Tuesday, September 30, 2014

**Cover Reveals**SC Montgomery's**Lines in the Sand and Two Blue Lines**

Cover Reveal for Lines in the Sand and
Two Blue Lines
by SC Montgomery!


It's finally here! The cover reveal for Lines in the Sand and Two Blue Lines, SC Montgomery's new Crossing the Line series.

Genre: Young Adult
Lines in the Sand Release Date: October 10th
Two Blue Lines Release Date: October 23rd


 

 Blurb for Lines in the Sand (Prequel Novella for Crossing the Line series):

Two best friends. One emotional adventure.

When Reed Young and Jonah King unearth some mysterious remains at their favorite beach hangout, their summer is thrust into an exciting tailspin.

Determined to get to the bottom of the mystery, they embark on a heartrending journey to find out the truth . . . and make it right.

But neither of them expected the secrets they would find.
 

 

 

Blurb for Two Blue Lines (Crossing the Line, Book #1):

His fear . . . Her secrets . . . Their choice.

What if the only girl you’ve ever loved lied to you?

Lied to everyone?

Those two blue lines changed everything for Reed Young and Melissa Summers. In more ways than one.

And now, he must decide for himself . . .

Man up or walk away?

 

SC Montgomery has created an emotional tale of first love, difficult choices, and impossible secrets.  A deliciously angsty debut you need to read for yourself.

 

***Reader Warning*** Two Blue Lines is the emotional, honest story of two teenagers whose lives are about to change forever.  While not glorified, or portrayed in detail, there are themes of sexual assault and teen pregnancy, as well as allusions to teenage drinking and some foul language.  It is all meant to create an honest, relevant novel, but please be aware and read only if you’re comfortable.

 

***To be available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iTunes, and Kobo. Buy links available soon.

 



SC Montgomery is a self-proclaimed nerd and readaholic.  She has dabbled in telling stories since she was very young by letting her imagination play out with her Barbie dolls and her bestie many a weekend.  She also writes Contemporary adult romance under the pen name Shauna Allen, and it was in one of those novels that the YA bug bit when she wrote in a teenager loosely based on her own son.  Her first story, The Summer of Lettie, was penned as a gift for her mother, but was published with her blessing, and it’s just taken off from there.

SC is married with three teenagers of her own, who give her plenty of inspiration and advice, and are a constant source of laughter and new terminology.  Besides writing, she loves reading, movies, singing and dancing reality shows and going to the beach.

You can sign up for her newsletter here: http://eepurl.com/RLQQz





Goodreads:

**Release Day**UNDERNEATH**By Andie M. Long**


Underneath
by Andie M. Long
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Release Date: September 30, 2014



LAUREN LAWLER’s life is visually perfect. However husband Niall seems to have forgotten she exists. Running a Vintage shop on Ebay and meeting her best friend Monique for coffee and shopping, Lauren feels settled but bored. Collecting her nine year old son Joe from school one day, she discovers that the new mum at the gates is her old school foe Bettina.

Lauren is initially wary, but encouraged by Niall, attempts to be friendly, getting involved with the school’s summer fair so that Bettina can meet other parents. This throws Lauren into working with Seb, an outwardly nerdy looking teacher who turns out to be a hidden attraction. As Niall continues to be distant, Seb’s attentions become ever more tempting.

Bettina says she is back escaping a violent husband, but best friend Monique doesn’t buy it and warns Lauren to be careful.

As a vendetta threatens everything Lauren has taken for granted, she has to discover who she can trust. But how much does anyone ever really know about those around them, what’s underneath?




Driven by adrenaline, my hands won't stop shaking as I turn off the alarm set for three thirty am and consider what I'm about to do, part two of my plan. I suck on my top lip, trying to get some saliva into my dry mouth. I push back the duvet revealing the black DKNY top and J. Crew trousers, chosen so I look hot if arrested. I imagined Monique's voice should I face the police dressed in Value jeans and so assembled an ‘attractive assassin’ combo. My armpits feel damp and my heart races to the point that I can feel its thud within my neck, it reminds me of old movies when the monster moves slow before attack. I breathe deep, this is self-defence. I can barely tie the converse I slip on my feet and for a moment I surrender, lay down on the floor in child’s pose, trying to regulate my breathing. It does no good. I must go now. I pull my wavy blonde hair back in a bun, grab my bag, slide on my D&G sunglasses and exit the house.

