straightens from where she was bent over, dusting some shelf. 

She looks like a dainty pixie among all of her flowers. She’s curvy and precious, and practically glowing with the sun coming in from the windows. She’s like a modern-day Tinker Bell and my heart does something funny at the sight. 

I’m a doctor, and I know my heart didn’t really just skip a beat. But tell that to the organ rioting against my ribcage. Bright blue eyes blink up at me, and for a crazy moment, I have the urge to reach across the counter and plant my lips on hers. Need courses through me at the thought of claiming her, feeling her soft curves, her heat, her skin on my skin as we move together, seeking our end.

I must be more sleep deprived than I thought. 

I shake my head, trying to clear those thoughts as I remember why I’m here in the first place. 

“Hi, these were delivered to my office by mistake,” I explain. She frowns, the tiny smile that was on her lips slipping. 

“Um, actually, these were for you,” she whispers, nibbling on her bottom lip.
“What?” I ask with a little too much shock. Her shoulders stiffen at my sharp tone, and I want to kick myself for being a brute. “I mean, who sent them?”

The prettiest pink blush stains Gracie’s cheeks and she gathers her long black hair up, slinging it over her shoulder and twisting the strands, almost as if she’s nervous. When her gaze meets mine once more, I have to hold in a groan. She looks so sweet, so pure in this moment.

“I did.”

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About the Authors

Shaw Hart is an Amazon Top 100 best-selling author of contemporary and New Adult romance. She loves writing instalove romances that always end in happily ever afters.

She lives in a constant state of motion, chasing after her two children and three dogs. Shaw enjoys the simple things in life, like spending time with her family and friends. 

When she’s not doing that, she’s reading romance books, watching stand up comedies or crime TV shows. Her favorite book tropes are secret baby and boss/employee romances. She’s a big fan of James Acaster, Anthony Jeselnik, Nate Bargatze, and John Mulaney’s comedy. Her favorite TV shows are Psych, Burn Notice, Leverage, Barry, Bob’s Burgers, and New Girl. 

She’s a Pinterest addict, dog lover, tea snob, and a wannabe yogi. 

She also writes contemporary romance books under the pen name, Rebecca Wilder, and she’s one half of the paranormal romance duo, Skye Alder. 

Connect:  Website | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest | Twitter 

Hello. I'm Cameron Hart, and I write sweet steamy romances.

I’m a USA Today Bestselling author with over forty books available. I write romance with lots of heat, plenty of sweet, and just enough drama to keep things interesting. I graduated from the Iowa Writer’s Workshop in 2012 with a degree in creative writing. When I’m not working on my next book, I can be found reading, crocheting, doing yoga, and chasing around my grumpy cat.

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Spotlight: When You Were Mine by Mila Nicks

Six years ago, Dylan Turner walked out of Penelope Spark's life and she never thought she'd see him again, but now he's back. Could a secret from the past destroy their second chance at love? Fall for this hard-working hottie in When You Mine by Mila Nicks, a Reunited Lovers Romance, the next book in the Blue Collar Romance Series.

Read Now! 

Amazon → http://amzn.to/3BHWa4S 

From Mila Nicks comes a second chance romance packed with charm, heart, and a swoon worthy happily ever after.

When bad boy Dylan Turner walked out of Penelope Spark’s life six years ago, she was convinced she’d never see him again. Now a single mom to her daughter, Tabitha, and the owner of a small candle shop, Penelope looks forward to a stable life without heartbreak.

That was before Dylan Turner showed up in Oak Bend like a relic from the past. Even worse? He’s rented the apartment next-door. A few years older and more mature but still with a bad boy edge, Dylan is a firefighter just trying to figure out what he wants in life. Could that be a second chance with Penelope?

But there is one minor problem. Penelope has a secret that’s six years in the making. One that might destroy their relationship for good. If they’re meant to be together, they’ll need to come to terms with the past and learn to trust each other again. Is it possible their first love is their forever love?

Welcome to Oak Bend where blue-collar hotties work hard and love even harder, especially when it comes to landing their happily ever after.

