Blind Love (Sulfur Heights #3)
Author: M.S. Brannon
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“She is magnetic to me. Every emotion she feels pulls me that much closer to her charm and energy. For reasons unbeknownst to me, I want her to know what she means to me.” ~Jake Evans
For Jake Evans, life was as it should be. No responsibilities. He was the master at embracing his reckless lifestyle whenever it presented itself. Surviving on his ability to expertly hustle, fight and womanize, Jake could do it all; lived it all.
Raised in a rundown city, filled with crime and drugs, he had survived the death of an abusive mother and a life with an absent father while only having his brothers to depend on. His lifestyle became fast and Jake had lived it the only way he knew how, until the day he met Delilah.
Delilah St. James was the epitome of flawless. Brought up in an affluent southern household, Delilah’s life had been planned from the moment she was born. She was raised to be the perfect socialite and daughter, and groomed to be the ideal wife. When a school internship moved her to Sulfur Heights for the summer, Delilah collided with the bitter reality of life outside her comfortable gated community when Jake Evans upset her perfect world.
Over the next two years, Jake and Delilah became best friends, embracing a friendship neither one was prepared to have, although they soon found it to be a relationship that neither one of them were willing to sacrifice.
A tragic turn of events brings Jake and Delilah together once again. Only this time, the feelings are different. Lines within their friendship are blurred. Everything they vowed never to do, becomes the very thing they cannot deny. Will Jake and Delilah’s relationship withstand the changes surrounding them? Or will the emotions sever the two year friendship they’d fought so hard to keep?
**Mature Content Warning** 17+ for language and sexual content**
~Excerpt~
Darcie ~ Age 12
“Darcie, your stepfather does these things because you refuse to listen to anything I tell you,” my mom says while swallowing a handful of pills with her glass of red wine. “Just stay out of his way, be in your room when he’s home and it will give him less of a reason to punish you.”
I’ve been putting up with Robert’s punishments for eight years and I’ve come to the conclusion that I will never escape them until I leave. My mom takes pills and drinks from her bottle of wine several times a day. When she’s not drinking or downing pills, she’s sleeping.
I despise my mother. She’s weak and I fucking hate her.
She tells me I deserve punishments and she’s probably right, but what she’s neglected to tell me is why she allows him to do it. I barely remember what our life was like before Robert Stein, but I know it was never this horrible. We managed to have fun and I never lived in fear. Why did she let Robert change her? Isn’t a mother supposed to protect their child? Once a child is born, isn’t their mother expected to possess this sixth sense, that same kind of sense that can allow women to lift cars off their children? My thoughts fade as soon as she squeezes the ointment on her finger and rubs it onto the fresh cigar burns on my back and thighs. Robert never gave me a reason why he did it other than he couldn’t find his ashtray.
~About the Author~
M.S. Brannon was born and raised in the Midwest. She still resides there today with her wonderful husband and son. When she is not writing or reading, M.S. Brannon spends time with her family, watching movies, and discovering new music. She writes romance because she believes love and heartache is the rawest emotion one can experience.
You Make Me (Blurred Lines #1)
Author: Erin McCarthy
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The guy she wants…
Growing up on the coast of Maine with a revolving door of foster siblings, Caitlyn Michaud spent one intense and passionate year falling in love with her foster brother, Heath. Then he left without a word. The betrayal devastated Caitlyn and made her vow to forget the compelling bad boy. But forgetting his sensual touch and their deep all-consuming friendship is easier said than done.
Isn’t the guy she needs…
Determined to move on, in college Caitlyn has risen above her small town impoverished roots and has joined a sorority, reinvented her appearance, and landed the right boyfriend. Pre-law major and frat president, Ethan, is thoughtful and always laughing, and he makes her feel happy, calm. He also gives her the social acceptance she craves.
But the perfect world she tried so hard to attain is ripped apart when Heath appears one night out of nowhere. Caitlyn remembers all the reasons why she loves him, even if they don’t make sense to anyone but her. Out of the military, Heath is as brooding and intense as ever, and he is determined not only to win her back, but to exact revenge on everyone who kept him from her…
And when one love allows her to breathe, but the other feels as essential to her life as air, how does she choose between them?
