Strong is Sexy Heroine of the Week: Abbey

Book: Black Irish
Author: Tricia Andersen
Heroine: Abbey

Abbey begins the series as an extremely naive Iowa children's writer. However, she finds her strength quickly when the two men in her life deceive her. First she realizes her illustrator, Sloan, lies to her about his sexuality. Then she discovers her boyfriend, Michael, steals all her money and runs to Mexico with her best friend.

Instead of being lost and desperate, Abbey gets a job and a place to live in a dangerous part of New York City and saves money to get back home to Iowa. Even when Sloan returns and tells her how he feels about her, she still is determined to be independent. She finds the will in herself to be her own woman. Despite being married to a millionaire, she becomes self-sufficient. Her stubborn independent streak becomes the perfect compliment to strong, stubborn Irishman through the Black Irish series.

Blurb: Abbey couldn't believe he was gay.

She nearly ran away from her dreams of being a children's book writer when she was introduced to her illustrator Sloan O'Riley, a dark, sensual Irishman with incredible ice blue eyes. He certainly couldn't be good for Abbey's relationship with her boyfriend back in Iowa. How could she stay in New York and work intimately with the sinfully sexy Sloan even if he was gay? And when Sloan is threatened to be deported, how far would Abbey go to keep him in the U.S.?

Sloan was forced to tell a little white lie. He had no choice.

He couldn't let the sweet, beautiful, innocent Abbey Wright flee from his life - not without a chance to explore the sudden desire he felt for her. Lying to her by telling her he was gay seemed to put her at ease. But what would Abbey do if she ever discovered the truth about Sloan's sexuality - or learned the deeper, darker secret he's been hiding?

Are you an author with a strong heroine in your book? Want to see her featured? Find out how here.

A Healing Love Released #ContemporaryRomance With #DeafHeroine

You didn't really think I'd stop with just Love Request, did you? I'd like to talk a bit today about my latest full length conrom, featuring a hard-of-hearing heroine. You know how special those are to me.


I'd like you all to meet Kimberly, an Iraqi Freedom war vet healing wounds in her heart as well as her body. In a town called Cripple Creek, she struggles with her new disabilities: hearing loss and vision impairment...but they're only disabilities if you let them be. With the help of a handsome doctor, can she realize this?

Blurb:

Kimberly Rogers vowed to fight a tragic past the only way she knew how: she joined the Army and became strong. No man would hurt her again. But a war wound sends her to her brother's in Cripple Creek, WY, with vision and hearing impairments.

Whereas glasses can help her see and hearing aids can help her hear, nothing can force her to talk again. Is she really unable to speak, or is she hiding behind her disability to protect herself, her pride, and her heart? Regulated to the most menial of jobs, her world in shambles, Kimberly is finally convinced to seek medical assistance.

Carlos Medina is Jackson Hole's best therapist. If anyone can make Kimberly speak again, it's him. But Kimberly has to meet him halfway, and Carlos has his own past tragedy that the young, mute woman threatens to force him to conquer.

They both have wounds…and sometimes wounds must be reopened before they can heal. Can they open up to each other? Can Kimberly find her voice again and open her heart? Can love heal them both?

Excerpt:

Carlos had been expecting a badly scarred, burly woman, not the petite, slender girl from the coffee shop in Cripple Creek. Only, she wasn’t really a girl. Her curves attested to that. He had to remind himself she was twenty-three, as there was something extremely young and vulnerable about her. Only the angry red mark on her throat—not covered by a scarf as it had been when he’d seen her before—marred her beauty…and that didn’t bother him.

She stepped forward, her gaze on his. She looked just as surprised at the sight of him as he was at the sight of her. Had she been expecting an old man with gray hair? He fought the urge not to smile at the idea. Most people expected someone with his reputation to be much older than his twenty-eight years…and not a biker they’d met in a coffee shop who rambled about senoritas and antibiotics. After all, obtaining a PhD was time-consuming. But he’d been lucky, and unlike many other students, had not had to work his way through college, and thus, had been able to focus solely on his studies. He knew he was blessed. A supportive family and a scholarship had seen him through.

Carlos jolted himself from his musings and managed to tear his gaze away from his patient—patient, best not to forget that—and looked for her brother, expecting him to be right behind her. There was no one there; she was alone.

