Spotlight: We Blend by Willa Drew

New Adult Romance

Release Date: September 27, 2022

Publisher: Moving Words Publishing

Stage name. Secret plans. Real love.

Escaping the shadow of my famous rockstar step-father… and the paparazzi, is how I find myself microphone-in-hand at a bar off campus wearing a disguise and my heart on my sleeve.

I just want to sing. I need melodies like I need air to breathe. Music isn’t just some hobby: it’s my everything. And from the moment Wil steps on that stage next to me, I know my life won’t ever be the same.

Our connection is instant. We want each other almost as much as we want the money. He’s in the States on scholarship, and I’m trying to make my way in the industry. We forge an alliance, not knowing the secrets we both keep.

Even tangled in a duet of lies, we make sense . . . we blend. Together, we could have it all. Or lose our hearts.

Excerpt

“No. He’s not my boyfriend. Who has time for that?” Why am I telling him I’m single? Need to focus. “I hired him to play the guitar for me.” I raise my splinted fingers and shove them in front of Wil’s face. “See?”

“Well, that clears that.”

If I expected sympathy from this dude, I didn’t get it.

“I don’t do the girlfriend thing either. Not planning on starting it now.” He licks his lips like I might be his next meal. “Jeremiah might have difficulty standing up, so playing an instrument is bloody unlikely.”

“Dammit.” I know the guy is right.

We both turn to regard the hoodie-clad Jeremiah, currently staring into his half-empty beer glass as if the golden liquid has the answers to every mystery in life.

“What did you say your name was?” Wil’s molten stare focuses on my eyes then my mouth, as if he were ready to catch whatever tumbles out next. And I wish I were here for fun. Hot, kiss-worthy fun.

“El. El Vella.” My voice sounds raspier than normal.

His eyes flash back to mine. Something switches in them. He re-surveys me, and his demeanor changes. The relaxed flirty vibe drops as fast as the last note of Dad’s latest hit. He loses his smile, the fire in his eyes gone, and for reasons I can’t understand, I miss it already.

Wil leans in like he’s going to kiss me, his fiery breath tickling my ear instead. Is this his signature move? Is he going to ask me out? Would I say yes? Goosebumps run down my arms, and my heart rises to my throat.

“I know who you are.”

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About the Authors

Willa Drew is not one, but two writers of fun, flirty fiction full of feels.

Lovers of emotional scenes (don’t tell anyone: someone always cries as we write them), dramatic scenarios (don’t blame us, the characters insisted) and the best the world has to offer like eclairs and butter tarts (don’t ask us to share, but we’ll point you to the recipes).

Our young adult and new adult romances have every flavor. Angst? Check.

Secrets? Of course. Risk taking? You bet. Expect slow burns, heart flutters, soul mates, first loves, and swoon worthy kisses.

Connect:

Website: http://www.willadrewauthor.com

Twitter https://twitter.com/WillaDrewAuthor

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

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

Spotlight: Primal Lust by Willow Winters

Release Date: September 27

From USA Today best-selling author, Willow Winters, comes a tempting tale of fated love, lust-filled secrets and the beginnings of an epic war. 

Never in my life could I have prepared for what fate had in store for me. Or for any of us.

Our tales are intertwined and destiny saw fit to give me to a beast of a man who would die for me. He longs for me and I for him, but my past is riddled with a darkness and our present with deception and the whispers of war.

Everything warns me that my life will change forever. That the world will crumble and burn. I don’t know what will happen or what will become of us. All I know is that, in his eyes, I belong to him.

This is book 3 of the To Be Claimed Saga. Wounded Kiss is book 1 and should be read first.

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About the Author

I started writing after having my little girl, Evie, December of 2015. All during my pregnancy with her I read. I only wanted to read romance novels and I read everything I could get my hands on. I would read a book a day — sometimes two. In January I was staying up late with her and just thinking of all these stories. They came to me constantly. I finally sat down and just started writing. I always wanted to do it so I figured, why not?

