Spotlight: One Bossy Proposal by Nicole Snow

Publication date: April 8th 2022
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Synopsis:

Wall Street Journal bestselling author Nicole Snow returns with a hilarious office romance where two archenemies who drive each other crazy pretend they’re madly in love.

Strange men do funny things when you score the last cinnamon roll.
Sometimes he rages about the high crime of jacking his precious pastry.
Sometimes he offers you ludicrous bribes to buy it back.
And sometimes—after shattering your faith in humanity—you find out he’s your new boss.

I’m not laughing.
My sweet tooth betrayed me and Lincoln Burns is one bad sugar rush.
A coldhearted grump. A mile-wide ego. An eligible bachelor who doesn’t “do” dating.
Did I mention Mr. Congeniality runs a fashion empire with weddings in its sights?
Of course he does.
And, of course, weddings make me gag after my ex made my heart roadkill.

Every instinct I have screams run.
But money talks, and Lincoln’s deep pockets roar.
One big fat bonus proposal lures me into his world.
Somehow, our vicious fights become vivid flirting.
His secrets thrill me in the worst ways.

Then he makes a second proposal.
Pretend we’re engaged. Smile for pretty photos like we’re soulmates. Dress up like we’re actually getting married.
Oh, how I wish cinnamon rolls came with warnings.
It’s all sticky sweet heaven until you catch feelings for the bossman from hell…

Full-length enemies-to-lovers romance loaded with uh-ohs. Office banter, pastry mischief, slow-burn spice, plus one bossy suit who might stop stomping around long enough to realize he’s falling hopelessly in love.

Excerpt

Anna Patel calls a marketing meeting on Thursday and asks me to sit in. Of course, there’s a vacant chair beside Nevermore.

I hesitate a second too long, leaving an opening for this junior copywriter to step past me toward the seat. I can’t even remember his name.

Jake? Jeremy? James?

He’s a newer kid, and he’s damn near undressing her with his eyes so obviously that if she ever looks up from her laptop, she’ll feel buck naked.

The punk thinks he’s sitting beside her.

Like hell.

I speed up, stepping behind him and grabbing his shoulder.

“Why don’t you take the seat beside Miss Patel? I may need to talk to my assistant.” It’s not a question. My words are professional, but my tone is barbaric.

I’ve never felt so uncivilized in the office, and fuck, it has everything to do with the hot prick of jealousy coursing in my veins.

“Oh, sure thing, Mr. Burns!” he says, fear flashing in his eyes before he scurries off without looking back at me.

That’s what I thought.

I sit down beside Dakota, grateful she’s oblivious to my territory marking.

Until she laughs, leans over, and whispers, “Behave.”

“Why?” I ask, flashing her a clueless look.

“You practically gave the poor guy shell shock.”

I’m not sorry.

He should be scared when he tries to usurp the boss’ seat—or his woman. Let him drool over a hundred thousand other beautiful women in this city.

“You’re welcome, Nevermore. From the looks he gave you, I think he writes angsty poetry about you. If he’s able to write at all. Is he any good?”

I’ve never noticed his work when he’s assigned to a less pressing line under Anna. Hell, like most new hires, I half forgot he even worked here until now.

“He’s where he should be, I think. We don’t collaborate a ton,” she says diplomatically, hiding a rosy blush on her cheeks.

“He should do more writing and less eye-fucking,” I growl in her ear, leaning close.

What the hell is wrong with me?

My nostrils flare at her scent. It’s bad enough that I practically tossed the boy on the floor, and now I’m low-key smelling her like a Neanderthal with a rose.

“Mr. Burns, shut up!” she hisses.

I can’t help smirking as her green eyes roll with shock.

“Did you see how he looked at you?” I whisper, undaunted. “If he was looking for his muse, it damn sure wasn’t interested in PG-13 poetry.”

She’s bright red but she grins.

“You’re such an idiot. Jim does not write poems about me. I doubt he even reads anything that isn’t a bargain thriller. I mean, that’s usually what he’s got his nose stuffed in during lunch.”

Her quip shouldn’t make me happy. At least Nevermore isn’t impressed with his reading habits.

“Takes one to know one with writers, I guess. You are a Poe and a literary princess,” I tease.