Behind the wheel of my faithful Nissan Micra, I drive to the bitch's estate and park around the corner, leaving the car obscured by a row of garages. I glance around checking for witnesses. Though I see no-one, I can hear the inebriated screams and laughs of people on their way back from the clubs. I walk casually to her house, my posture straight so should anyone see me they wouldn't question my being there. As I arrive at the front garden I appraise how immaculate it looks, planted with symmetrical bedding in oranges and purples. Box hedging as neat as a newly cut fringe ensures my cover from the estate. She must either love gardening herself or pay a fortune for someone to keep it so pristine. As someone who has grown vegetables from seed and tended to them like an expectant mother, I hesitate before I put on the rubber gloves. Can I really do this? Are things really this bad? As I consider past events I feel my jaw clench and my teeth grind. She deserves everything she gets. I reach down, my fingers grip the neck of the plants and I lift and smash them onto the path where the soil parts from the roots and spills out like spewed guts. I'm horrified to feel a grin that I cannot stop form from my lips. I carry on, full of energy, until the bedding plants are no more and the piled up soil resembles a grave of the newly buried. I move onto her dustbin, retrieve a bag of food waste and push it through the letterbox imagining the smell on her return, putrid and decaying.

I open my bag, fixed together only with one stud, extract the weedkiller and pour it over the meticulous green lawn. I try and dribble it to spell out the word bitch. A few days and hopefully yellowing dead patches will reveal my handiwork. I re-check that no-one watches me as I move around the back of the house, take a screwdriver from the front pocket of the bag and use it to disable the security light in order to prevent its on and off SOS. Pre-dawn light allows me to write WHORE in carefully disguised font across her white PVC door. For my finale I empty fake vomit out of a plastic container over her patio furniture. I silently thank the person who posted the recipe on Pinterest.

Back in the driving seat, I punch a fist in the air before I burst into tears. I turn down the visor and peer at my reflection within its mirror, seeing the reasonably happily married woman turned revenge seeking missile. Ground down and exposed to my rawest state, if you looked closely you'd see every part of me, each individual cell, be able to look within the membrane to the protoplasm. See what's underneath ...







Andie M. Long is a bonkers mother of one, who spends most of her time when not working as a Research Administrator/Medical Secretary on Facebook. She has a long suffering partner.

Author of the erotic novel The Alphabet Game and drama/suspense Underneath,
she has several published short stories and poems; including an upcoming release for Cracked Eye. Andie has a regular blog at www.wordbohemia.com, ‘The Emergence of the Invisible Writer.’

Andie will be signing at Orchard Book Event, Peterborough, UK in March 2015, Tattooed Bad Boys Event, York, UK April 2015, Dublin July 2015 and Silver City Signing, Aberdeen, August 2015.  For details keep in touch at www.facebook.com/andiemlongwriter







Monday, September 29, 2014

**Release Day**The Shadows of Stormclyffe Hall**By Lauren Smith**


The Shadows of Stormclyffe Hall
by Lauren Smith
Genre: Paranormal Romance/Romantic Suspense with Gothic Elements
Publisher: Entangled Publishing
Release Date: September 29, 2014



A thrilling gothic romance from Entangled’s Otherworld imprint…

To defeat a dark evil, they must face his family’s past…

Bastian Carlisle, the Earl of Weymouth, doesn't believe in ghosts. Even though tragedy and mysterious hauntings have driven his family away from his ancestral home, Stormclyffe Hall, he is determined to restore the castle to its former glory. His plans are disrupted when a stubborn American shows up on his doorstep hoping to pry into his family’s tragic history.