I never thought I would reach this point of success to be honest. It’s insane to me that I have connected with so many readers.

And I love each and every one of them for all of their support. I’ll be honest, some days are HARD. I have my littles during the day and I write at night. Some days are just simply exhausting and then I hear from a reader and it motivates me to push through and keep writing.  I couldn’t be more grateful for this wonderful career.

Connect with W. Winters:

https://geni.us/3B53kF

Audio Spotlight: Trouble On Main Street by Kirsten Fullmer and narrator Barbara Henslee

Length: 4 hours 30 minutes

Producer: Audiobook Empire

Publisher: Augustine Press⎮2022

Genre: Cozy Mystery

Series: Sugar Mountain, Book 1

Release date: Aug. 30, 2022

Synopsis: A cozy mountain town, a sweet romance, and a secret society of sneaky women.

The sleepy hamlet of Sugar Mountain harbors a secret society of women. Don’t misunderstand—the society itself is not secret—it’s the true nature of the group that is hush-hush.

Sugar Mountain is the kind of charming village that tourists adore. If you like small-town charm, quirky shops, and local art, this is the place for you. But when a blood smeared package shows up at the post office and it appears to be linked to a scheme that threatens Heidi Collinsworth’s historic home, the town takes on a sinister vibe. Heidi would lay odds that slimy Mayor Winslow is involved, but even with the enquiring skills of The Sugar Mountain Ladies Historical Society at work, proof is scarce.

With conflicting theories abound and tensions running high, it’s up to the ladies of the society to don disguises and go undercover. If they’re not careful, the town may fall to a wrecking ball, Heidi may fall for Adam, the new guy in town, and the secret society will be exposed.

Excerpt: Trouble on Main Street

Kirsten Fulmer

Buy on Audible | Amazon

About the Author and Narrator

About the Author: Kirsten Fullmer

Kirsten is a writer with a love of art and design. She worked in the engineering field, taught college, and consulted free lance. Due to health problems, she retired in 2012 to travel with her husband. They live and work full time in a 40' travel trailer with their little dog Bingo. Besides writing romance novels, she enjoys selling art on Etsy and spoiling their four grandchildren. 

As a writer, Kirsten's goal is to create strong female characters who face challenging, painful, and sometimes comical situations. She believes that the best way to deal with struggle is through friendship and women helping women. She knows good stories are based on interesting and relatable characters.

Website

About the Narrator: Barbara Henslee

Barbara completed her training in audiobook production and began marketing herself to independent authors and publishers. Prior to her voice acting career, she was as a marketing assistant in Fortune 50 corporations, where she excelled in problem solving, anticipating needs and making her bosses look good. Her meticulous organization skills, reliability and communication expertise translates well to the audiobook industry. 

Growing up, Barbara was a latchkey kid. She learned discipline and responsibility while her mom worked as a surgical head nurse on the late shift. She inherited her mom’s optimism and empathy. During high school, she met her husband, Rick. They have a daughter and three grand-daughters, all of whom learned how to empower themselves and become independent young women.

Barbara and her husband currently live in the quaint town of Magnolia, Texas just northwest of Houston with their German Shepherd mix named Luke, who doesn’t speak English, but hangs on every word she says.

Website

About the Producer: Audiobook Empire

At Audiobook Empire, audio reigns supreme, narrators are hailed as heroes, and headphones are worn with pride.

Marrying pomp and circumstance with quality you can count on, Audiobook Empire is a full-service production house that produces and promotes audiobooks with gusto.

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Cover Reveal: Bring on the Bubbly by Jayne Wilder

Pub date: October 20th 2022
Genres: Adult, Comedy, Contemporary, Romance

A sizzling romance with snort-laughs and a satisfying happily ever after, you’ll want BRING ON THE BUBBLY as your next wedding season romcom.