Her eyes lock onto mine harshly.

“Boss, I will stab you with my pen,” she whispers.

“Doubtful.”

“Want to bet?”

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About the Author

Nicole Snow is a Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestselling author. She found her love of writing by hashing out love scenes on lunch breaks and plotting her great escape from boardrooms. Her work roared onto the indie romance scene in 2014 with her Grizzlies MC series.

Since then Snow aims for the very best in growly, heart-of-gold alpha heroes, unbelievable suspense, and swoon storms aplenty. With over a million books sold, she lives for the joy of making two people fight with every bit of their soul for a Happily Ever After.

Current fan favorites include her Enguard Protectors series, accidental love novels, plus long beloved MC romance thrillers like the Grizzlies and Deadly Pistols.

Connect:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7192004.Nicole_Snow
http://nicolesnowbooks.com/
https://twitter.com/Nicolesnowbooks
https://www.instagram.com/nicolesnowbooks/
https://www.facebook.com/nicolesnowbooks/
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/nicole-snow

Spotlight: The Dayton Dilemma by Dave Ives

When doing the right thing, isn’t the right thing.

Crime Thriller

Published: November 2021

Dayton, Ohio 1986, Sean Mitchell finds himself in a gut-wrenching dilemma, ‘Trust the legal system or trust the fact that – they ain’t lookin for us? We shut up, we’re safe, we start blabbing, who knows what the lawyers and legal system will do to us?

Sean’s world is turned upside down when he discovers a shocking life truth – sometimes telling the truth is the wrong thing to do.

Sean Mitchell is on a summer engineering work study program at the Flight Dynamics Laboratory, Wright-Patterson, AFB. Taking a term off from his ‘stressed out’ aerospace engineering studies at Ohio State, Sean’s new home in Dayton is a hotel right next door to a fancy, gorgeous-lady-filled, nightclub.

What could go wrong?

Everything.

Sean’s life of ‘working out at the gym’ and ‘meeting pretty ladies at the nightclub,’ took a nosedive one night. His world changed. He entered the ‘secret’ world. The world of people with a secret, people who know something they’re not supposed to know; something they don’t want to know, but too bad, no going back.

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About the Author

Dave Ives transitioned from air force officer to civilian engineer, to property investor and then to author. ‘The Dayton Dilemma’ is Dave’s seventh book and is a continuation of the Sean Mitchell adventure. If you liked Dave’s other books, you’re in for another treat when you read ‘The Dayton Dilemma.’

Connect:

Website: https://ivesguy.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ivesguy

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

Spotlight: The Love List by Elana Johnson

Release Date: May 17th 

Beatrice Callahan loves lists. Sometimes she even makes a to-do list of things she's already done, just to go check, check, check and feel accomplished. So it's easy to understand why, when her divorce is finally final and her ex is all moved out, Bea takes a cool, close look at her life...and makes a list.

It's not exactly a bucket list.

It's a love list.

Bea loves the outdoors, so she puts visit 10 National Parks on the list.

She loves animals, and on goes get a puppy.

She loves the beach, and she adds take a dream vacation to the list, and decides to do that one first. After all she's been through and all she's lost, she needs time to relax, rest, and reset.

On the first day she arrives in Hilton Head Island, she meets Grant Turner, the man whose house she's renting for her fabulous beach vacation. He's just there to make sure she settles in properly and has enough towels.

But when Bea asks for recommendations around the island, Grant quickly becomes her tour guide and then a friend and then...more than friends.

Bea turns to her lists when things get confusing and her love list morphs once again... Can she add fall in love at age 45 to the list and check it off?

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About the Author

A USA Today Bestselling and Amazon Kindle All-Star Author, Elana writes clean and wholesome contemporary romance. She is well-known for her young adult dystopian romance series Possession, Surrender, Abandon, and Regret, published by Simon Pulse (Simon & Schuster). She writes clean beach romance in the Hawthorne Harbor Second Chance Romance series, the Getaway Bay Romance series, the Getaway Bay Resort Romance series,the Forbidden Lake Romance series, the Stranded in Paradise Romance series, the Hope Eternal Ranch Romance series, the Sweet Water Falls Farm Romance series, and the Carter's Cove Romance series.