Jane Seyton, an American graduate student, is convinced there’s more to the tragedy of Stormclyffe Hall than history claims. Ever the scholar, she is determined to discover the truth, even if it means putting up with the arrogant, yet sexy, Bastian.

Although Bastian wants nothing to do with the pushy American, it soon becomes clear that something evil is in the house—and that something is targeting both Jane and Bastian. The two must join forces to purge the ghosts of Stormclyffe Hall once and for all—even as they try to fight a physical attraction between them that grows more and more impossible to deny.



The twenty-minute drive to the estate took her on a narrow road that paralleled the edge of the coast. Although it was October, the grass was still green on the hillsides, and storm clouds were only a vague outline on the horizon.  The landscape gave way to a slowly rising hill and a mass of distant trees, gnarled and knotted together tight as thorns. Just beyond was a glimpse of the castle. It was a massive edifice that stood stark against the sky and trees, towering over the fields, and she couldn't help but stare.

The countless photographs she’d collected over the years hadn't prepared her for the raw beauty and power of the structure. The worn battlements were still fully intact, facing the sea like warriors, ever defiant in the face of nature’s force on the coast. The steep cliffs merely half a mile from the castle loomed, dark and threatening.

No fence lined the cliff edges. No warning signs guided visitors away except one that read Private Property. Heavy Fines for Trespassing. She repressed an achy shiver as a cloud stole across the sun’s path, dimming all light.

The gray stones of Stormclyffe stood stalwart and proud, challenging her to drive closer. The road turned to gravel and thinned even more, leaving only enough space for her car.

Sheer desolation seemed to pour off the structure as she pulled into the castle’s front drive. If not for the five work vehicles that obviously belonged to various handymen, she would have thought the castle was devoid of all life.

Strands of hair stung her face as the wind whipped it about. There was an unsettling silence on the grounds, like something unnatural muffled the sound of the sea. No crashing waves, only the violence of the wind against the castle’s stones.

The house seemed to be wrapped in an invisible layer of thick wool, where sight and smell were dulled. The wind’s icy fingers crawled along her shoulder blades and dug into her hair, making her tense with apprehension. The castle walls were pitted with small chinks in the stones like fathomless obsidian eyes that stared at her, sized her up, and found her wanting.

The hairs rose on the back of her neck. The eerie sensation of eyes fixed on her back sent a cold wave of apprehension over her skin. She whipped around to look at the deserted landscape, suddenly fighting off a rush of panic at being alone out here.

Her heartbeat froze for a brief moment. A woman in a long white nightgown, hair loose down to her waist, stood hesitantly on the cliff’s edge, half turned toward the sea. She stared at Jane. Her skin was grayish, and her eyes were shadowed with black circles as though she hadn't slept in years.
Something wasn't right about the way she looked, or the fact that the nightgown looked far too old in style for any modern woman to be wearing. Not to mention a woman in a nightgown in broad daylight wasn't right either…




Lauren Smith is an attorney by day, author by night, who pens adventurous and edgy romance stories by the light of her smart phone flashlight app. She’s a native Oklahoman who lives with her three pets: a feisty chinchilla, sophisticated cat and dapper little schnauzer. She’s won multiple awards in several romance subgenres including being an Amazon.com Breakthrough Novel Award Quarter-Finalist and a Semi-Finalist for the Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Award. Lauren loves hearing from readers and can be contacted through her site at www.laurensmithbooks.com.











Friday, September 26, 2014

****Author Spotlight***Rhonda Lee Carver****



Rhonda Lee Carver
"Writing men who love to get their hands dirty..."



At an early age, Rhonda fell in love with romance novels, knowing one day she’d write her own love story. Life took a short detour, but when the story ideas would no longer be contained, she decided to dive in and write. Her first rough draft was on a dirty napkin she found buried in her car. Eventually, she ran out of napkins. With baby on one hip and laptop on the other, she made a dream into reality—one word at a time.

Her specialty is men who love to get their hands dirty and women who are smart, strong and flawed. She loves writing about the everyday hero.