Aly Reed has the hottest ticket in town—nine hand-lettered ones, in fact! This wedding season, she finally has a date—her perfect boyfriend. It’s a lovely distraction from the soulless day job that’s leading her farther from her dreams of becoming a graphic designer. All the happy, betrothal vibes torpedo down the toilet when Aly catches her boyfriend cheating—at wedding number one!

Enter Lex, the swoony caterer whose chocolate fountain collides with Aly. Dumped and splattered in chocolate, it’s a meet-not-so-cute she’d love to forget. Except she can’t, because Lex caters wedding number two, where Aly’s seated next to her ex—and his new girlfriend. While hiding from them, she and Lex share a surprisingly sexy moment and strike a deal. Lex will spare Aly the torture of a solo wedding season and in return, she’ll do the branding for his new food truck.

But between champagne toasts and moonlit dances, their arrangement goes from simmer to flambé. Aly realizes she wants more than seconds of her hot chef. Can this romance last beyond wedding season? One thing’s for sure—it’s time to bring on the bubbly!

A quirky, endearing heroine, a chef with great hands, and the sexiest rowboat around.

This is Aly and Lex’s stand-alone from the How to Survive Wedding Season series.

Buy on Amazon

The view of Jayne's 20's looks pretty good from this distance: joyous weddings, tawdry romances, the search for purpose, and cheap wine. Living it once was quite enough, thank you. While the wine is (nearly) the same, fictionalizing this time in life for her characters is freaking fantastic!

Spotlight: The Mystery of Alan Norman McBride by Sarah Fader

Publication date: November 30th 2018
Genres: Mystery, Young Adult

Pam and Emily are two sisters who live on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Emily is a born investigator and is notorious for eavesdropping on conversations she hears on the streets of New York City. One Saturday, the sisters happen to overhear two gangsters planning the murder of millionaire Alan Norman McBride. They decide it is their duty to warn McBride and stop the murderers in their tracks!

Excerpt

This particular Saturday, while out on their usual “Saturday walk,” Emily and Pam stopped at the corner store to get some Pepsi. Or at least they were going to go into the store when, from around the corner, they suddenly heard an interesting conversation that stopped them in their tracks:

“AlL right. You can't tell this to nobodiiii! Do ya heear me Dino?”

“Gotcha, Big Al!”

“OK we go to the old guy's house and we pretend that we are da window clenahs. But the real reason we will be there is to do the plan. Which of course is to kill McBride.”

“Why we gonna kill McBride, Big Al?”

“Dino, you dumbo! For the recipe and for the money!”

“WHAT MONEY?”

“Shut upa you mouth! You want everyone ta know? You so loud, even Mama Sistina can hear ya all the way in Sicilia!”

Pam and Emily were just around the corner listening, and Emily was jotting everything down furiously with her quick little hands.

“Anyway Dino I want to give you the address so that you won’t forget it. Here it is Dino. Dino? HEY! Get a pen, you idiot! OK: Alan Norman McBride, 235 Maple Drive, Mapleton, Connecticut. Don't forget that we are gonna whack him on November 16th. In uthah words, next Saturday. Anyway, hey, let’s get a move on.”

Those were the last words the girls overheard, as the two thugs must have started to walk down the block and away from the corner store.

Pam and Emily stood there transfixed, astonished by what they had just heard.

“Emily...” Pam said slowly, “We just overheard the planning of a murder!”

“Like DUH! Of course we did. And I wrote it all down. Every last word!”

“That's it, Em! You're a genius!”

“What? What?” Emily asked.

“WE can solve the murder.”

Emily looked at Pam like she was crazy.

“This is what happens to you when you watch

too much TV, Pam.”

Pam frowned. “I'M SERIOUS!”

Emily thought: What a crazy idea. Stopping a murder? Those guys sounded dumb, but they probably had weapons and they were certainly mean. But, then again, if Pam and I are very sneaky and veeeery careful...

“OK! Let’s do it!”