Excerpt 

Copyright 2021 Mila Nicks

“Just like old times,” he said, plopping a baseball hat over my head. He led the way onto the field with the diamond marking, dugout, and bleachers in the distance. None of it had changed; it was exactly like it was when we were in high school.

I didn’t object as he put on a catcher’s mitt and offered me a baseball bat. He tossed the baseball up into the air and caught it without his eyes on it. I gave a disbelieving laugh and shook my head side to side. He was so utterly hopeless.

“Still the cockiest player on the field,” I muttered.

“Isn’t that why you liked me so much?”

My eyes narrowed. “You realize you just proved my point, right? Didn’t they use to call you Heavy Hitter for a reason?”

He laughed, moving closer. So close he could’ve kissed me if he wanted. “Remember your nickname? Think it started with Ball and ended with Buster?”

“Someone has to keep your huge ego in check.”

“You were always good at the job,” he said with another husky laugh. He backed away and motioned for me to get in position. “Go on. You’re up to bat, Spark. Time to hit a home run.”

“We both know I’m the worst baseball player known to man.”

“But you look so dang cute in the hat and wiggling your booty like you do when you go to swing.” He was being bold flirting like that, but then again, I liked it. “Only wish you could be in my jersey again. I liked when you used to wear it.”

I stood still for a second, the bat limp in my grasp as nostalgia hit me. “Me too.”

We let the confession hang in the air for another second before moving on. He cleared his throat and winded up. I shook out my shoulders and bent my knees, booty out just the way that distracted him. Our eyes met in an intense stare off, his stormy grays connecting with my deep browns.

“Ready?”

“Been ready.”

He held in a laugh as he pitched the ball in my direction. I swung and missed—and swore under my breath. For as crap a player as I was, I was also competitive as hell. I hated to lose. Something Dylan knew and loved about me. My grip tightened on the bat and I demanded he pitch again.

The second time I swung harder and sent the ball hurtling into foul territory. No beats were missed as I told him to pitch a third time. He followed instruction and threw the ball at me. A tenacious growl left me when I swung, prompting a laugh out of him, making my heart beat in pride.

The ball soared across the field. I kicked off my wedge sandals and split into a fast sprint, moving faster than even I expected. I’d always been a runner, on the girls’ track team during our high school days, faster than a gazelle they used to say.

Dylan was fast after me. As I dashed barefoot across the wet grass of the baseball field, he tracked me down like a lion on the hunt. We were both laughing, the melodic carefree sound ringing in the otherwise quiet night air.

Inches before he could tag me, I jumped onto home plate with triumphant arms in the air. He caught up a split second after, plucking me off my feet. I squealed as he swept me up into his arms and he spun us around in dizzying circles. My arms slid around his neck into what felt like the most natural position in the world, eyes squeezed shut, head thrown back in laughter.

About Mila Nicks 

Mila Nicks is a romance author on a mission to pen entertaining love stories featuring women of color. 

From the time she was a small girl with crayons and an overactive imagination, she’s had a passion for storytelling. In addition to serving ten years in the United States Air Force, she has received her Bachelor’s degree in Journalism and an MFA in Creative Writing.

When she isn’t busy tapping away at her keyboard, you can find her binge-watching her favorite TV shows, daydreaming about her next vacation across the globe, or spending quality time with her spunky pet Chihuahua, Zayden.  

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Spotlight: The Longest Story: How Humans Have Loved, Hated and Misunderstood Other Species by Richard Girling

Without animals there would be no us. We are all fellow travelers on the same evolutionary journey. In The Longest Story: How Humans Have Loved, Hated and Misunderstood Other Species (releasing October 12, 2021) Richard Girling charts the love–hate story of people and animals, from their first acquaintance in deep prehistory to the present and beyond. The Longest Story reveals how and where our attitudes towards animals began – and how they have persisted, been warped and become magnified ever since.

In dazzling prose, The Longest Story tells of the cumulative influence of theologians, writers, artists, warriors, philosophers, farmers, activists and scientists across the centuries, now locking us into debates on farming, extinction, animal rights, pets, experiments and religion.