~Prologue~
Heath said he would never leave me.
He promised that nothing, no one, would ever come between us.
I was laying on the grass staring up at him, overwhelmed at how much I loved him, and how intensely good it felt to have him sliding inside me, my sundress shoved up around my waist. The ground beneath my back was hard, the grass cool and dewy. My body hot. Tense.
“Cat,” he murmured, his pale blue eyes locked onto me. “I don’t exist without you, you know that, right? You make me who I am.”
A year long friendship. A sly flirtation. All while falling deeply in love as we were left mostly alone on the rocky shores of coastal Maine. It had all brought us to that moment of surrender on the grass.
“I love you,” I whispered, throat tight. No other words were right or weighty enough to express what I was feeling as I gave him my virginity, my trust. I felt full of him, body and soul, and nothing in my life had ever been so perfect, so important.
“I love you, too.” His tongue ran over my bottom lip as he came inside me, and all his words echoed around and around in my head and my heart.
Yet they were promises that were broken.
And lies he told me.
Because that was the last time I saw him.
~About the Author~
USA Today and New York Times Bestselling author Erin McCarthy sold her first book in 2002 and has since written almost fifty novels and novellas in teen fiction, new adult, and adult romance. Erin has a special weakness for New Orleans, tattoos, high-heeled boots, beaches and martinis. She lives in Ohio with her family, two grumpy cats and a socially awkward dog.
Dancing On the Edge
Author: Kit Bakke
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Twelve year-old Dot is not a dancer, but after her mother’s sudden and senseless death, she finds herself dancing on the edge…of everything. After her whole world unravels in seconds, Dot is propelled on a voyage to discover the meaning of her past, and of her mother’s greatest gift to her.
With all familiar anchors swept away, Dot’s trip becomes a struggle between finding that gift and running away from a future that feels so bleak. Pack your bags for a memorable, powerful journey into life in the wake of profound loss.
~Excerpt~
From Chapter 26: Dot to the Rescue
The yelling was repeated, and it was coming from far below. Forgetting about the ladies hiking in long skirts, Dot planted her feet and leaned carefully across the top of the stone barrier to peer down the steep side of the hill. She heard the yell again, from straight down and slightly to the right. She could see a pile of rocks and some stubby, green bushes. Amongst the brown and green she saw something bright red and what looked like sprawled arms and legs. Suddenly dizzy, she turned away quickly. “Down there!” she croaked at Aunt Tab, who’d snorted herself awake.
Aunt Tab hitched herself over to where Dot was leaning with her back against the rock. “It’s okay. I’ll look,” she said, and wiped Dot’s sweaty forehead with her sleeve.
Aunt Tab peered over the rock and saw what Dot had seen. Looking more closely, the patch of red moved, and soon resolved itself into a long-sleeved shirt or jacket and the person in it appeared to be trying to wave. Aunt Tab waved back, and yelled down, “Do you need help?”
“Help!” came wavering back up the hill.
“I’ll go,” Aunt Tab said, clambering over the stone barrier in a very awkward, old lady sort of way. She immediately lost her footing and fell, tearing holes in the knees of her pants.
Dot reached for Aunt Tab’s disappearing shoulder. “You can’t do that. I’ll go.”
Aunt Tab gratefully grasped Dot’s hand and scrambled back to level ground. “Trails are one thing, downhill cross-country, something else entirely,” she apologized. “And it’s just a jacket—the red is just a jacket.”
Dot gave her aunt a crooked grin and looked at the bright blue sky above her. Fortified, she scissored her legs over the stones and prepared to make a controlled slide down the hill. “Here, take the water.” Aunt Tab tossed her the bottle as Dot dropped below the level of the path.
Dot’s free hand grabbed at branches as she traversed across the face of the steepest parts, trying not to tumble down on top of whomever was at the bottom. About half-way down she stopped to catch her breath and map out her next steps. She felt brave and scared and daring and kind. She was going to rescue someone!