So they walked home thinking about

Buy on Amazon | Audible

About the Author

Sarah Fader is the CEO and Founder of Eliezer Tristan Publishing Company, where she is dedicated to sharing the words of authors who endure and survive trauma and mental illness. She is also the CEO and Founder of Stigma Fighters, a non-profit organization that encourages individuals with mental illness to share their personal stories. She has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Quartz, Psychology Today, The Huffington Post, HuffPost Live, and Good Day New York.

Sarah is a native New Yorker who enjoys naps, talking to strangers, and caring for her two small humans and two average-sized cats. Like six million other Americans, Sarah lives with Bipolar type II, OCD ADHD, and PTSD. Through Stigma Fighters, Sarah hopes to change the world, one mental health stigma at a time.

Connect:

https://www.sarahfader.com/

https://www.facebook.com/osnsmom/

https://twitter.com/TheSarahFader

https://www.instagram.com/thesarahfader/

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5994772.Sarah_Fader

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Spotlight: Pride and Piña Coladas by Melanie Summers

(Paradise Bay, #5)

Publication date: September 22nd 2022

Genres: Adult, Comedy, Contemporary, Romance

From best-selling author Melanie Summers comes a enemies-to-lovers tale that’ll have you laughing, swooning, and blending up a pitcher of fruity girl drinks…

I’m Nora Cooper—single woman about to turn thirty, wildly unsuccessful plant fanatic, and event planner at Paradise Bay Resort. My shot at ‘the big time’ has finally arrived—the resort is hosting the World Bartender Championships and I’ve been asked to head up the hospitality team.

There’s only one big problem. And his name is Theo Rojas. You’ve heard of his family—they own Rojas Rum (and about 200 other premium liquors, some of which may be on your shelf right now). As the major sponsor of the event, Theo has decided to be onsite, micromanaging every second of the competition.

He’s stuck up, rude, and arrogant (and a bunch of other adjectives I had better not use). He also seems to have added ‘make Nora’s life absolute hell’ to the top of his to-do list.

Too bad for Mr. Grumpy Chinos because he doesn’t know who he’s dealing with. I’ve taken on far worse foes than him. And if he thinks he’s going to get the best of me, he’s in for a wake-up call.

So when we find ourselves stranded on a private island overnight, I’m determined to put him in his place once and for all.

Only somehow, instead of continuing our constant sparring, we wind up kissing. And I did NOT expect him to kiss like that.

And now I have totally forgotten all the nasty things I was planning to say to him. Something about him being arrogant, right?

Gah! Someone please send help because I absolutely CANNOT fall for this guy…

Excerpt

“This storm was supposed to blow in this evening, but it got here a lot faster than the forecasters expected. It’s also a lot worse than they said it would be. The Coast Guard has issued a tropical storm warning with a potential storm surge.”

My heart drops at her words. Theo, who has returned with a couple of towels, screws up his face in confusion. 

“How long until it passes?” I ask, taking a towel and pressing it to my face. 

“The Benaventes will be under the warning for twelve hours minimum.” 

“Twelve hours?” Theo asks, rubbing his hair with his towel. “I have an important meeting at five.”

Okay, Mr. Big. We’ll stop the storm for you. I press the button again. “That’s not going to work for Mr. Rojas. He has a meeting at five.” I add, “An important one,” just to be extra assy.

There’s a pause, then Rosy says, “He’s joking, right?”

“No, I’m not—” he starts, then gestures for me to push the button. “I’m not joking. There must be some way to get back. You can’t just leave us stranded out here.”

“We’re not going to risk your life or the lives of our employees because you have a meeting, but I’m happy to make some calls for you to cancel it on your behalf.”

“Mierda,” he mutters. “Thank you, yes. Could you please call my brother’s room, explain what’s happening, and tell him to get ahold of Jaquell immediately?”

“Of course.”

While he talks, I calculate what time it’ll be when the storm is supposed to end. At a break in their conversation, I say, “Umm, Rosy, twelve hours from now, it’ll be the middle of the night.”