Excerpt

The Longest Story 

We will walk together for an awfully long time. Man and beast. Them and us. Best friend, worst enemy. The hunter and the hunted. 

In the beginning we are inseparable. We are them, they are us; all slime from the same swamp. It will take hundreds of millions of years for anyone to understand what is now happening: organisms dividing, crystallising into species, crawling towards the random moment that we will call the Creation. Relationships develop that are variously symbiotic, parasitic or murderous. Nothing stays the same. Everything is changing into something else, sprouting fins, wings, scales and fur to prepare each one for its niche. Legs appear. Small, weasel-like animals grow and stretch, and go on stretching until they can reach up into trees. They live in the forest, where their long arms and short legs are perfect for swinging through the branches and picking fruit. We are still with them, in them, alive but unborn. We travel with them when they move from the forest on to the plain, and stay with them as they begin to change their posture and their shape. Arms shorten, legs lengthen, necks stretch. Upright, on two feet, we walk until we are them no more. 

For a while we lead parallel lives, us and all the others. We gather from the same plains and forests, eat the same fruit, run from the same predators. Time passes, lots of time, perhaps a millennium or two, and we have learned to make tools out of stone. It means we can kill things and eat meat. We grow stronger, more intelligent, and see our intelligence as a mark of our superiority over all other living things. It is how we are. It is how we are meant to be. Supreme.

More centuries go by, and now we are in the north, fighting the cold in central Europe. Hunting and gathering have a different rhythm here. We do not decide what we will eat: we take only what is offered. For it is not just the ice that has to be endured. Hunger, too, is an insatiable taker of life. There is no green abundance to be gathered. Even reindeer find it hard to stay alive when scraps of grass and lichen are all that winter provides. What saves us is our brains. Our heads have swollen with the growing weight of them, and we have learned to use them well. We think. We reason. We understand that actions have consequences. We know that if we steal from another person, then he will steal from us, and that he will kill us if he has to. We know also that if we give to that person, then he will give to us in return. More than this. We know that if we hunt together, we will have more to eat than if we hunt alone. Our tools and weapons are sharper now, which makes us better hunters, and the meat makes our bones and brains even stronger. We do not submit to fate. If the ice swallows our land, then we migrate like reindeer towards the sun. 

Always, we hunt. We share our hunting grounds with wolves, and we can see how alike we are. Like us, they follow a leader and work in packs to kill animals bigger than themselves. Like us, they kill only what they need, share it among themselves and feed their young. But our brains are bigger than theirs. We understand them in ways they do not understand us. We know how important it is not to waste anything. We have found good uses for skins and horns and sinews as well as meat. Because we live in this way, because we have reasoned, we know there will always be enough animals left for us to hunt, and that their fur will keep us warm. 

And we have magic. By painting animals on the walls of our caves, by creating them from nothing, we can make new life. By carving the head of a lion on to the body of a man, we can steal the lion’s power. We know there is a world of spirits that we cannot see.

Buy on Amazon Kindle | Hardcover | Bookshop.org

About the Author

"Richard Girling is an award-winning writer and the author of eight critically acclaimed books, including The Man Who Ate the Zoo. He has been centrally involved in environmental journalism since the mid 1970s, pioneering writing about climate change and species loss in national newspapers. He lives in North Norfolk."

Spotlight: Affliction by J.L. Stray

Release Date: October 10

~He wants me to remember and I want to forget he ever existed. The past holds too much pain.~

He left me with a simple, “I’m sorry I can’t.”

Now he’s back. And he’s everywhere. Showing up in all the places that we frequented, and invading the newly created normal I made for myself when he left me. His expertise has even been sought at my company, Shoegasm. Making it impossible to breathe without thinking of him and what could have been.

Terry should have stayed gone, I can’t be with him. Ghosts from the past, who afflicted so much pain, are back. And I can’t go down that road again, knowing Terry could end up hurt. This time it’s me who has to protect him.

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About the Author

J.L. Stray has always enjoyed reading books and writing stories. Finally, she gathered up enough courage to publish one herself. A former Policy Specialist and current Consultant, she spends any extra moment she has writing, outlining and scheming her next book. 