Elana also writes inspirational western romances under the USA Today bestselling pen name of Liz Isaacson. Learn more at Liz's website.

Elana is the force behind Indie Inspiration, and you can find her books for writers, Writing and Releasing Rapidly and Writing Killer Cover Copy among others, and join her group and page on Facebook.

She runs a personal blog on publishing and is a founding author of the QueryTracker blog, a co-founder of The League of Extraordinary Writers, and a co-organizer of WriteOnCon. She is a member of ALLi and NINC and a popular speaker for libraries, teens, and writer's conferences across the United States. To contact Elana to speak at your event, please see her contact page.

Connect with the Author:  Website | Facebook | Instagram | Goodreads | TikTok | Bookbub | Gmail

Spotlight: Tis the Damn Season by J.L. Stray

Release Date: April 8

Seasons change and fade, but some feelings never do. 

I’ve been in love with Cal since I was sixteen years old. 

On graduation night I leave Canton and Cal behind. I’m headed to L.A. where the bright lights and runways are calling my name. 

The only problem is I’m leaving my heart behind. Each time I return to Canton, we fall into old patterns, beds and any surface we can find. We destroy each other and anyone in our path. 

And I leave him. Again. 

Every time I leave a piece of my heart remains and I take a piece of his. 

Surrendering my heart fully to Cal has never been a part of plan. But the thought keeps crossing my mind. The city I fled to suddenly doesn’t have the same allure as the small town that I swore 

I’d never return to. 

Can he really be mine for more than a weekend? Is it time to stop leaving?

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About the Author

Meet J.L. Stray:

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

Spotlight: Mixed Up With a Marine by Kait Nolan

Release Date: April 8

Can a Marine turned baker and a jaded contractor find their way to a second chance?

Braxton Whitmore needs a change. After leaving the Marines, he’s free to build a new life. But is he gonna be a baker? Really?  When his buddy inherits a decrepit bar and proposes they partner up to turn it into a bakery, Brax figures why not? Until his ex comes walking in.

Mia Whitmore has built a new life for herself, far from the heartbreak and secrets that tore her marriage apart. The last thing she expects is for her estranged husband to be business partners with her latest client. Or for Brax to think they’re already divorced. 

As they’re forced into proximity on the renovation, truths come to light, and Brax and Mia get a second chance. But when past secrets become present danger, Brax puts everything on the line to protect the woman who’s always held his heart.

Buy on Amazon Kindle | Paperback

Meet Kait Nolan:

Kait Nolan is a RITA® Award-winning Mississippi author who calls everyone sugar, honey, or darlin', and can wield a 'Bless your heart' like a Snuggie or a saber, depending on requirements. She believes in love, laughter, and that tacos are the world's most perfect food. When she's not writing, reading, working the evil day job, or wrangling family (both the two-legged and the four-), you can find her obsessively watching The Great British Bake Off.

Connect with Kait Nolan:

Website: https://kaitnolan.com/

Newsletter: https://kaitnolan.com/newsletter/

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

Facebook Reader Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/kaitnolanbooks

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3464081.Kait_Nolan

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/kait-nolan

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kaitnolan

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

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.ca/kaitnolan/

Amazon Author Page: https://amzn.to/359xLas

Spotlight: Fool Me Once by Ashley Winstead

Publication Date: April 5, 2022

Publisher: Graydon House Books

In this fierce and funny battle of the exes, Ashley Winstead's FOOL ME ONCE explores the chaos of wanting what you already had.

Lee Stone is a twenty-first-century woman: she kicks butt at her job as a communications director at a women-run electric car company (that’s better than Tesla, thank you) and after work she is “Stoner,” drinking guys under the table and never letting any of them get too comfortable in her bed…

That’s because Lee’s learned one big lesson: never trust men. Four major heartbreaks set her straight, from her father cheating on her mom all the way to Ben Laderman in grad school—who wasn’t actually cheating, but she could have sworn he was, so she reciprocated in kind.

Then Ben shows up five years later, working as a policy expert for the most liberal governor in Texas history, just as Lee is trying to get a clean energy bill rolling. Things get complicated—and competitive as Lee and Ben are forced to work together. Tension builds just as old sparks reignite, fanning the flames for a romantic dustup the size of Texas.