When Rhonda isn't crafting sizzling manuscripts, you will find her busy editing novels, blogging, juggling kids and animals (too many to name), dreaming of a beach house and keeping romance alive.




Sign up for my newsletter on my Website!  



What are you working on now?

I’m working on book 7 of my Second Chance Series, Second Hope Cowboy. This is Tucker’s Story and how he’ll find peace with his past—and maybe find love again with a woman he thought was lost forever.

What flavor is your writing style?

I enjoy writing badass men who have many flaws, and heroines who have been broken in one way or another. I also like stories of second chances, couples reuniting after traumatic events have torn them apart.

Do you ever experience writer's block?

On a daily basis.

Usually I can walk away from the story for a bit and when I come back, the block has been eradicated and I’m back to business. I've learned to allow my characters to take the lead. I might have an idea of what I want to do in the story, where I’m heading, but if something feels right, I just go with the flow. It’s a helluva ride at times, wondering where my characters and I are going to end up.

Do you write an outline before every book you write?

The first outline I've ever written was on a dirty napkin I found buried in my car while I was in the parking lot at Walmart. An idea came to mind and I had to write it down. This idea grew into a story and soon after was my first contracted book. That was the first outline and the last. I have an idea in my head and scene ideas stored in a file in my mind, but I jump right in, and sometimes it turns out nothing like I’d planned. That’s the fun of it all!

Have you ever disliked something you wrote?

I think all writers hate what we write. Good things readers feel differently, otherwise, there would be no books.

But yes, I like the idea of the story much better than the ending product. Probably more because I've spent so much time enveloped in the story that it’s hard to see it in any way but judgmentally. However, if I walk away from a project for a week and then come back, I have a new love that has grown from absence. For instance, when I was finished with my first book in the Second Chance Series, Second Chance Cowboy, I shook my head, feeling like I hadn't created the masterpiece that I’d wanted. I imagine we all feel that way a time or two. When I got rights back for this book, I read it and loved it—my own piece of work was awesome. Time heals all, I assume. I did some tweaking and self-published it. So glad that I did!

Was writing always the first thing you wanted to do in life?

I knew at 13 what I wanted to do with my life—write. Unfortunately, dreams take some time to mold into reality. Thank goodness I didn't give up. I love my career. Wouldn't change a thing.

While you were writing, did you ever feel as if you were one of the characters?

At times, I find that one of my characters is feeling a way that I have, or experiencing an emotion that I have. Characters are pieces of our past and present, molded to create a future in words. I believe all writers use experiences as the foundation of books…but in our world we get to recreate stories, change them, and even give that evil person what they deserve.

What inspired you to write your first book?

Love. Simply love. What better emotion is there?

If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything in your latest book?

Yes! Especially when I’m writing a series. I get into the next book and think, “Dang, I sure wish I gave him this character quality.” “Oh, shoot, I wish I would have known this about my character way before now.”


Under Pressure
Rhinestone Cowgirls, #1
Release Date: August 28, 2014

The oldest of three sisters, Jewels Stone takes care of everyone, especially those she loves. When she finds out the youngest Stone is duped, she plans to rope and wrangle the cowboy to teach him a lesson on how to treat a woman.

Tied to a bedpost and as mad as a hornet, Spark Ryder wants to toss Jewels over his knee and spank her. Problem is, he’d enjoy it too much. Held hostage by rope and wax strips, he tries to convince her that she has the wrong cowboy. But how can he convince her that he’s innocent when she’s out to settle a score against all men?

While seeking revenge, Jewels finds a passion that’ll have her hanging by a dream. The pressure is too much and loose threads holding the past begin to unravel. Her brain urges her to run while her heart wishes to stay.

Spark wants nothing but distance with Jewels, but when things start to heat up on the Rhinestone Ranch, he samples Jewels’ treasure and finds himself on the wrong end of the rope again—but it’s his soul that’s bound to a woman who will never trust.

He wants to stitch her broken heart, but will he walk before his own heart is in need of mending?




Second Chance