“That’s correct.”

Theo’s eyes grow wide, so clearly he knows what my next question is.

“So, no one’s coming until tomorrow morning then,” I say, shutting my eyes (because that’s what one does when one doesn’t want to hear an answer). 

“That’s right. You two will be fine. There’s no chef, but there should be food you can cook for dinner.” 

Theo sighs and rakes his hand through his wet hair. “Rosy, I need you to pass another message to Markos for me. Please tell him to keep watch tonight. He’ll know what that means.”

I wonder what the hell he’s talking about but know he’s not going to tell me, judging by the whole “he’ll know what that means” thing.

“Okay.” Rosy sounds as confused as I am. “Nora, is there anyone you want me to call for you?”

My cheeks heat up at the fact that there isn’t anyone at home to worry about me. “Um…if you can let Hadley know, she can tell my parents. Oh, and I was supposed to place the alcohol order this afternoon when I got back.” Shit. “It’s completed, but I ran out of time to write a quick email to go with it.”

“Why don’t I tell Kat to do it?” Rosy asks. 

I consider telling her it’s far too important but realize it’s going to sound as if I don’t trust Kat to do something as simple as pressing send on an email. This is my chance to prove I can be a good manager. Trusting your employees is part of that, isn’t it? Besides, I can check it tomorrow when I get back. “Yes, sure. If you can have her log onto my computer, then open the email for Jaquell Morales—it should be on top of my drafts and the attachment is already there—have her type in a quick note to Jaquell, thanking her for her help and signing my name to it. Hit send, and that’s it.”

“Consider it done. Just give us a holler if you need anything else.”

“Except actual help,” Theo mutters.

“Thanks so much, Rosy. Over and out.”

“Over and out.”

I place the receiver back in its cradle. “I guess we’re stuck here.”

The question is, what are we going to do about it?

Buy on Amazon

About the Author

Melanie Summers also writes steamy romance as MJ Summers.

Melanie made a name for herself with her debut novel, Break in Two, a contemporary romance that cracked the Top 10 Paid on Amazon in both the UK and Canada, and the top 50 Paid in the USA. Her highly acclaimed Full Hearts Series was picked up by both Piatkus Entice (a division of Hachette UK) and HarperCollins Canada. Her first three books have been translated into Czech and Slovak by EuroMedia. Since 2013, she has written and published three novellas, and eight novels (of which seven have been published). She has sold over a quarter of a million books around the globe.

In her previous life (i.e. before having children), Melanie got her Bachelor of Science from the University of Alberta, then went on to work in the soul-sucking customer service industry for a large cellular network provider that shall remain nameless (unless you write her personally - then she'll dish). On her days off, she took courses and studied to become a Chartered Mediator. That designation landed her a job at the R.C.M.P. as the Alternative Dispute Resolution Coordinator for 'K' Division. Having had enough of mediating arguments between gun-toting police officers, she decided it was much safer to have children so she could continue her study of conflict in a weapon-free environment (and one which doesn't require makeup and/or nylons).

Melanie resides in Edmonton with her husband, three young children, and their adorable but neurotic one-eyed dog. When she's not writing novels, Melanie loves reading (obviously), snuggling up on the couch with her family for movie night (which would not be complete without lots of popcorn and milkshakes), and long walks in the woods near her house. She also spends a lot more time thinking about doing yoga than actually doing yoga, which is why most of her photos are taken 'from above'. She also loves shutting down restaurants with her girlfriends. Well, not literally shutting them down, like calling the health inspector or something--more like just staying until they turn the lights off.

She is represented by Suzanne Brandreth of The Cooke Agency International.

Connect:
https://mjsummersbooks.wordpress.com/
https://twitter.com/mjsummersbooks
https://www.instagram.com/mj_summers_author/
https://www.facebook.com/MJSummersAuthorPage
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17105602.Melanie_Summers