She noticed that her feet gripping crosswise on the steep slope were kicking down sheets of pebbly landslides. She hoped they wouldn’t get bigger, like those helicopter snowboarders she once saw on TV, who skied right through their own avalanches as they zigzagged down vertical snowfields. It wouldn’t be good to bury the person you were trying to save.
She could hear Aunt Tab shouting directions from above—“go right” or “go left”—but she ignored them because she was switching back and forth so much anyway, and she didn’t know if Aunt Tab meant her own right or left, or Dot’s.
Signaling to Aunt Tab that she was doing fine, Dot took careful aim at a spot near but not on top of the person below. The red splotch was now clearly and safely just a jacket. She couldn’t make anything else out very well, blue jeans maybe, and possibly a green daypack off to one side. This was a game of Slip N’Slide in real life, she thought, as she got into the rhythm of moving her arms and legs from rock to branch to slippery foothold. A memory from a million years BT bubbled up—her mother laying out the plastic Slip N’Slide sheet and dousing Dot and Junie with the water hose, the water sparkling in the sunshine and cooling their summer-warmed skin. Not now, she said to herself. She didn’t want to be distracted from the present.
She waved at the red splotch below and yelled, “I’m coming!” She wished she had a walking stick to wave and point like Miss Wordsworth and Miss Wollstonecraft.
A few marginally controlled slides later and Dot was at the level of the bushes just above where the person lay. She could now see him clearly, for it was definitely a boy. Not only that, it was definitely the only boy she knew in England and not only that, it was definitely the one boy she disliked the most in the whole world.
~About the Author~
Kit Bakke spent the last half of the 20th century as a political radical (SDS and the Weather Underground), a pediatric oncology nurse, and an information technology consultant. In the 21st century, she became a published writer. Her MISS ALCOTT'S E-MAIL has led to further writing adventures, including being a founding member of Seattle7Writers (www.seattle7writers.org) and a chapter in HOTEL ANGELINE. Her latest book, DOT TO DOT, is a story of travel, discovery and possibly magic. Young teens, if they are good readers, like it, and so do adults.
To Know Me
Author: Marcy Blesy
Find "The Know Me": Amazon | Author Page
To know me is to die.
Seventeen-year-old Mae is convinced that the consequences of her poor decisions have caused the untimely deaths of her dad, sister Laura, and grandma who all die within a year, no matter how ludicrous her thoughts seem to those she loves. The solution? Run away so no one else she cares for gets hurt (even if she has to keep a GPS tracker on her phone at all times).
Desperate to earn her diploma and salvage something of her life, she transfers schools when people get too close. After switching to Woodson Prep with only two months to go until graduation, Mae keeps her goals in sight. But when she meets Ty, the “perfect boy” with his own secrets and a relentless interest in Mae, she must decide if she can stop running from the past and still protect those she loves.
~Excerpt~
“Is this for me?” I ask as Ty stands in the center of the clearing with a yellow rose in one hand.
“No. It’s for that grandma who’ll be passing this area in about ten minutes. I’m just practicing my delivery.” He’s so cute when he’s being sarcastic. I take the rose. In an instant I am shocked back to the day of Laura’s funeral. Everyone in her sixth grade glass brought roses to the cemetery to lay upon her grave, yellow ones, her favorite color. “Why aren’t you smiling?” Ty asks. “Did I do something wrong?”
“N…no.”
“Your hand is shaking,” he says coming over to my side. “Sit down.” He points to the picnic table. “Mae, if you don’t tell me anything I won’t ever be able to help you. I want to help you. I know what it’s like to need help. There’s a lot you don’t know about me, too. And I’m willing to tell you. It’s weird because I hardly know anything about you, but I feel like we’re a lot alike.”
“We’re nothing alike,” I say. I want to tell him. But if I do? Then what? He won’t understand. No one does.
“Is yellow not a good color for brunettes?” he jokes. I can’t help but smile. He takes the rose, breaks off the stem, and tucks it behind my ear. He leans in to smell the rose and kisses my cheek. Only the crunching of sticks from the older couple on the path stops him from reaching my lips.