Excerpt

Chapter 3

Grace under Fire

The Texas State Capitol has always reminded me of Daedalus’s labyrinth, large and elaborate and winding. It could be because I was studying Greek myths the first time I toured it at the tender age of eight, and was also plagued by a truly unfortunate sense of direction. But in my defense, the capitol is made of red granite, an oddly exotic color for a government building—something you  might be more likely to find on, say, the isle of Crete. 

As I grew up, both a feminist and an environmentalist in the staunchly red state of Texas, the idea that the capitol building housed a flesh-eating man with a bull’s head struck me less and less as fictional, and more and more as an apt metaphor.  

But today, there was no doubt Ben Laderman—at this very moment, holed up somewhere inside—was my Minotaur. And for all my wine-induced bravado last night, my hands trembled as we walked up the steps to the capitol. 

The truth was, I’d imagined running into Ben a hundred times since we broke up, picturing exactly how I’d react. There was this one time I’d been sitting with my mom and Alexis in an airport parking shuttle, when a man Ben’s height and coloring lugged his suitcase up the steps. For one dizzying second, thinking it was him, my heart had tried to beat its way out of my chest. Even though the man quickly revealed himself to be a Ben imposter, the buzzing adrenaline hadn’t washed out of my veins until hours later, near the end of our flight. 

How surreal that I was minutes away from actually facing him. 

“The idea for today is to introduce Ben to the bill, since he probably hasn’t had time to review it yet, and secure his buy-in.” Wendy was walking beside me—actually, she was strutting beside me like the steps were a runway. Dakota’s chief of staff was long and lean; everywhere she walked, the world seemed to fold itself into a catwalk just for her. She wore an all-black suit, as sharp and quintessentially no-nonsense as she was. 

“Remember, the most important thing we can walk away with is Ben’s enthusiasm.” She cut a glance at me. “I need charm from you. Is that feasible?” 

“Psshh.” I gave her an affronted look. 

If only Wendy knew the truth about what we were walking into. But there was no way in hell I was going to tell her the project we’d been working on for years, the one with the potential to catapult the company to stardom, could go up in flames thanks to my messy dating life. Somehow, I’d managed to convince everyone at work that I was a talented communications professional, concealing any hint of the Lee Stone that existed outside the hours of nine to five. If Wendy—uptight stickler Wendy—knew what I was really like, I’d be fired before I could count to three. 

Within the monochromatic white walls of Lise, I was Lee, or Ms. Stone to junior employees: a take-no-prisoners messaging maven. Outside of Lise, I was Stoner. And never the twain should meet. 

“Lee’s a pro,” said Dakota, winking from my other side. “She already won over the governor. Besides, this is a good bill. The only reason they wouldn’t go for it is politics.” Dakota said the last word with scorn, and I knew why: she’d been fighting politics her whole life. 

Dakota Young was my hero. She was only ten years older than me, but she’d built Lise from the ground up, thanks to her genius inventor’s brain and business savvy. When I first started as Lise’s comms director, the newspapers had called Dakota “the female Elon Musk”—when they mentioned her at all. My first self-assigned task was to inform them that Dakota had designed and produced her electric vehicle five years before Tesla was a twinkle in Elon’s eye, and the only reason the journalists didn’t know was because our patriarchal society dismissed female inventors. Especially Mexican American female inventors. 

The truth was, Dakota had beat Elon to it and designed a car battery pack with twice the capacity of Tesla’s, meaning our vehicles could go as far as a gas car before needing to recharge. And they took less time to do that, too. There was no reason our cars shouldn’t be the clear winner in the e-vehicle market, but we consistently underperformed. My hypothesis was that it came down to our small profile. 

The disparity in attention between Dakota and Elon had inspired one of my best ideas: changing the name of the company from Unified Electric Vehicles—the yawn-worthy UEV for short—to Lise, pronounced “leez,” in honor of Lise Meitner, a nuclear physicist who’d helped discover nuclear fission, only to be excluded from winning the Nobel Prize for it. The award had gone solely to Otto Hahn, her partner. Her male partner, if I even need to say it. 