Raised in a small town in Pennsylvania, she graduated from Penn State University with a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice and Public Policy. Most days she uses one of those degrees in either her career or dealing with her children. 

J.L. lives with her husband in that same small town, where they raise their three very active children, who always have them at a diamond, field or court. She is a lover of books, shoes, beaches, and a strong drink. 

Connect with J.L. Stray:

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

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

Goodreads: https://bit.ly/3as3zZM

Amazon Author Page: https://amzn.to/2Eaqdtm

Cover Reveal: No Player Required by JoAnn Sky

Publication Date: October 18, 2021

Genres: Adult, Entangled: Indulgence, Contemporary, Romance

Billionaire casino magnate Rafael “Rafa” Salord is forced to exchange caviar for cowboy boots when he’s sent to “grow up” and run his father’s newly acquired casino in the middle of nowhere downtown Reno. When he crosses paths with feisty Destiny Morson, he starts to wonder if that nonsense about love-at-first-sight might actually be true. Maybe it’s time to trade in his playboy status and bet on something more.

Social worker Destiny Morson has always had good reason for keeping romance at arm’s length. After finding out that her business partner ran off with the community-raised funds from their non-profit, she’s ready to swear off people completely. So when the sexy casino executive seems interested in helping her with her woes, she can’t help but mistrust his motives, no matter how he makes her burn…

From a night out throwing axes to supporting Destiny’s charity, Rafa stops at nothing to win over the gunshy woman he can’t get out of his head. He’s determined to break through her tough exterior, and Destiny slowly lets her guard down. But after a night of passion in his penthouse suite, things at the casino go sideways for both of them, forcing them to decide if the past is enough to prevent them from a future together.

Buy on Amazon

About the Author

JoAnn Sky has written for years as part of her job (business and marketing plans and the like). One day she tried her hand at writing for fun—and liked it. Now she authors adult contemporary romance and young adult romance with a magical twist as well as children’s books. Originally from the Midwest, JoAnn currently lives in northern Nevada with her husband a.k.a. love of her life, three teenage children, and three crazy rescue dogs. Visit her at www.joannsky.com where you can sign up for her newsletter and learn about all of her books. 

Connect:

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Amazon: www.amazon.com/author/joannsky

Spotlight: Dark Prince by Jagger Cole

This is not a fairytale.

There’s no glass slipper, only shards. Prince Charming is the villain And happily ever afters are a myth.

Except now, I need to construct one.

Me, the fake princess, with a make-believe happily never after, to the anti-Prince Charming himself.

Coldly beautiful, brutally ruthless, and heir to a criminal empire. Misha Tsavakov hates me, but he’ll be my fabricated prince, for a price:

All of me.

I belong to him now. No limits. No mercy. And no kiss before midnight to end this curse. No kissing at all, actually. 

The deeper we get, the darker and more twisted this maze of thorns becomes. There’s no way out. But the harder I fight, the more it might be that I don’t want a way out.

Real or not, there’s one thing about fairytales that no one ever warns you about:

When you put on glass slippers, you’d better tread carefully.

Or you’ll bleed.

This standalone, extra angsty Bratva academy romance is guaranteed to leave your kindle steaming. Step into the viper’s nest of Oxford Hills Academy and meet the Savage Heirs of Bratva kings and oligarchs.

Absolutely no cheating, no cliffhanger, and a happy ever after.

Buy on Amazon Kindle | Paperback

About the Author 

A reader first and foremost, Jagger Cole cut his romance writing teeth penning various fan-fiction stories years ago. After deciding to hang up his writing boots, Jagger worked in advertising pretending to be Don Draper. It worked enough to convince a woman way out of his league to marry him, though, which is a total win.

Now, Dad to two little princesses and King to a Queen, Jagger is thrilled to be back at the keyboard.

When not writing or reading romance books, he can be found woodworking, enjoying good whiskey, and grilling outside--rain or shine.

You can find all of his books at www.jaggercolewrites.com


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