~Giveaway~
a Rafflecopter giveaway
~About the Author~
Marcy Blesy is the author of several middle grade and young adult novels and short stories. Her picture book, Am I Like My Daddy?, helps children who experienced the loss of a parent when they were much younger. She has also been published in two Chicken Soup for the Soul books as well as various newspapers and magazines. By day she runs an elementary school library and enjoys spending time with her husband and two boys.
Marcy is a believer in love and enjoys nothing more than making her readers feel a book more than simply reading it. She likes to connect with her readers via twitter (@marcyblesy), email (mablesy(at)yahoo.com), or her blog(www.marcyblesy.com).
The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee’s View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it’ll allow us to show off more new blogs!
Every week we'll discuss a new topic. This week's topic?
Have any pets? Tell us or show us!
I do NOT have a SINGLE pet! I've actually been too busy having kids to have time for a pet. But, now that my youngest is two, my husband and I have been talking about getting a dog. I'm just trying to prepare myself for the fact that it'll be like having a baby again. They're SO much work! But, also very much worth it.
If it's up to me, this is the kind of dog I'd get:
A Great Dane! I've wanted one forever! Look how huge they are! And how cute!
Thanks for stopping by!
The Day Human Prince
Author: B. Kristen McMichael
Find "The Day Human Prince": Amazon | B&N
Devin Alexander grew up as the only day human in a world surrounded by night humans who drank blood, sometimes his blood. He spent his life training towards one goal: the protection of one of those blood drinkers, Arianna. But what is he supposed to do when the blue-eyed girl of the legends doesn’t need him anymore? What does his life mean then? How is a guy supposed to move on when the girl he has pined over for a decade chooses someone else?
Before he can even start to figure out his new life without Arianna, Devin has to deal with another problem. He needs to take care of some unfinished business with a night human he has known for less than a month, but with whom he is magically bound.
Vanessa McKinny has promised that she knows a way to undo the spell she placed on Devin to save his life. Devin would do anything to break the bond to be free of her, even if it means traveling to the sidhe village, a place inhabited by a race of night humans that has not had a day human visitor in more than a hundred years. If he doesn’t plan to get stuck, he must work with Nessa to find a way to break the bond. Only then can Devin have time to get back to finding his new goal in life, unless he discovers that his path lies with the sidhe.
~Excerpt~
Devin is welcomed into the sidhe village:
“Lindsey, I brought someone to enter the village,” Nessa called again.
The ground beneath them rumbled a bit as Devin and Nessa tried to regain their balance. Soon, the hills that Nessa had been talking to moved and a very large, somewhat deformed, sidhe stood and stretched. The sidhe had to be over seven feet tall and three feet wide. Devin hid his shock as best he could. It would just make Nessa laugh more. He could already tell why she hadn’t told him much in in the way of details about Lindsey. The old sidhe was enormous and scary just to look at. The sidhe was covered in grass and moss, adding an additional bulk to it. Devin analyzed the sidhe from head to toe briefly. He looked for soft spots and easy targets, but there wasn’t much difference between the mass of green that was the body and that which had to be the legs. He couldn’t really even make out the face at that point.
Slowly the sidhe unfolded a bit more, now towering over eight feet, and shuffled forward. The mass of green foliage, grass, and moss didn’t move smoothly, but with more of a limp.
“I’m supposed to fight her?” Devin asked Nessa quietly. The sidhe didn’t look to be much of an object beyond size. Lindsey looked like an old grandma sidhe that obviously hadn’t been called out in a long time, based on the grass and moss growing on her.
Devin didn’t even feel the hit that threw him across the clearing. He landed in the soft earth near where Lindsey had just been lying.
~Book Trailer~
~Giveaway~
a Rafflecopter giveaway
~About the Author~
Originally from Wisconsin, B. Kristin currently resides in Ohio with her husband, two small children, and three cats. When not doing the mom thing of chasing kids, baking cookies, and playing outside, she is using her PhD in Biology working as a scientist. In her free time she is hard at work on multiple novels; as each day passes, she has more ideas for both current and future novels.