I’d gambled on my instincts, telling Dakota we shouldn’t shy away from being known as a female-led tech and auto company, but rather call it out as a strength. She’d gambled on me and agreed; the rest was history. The name change had exploded like a bomb in the press. Dakota was featured in Science, the New York Times, Good Morning America—even Fox News, though that might have been because she’s not only a badass female inventor, but with her long, dark hair and hazel eyes, a gift of her Mexican heritage, she’s a beautiful, badass female inventor. 

Since our rebranding, the whole country had been taken with her, as well they should be. Dakota was the smartest person I’d ever met, managing to toe the line of being a total boss while exuding kindness. She was, to put it mildly, my idol. And also, the older sister I’d never had. My feelings for her were totally healthy. 

I had a good track record at Lise, but passing this bill would seal the deal, establishing that I was a leader. If I was successful, I could ask for a promotion to the position I really wanted: vice president of public affairs.

Ever since reading Silent Spring at the age of ten, I’d grown up obsessed with the fact that we were poisoning our planet, and I’d dreamed of going into politics to do something about it. Being Lise’s comms director was a good position at a great company—nothing a millennial could turn her nose up at—but being in charge of our policy work was what I was really interested in, the goal that got me out of bed each morning. 

And now I was so close. 

Assuming, of course, I didn’t dissolve into a fine mist the minute I set eyes on Ben. 

I turned left toward the meeting room we always used when we came to talk to the governor. It was the biggest room, filled with highly questionable artifacts from Texas history. These artifacts were supposed to paint a picture of Texans as bold, valiant cowboys—framed letters from Mexican presidents pleading to end wars and old-timey weapons in glass cases from the years Texas was “settled” (translation: stolen from indigenous peoples). It was a room that showcased the state’s history without any sense of self-awareness, and being there always put me on edge. Made me question whether we should be working with these people at all, even on something as potentially transformative as the Green Machine bill. 

But Wendy shook her head, tugging my arm. “No Alamo room today. We’re down the hall.” She pointed to the right and I followed her, wondering at the change. 

The three of us halted outside a closed door. Dakota smiled. “Remember, this is bigger than us. We’ve got the health and well-being of the planet on our shoulders. Let’s do this for the people.” 

“No pressure,” I muttered, as Wendy swung open the door.

And there he was, the very first thing I saw. Ben Laderman. Sitting at the right hand of the governor at the conference table. 

Time seemed to freeze as the impact of seeing him in the flesh hit me like a punch to the chest. All the years we’d spent apart were obvious, because he looked different. He wasn’t the Ben from my memories. 

But he was still the easiest person in the world to describe, at least in terms of the basics: Ben Laderman looked exactly like Clark Kent from old comic books. Not Superman, with his perfect, blue-black hair, little forehead curl and confident, square jawline—Clark. 

Don’t get me wrong, Ben had the dark hair and strong jaw and ice-blue eyes, but when I’d known him, he’d kept his hair super short and worn thick-framed black glasses that mostly obscured his eyes. He was well over six feet, but he’d always hunched, like Clark slinking in late to the Daily Planet, trying to creep about unnoticed. 

The Ben Laderman sitting at the table now was…well, there was no way to describe it other than California Ben. He’d grown out his hair and wore it tucked and curling behind his ears. He’d exchanged the thick-framed black glasses for a pair of thin, transparent frames that left no question his eyes were vivid blue. 

And the suit he was sitting ramrod straight in—no more hunch—wasn’t a dark, boxy number like what he’d worn in law school for mock trial. This suit was the same blue as his eyes, a fashion risk that was both startlingly handsome and startlingly playful for someone starting work in the Texas governor’s office. 

He was different. Still knee-wobblingly beautiful, but different.

And he was staring at me.

Excerpted from Fool Me Once by Ashley Winstead, Copyright © 2022 by Ashley Winstead. Published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

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About the Author

ASHLEY WINSTEAD is an academic turned novelist with a Ph.D. in contemporary American literature. She lives in Houston with her husband, two cats, and beloved wine fridge.

Connect:

Author Website

Twitter: @AshleyWinstead

Instagram: @AshleyWinsteadBooks

Goodreads