Check out the synopsis and the gorgeous cover!! Sounds great!
Love & Decay (Volume 2)
Author: Rachel Higginson
Pub. Date: Dec. 3, 2013
Acquired: Purchased.
Find "Love & Decay (Volume 2)": Amazon | B&N
Author Page
Zombies- as if that wasn’t enough to ruin any girl’s dream of a happily ever after.
A lot has changed for Reagan in the few months since she stumbled upon the Parker family. She has given up her isolated vagabond lifestyle and along with her best friend Haley, made a permanent home with the brothers and their sweet, little sister.
More specifically, Reagan has fallen in love with Hendrix Parker, a man just as consumed with loving and protecting her.
Their love is tested time and time again as their lives are continually threatened and put in danger, Zombies lurk around every dilapidated corner and an uncertain risk follows them across state lines.
While the undead haunt their newfound happiness, Matthias Allen and his obsessive son Kane remind Reagan and friends that Zombies aren’t the only evil lurking in this new apocalyptic world. Kane is on a mission to make Reagan his and take her back to The Colony, where his father reigns as a tyrannical overlord and Kane is second in command.
While Tyler and Miller Allen adjust to life with the Parkers, Reagan and Haley after their own escape from The Colony, the group decides to set up camp at a safe settlement that offers them refuge.
But is anything truly safe at the end of the world?
Soon they are surrounded by Zombies trying to eat them, an enemy settlement trying to rip them apart and the internal, every day struggles of trying to live together at the end of the world.
No matter the cost, Reagan refuses to give up Hendrix, Haley and the others that she has come to love so fiercely. She will fight any enemy, against any evil; she will do anything to keep her freedom and the people that have become her life and everything she lives for safe.
Love and Decay, Volume Two, is a compilation of the last six episodes in a twelve episode season. This volume includes a bonus episode from Hendrix Parker’s point of view. It is a Dystopian Romance Novella Series about Zombies, the end of the world and finding someone to share it with.
This story takes place over multiple episodes, with a release date every two weeks.
~My Review~
Oh, boy. Just when I thought this series couldn't get any more intense. I was so wrong.
Reagan is such a strong female character but I'm so glad that she has some vulnerability along with that strength.
After being taken by the semi-psychotic-but-ultimately-tempting Kane and his family, Reagan will do whatever she can to keep all of her people safe. This includes Kane's sister and brother who see their family for the evil that they are. However, this is easier said than done.
Between a crazy man who wants to keep her all to himself, zombies (who seem to be developing some crazy smarts) who want to eat them, and the unknown of letting Hendrix have her heart, Reagan never seems to have a moment of peace.
This volume of Love & Decay is crazier and more nail-biting than the first, if you can believe it. The situations that the Parkers, Reagan, and Haley are subjected to made me a little crazed at times. I'm a girl who likes a story that can be predictable...Most of the time. However, no character is safe and no situation is impossible for Ms. Higginson. And, that was totally okay with me!
The writing is brilliant and I can't think of a single moment where I was bored. It's all I can do to not stay up till the wee hours every other Friday just waiting for the next installment.
Also, just when I thought the story couldn't be any better, Ms. Higginson gave us an extra episode from Hendrix's point of view. Ms. Higginson, if you see this, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!
~My Rating~
~About the Author~
I was born and raised in Nebraska, but spent my college years traveling the world. I fell in love with Eastern Europe, Paris, Indian Food and the beautiful beaches of Sri Lanka. But I came back home to marry my high school sweetheart and now I spend my days raising our growing family. In those few spare moments I have, I am either reading or writing Young Adult Fiction, because I am obsessed with it.
Five other things I'm obsessed with right now:
1. My Kuerig Coffee Machine. Genius.
2. 90's music. Oh man, the 90's speak right to my soul.
3. Chocolate smelling body wash. Who doesn't want to walk around smelling like a bakery?
4. Colored Chapstick. And if it's Dr. Pepper Flavored, that's kind of my nirvana.
And.
5. Spotify. It's like the mixed-tape of this generation and I have probably three hundred hours of music on there. Can't get enough.