“Hi.” He rose from his chair and reached a hand out to her for her to shake. “You must be Kimberly Rogers. Is your brother with you?” Her hand felt soft and delicate in his own. He was careful not to give it the firm squeeze he normally was prone to giving, careful to keep his expression neutral and not reveal his surprise or pleasure.

She nodded and pointed to the door, in the direction of the waiting room.

He mentally flipped a switch in his mind, from Casual Carlos to Doctor Carlos. Carlos decided the fact she had brought her brother, but not allowed him to escort her into the office itself was a positive sign. She wanted to do this on her own, obviously. She wasn’t weakened to the point she needed someone to hold her hand at all moments. His task may not be as difficult as he’d originally thought. Then again, too much pride could also hinder a patient’s healing. But at least she was willing and comfortable enough to face a therapist on her own. The woman had drive. It was visible in the way she held herself in front of him, back straight, shoulders back, chin up. And though he knew from her records she was wearing contacts, her eyes had a determined glint the lenses couldn’t hide. The removal of the scarf was a positive step as well. She was no longer ashamed of her wound.

“Have a seat.” Carlos gestured to the chair across from his desk, and then, instead of taking his own, he walked around to take the seat a short distance from hers, turning it slightly as he sat so he would be facing her. When she appeared comfortable, despite the fact she was gripping the armrests, he smiled warmly at her. “I’m Carlos Medina. Your brother told me some of your past history and current problems, but I would like the full story from you. Now, I realize you cannot speak; that’s why you’re here, so is there a particular way you wish to communicate with me right now? You want to write? Would you rather fill out a form and then talk to me on the computer until we progress?” He waited, clearing his throat nervously, for her to answer, and shocked himself with his own internal thought. Please, say no.

Yea, he was going to crumple and throw that desensitization, talk via computer crap out the window…if she let him. He couldn’t explain why—some therapist he was—but he didn’t want to this woman to talk to him online. He wanted to talk to her in person. The little switch was slipping back down to Casual Carlos pretty fast. There must be a short in my circuit, because I don’t want or need a woman in my life like that—especially not a patient. It’s not worth my career…or my heart.

Carlos visualized the switch in his mind as he watched the young woman and pictured the little button moving back up to Doctor Carlos.



* * * *



Kimberly stared at the handsome doctor in front of her. Talking online would be easier and more convenient, but she didn’t need that kind of treatment. It wasn’t like she was afraid of going out in public. Plus, she’d lucked out as far as doctors went. The doctors at Walter Reed had been older, gray, and paunchy. Heck, her audiologist wasn’t a young thing, either. But this man…whoa.

He’d been in the back of her mind ever since her failed second job. Meeting him had been the first time she’d felt feelings of attraction or interest in the opposite sex in ages.

This time, the atmosphere was quieter, calmer, and she wasn’t flustered or busy and could take the time to really look at him. He was tall, with olive skin and warm milk chocolate eyes. His face was clean-shaven, his hair ink-black and wavy despite its short length. He sported a very nice suit, a drastic difference from the biker attire she’d seen him in before. An expensive-looking watch was his only jeweled adornment. She’d checked.

He cleared his throat, bringing her back to earth. Kimberly realized he’d been waiting for her to respond. Her face heated with embarrassment. He was looking at her expectantly. What had he asked? Oh yeah, the online thing. No…

Flustered, she merely shook her head at him and reached into her back pocket. She had come prepared. She pulled out her trusty pad, welcoming an excuse to stop staring at him. Her notes were slightly damp from the sweat of her body, and she was reluctant to hand them over, but it was her story, the words she’d written for George. She could sit here all day and scribble in front of him or hand him this.

Deciding she’d rather he be staring at her notes than watching her write them, she handed them over. This way, she would watch him.

He took the notes, and his hand lightly brushed against hers in the process. Kimberly was surprised by the current that traveled up her arm, all the way to her shoulder, on that little contact.

I’m so glad I got contacts.

“Is this what happened to you?” His voice was soft, yet at the same time clear and masculine.

She nodded, very aware of his gaze on her until finally, he looked down at the papers he was holding. A small rush of air escaped her, and she allowed herself to relax. She’d been so conscious of what she must look like; hair tucked behind her aids, the red mark on her throat. It was unnerving having such a handsome man staring at her.

Now, she sat back and stared at him as he read, noting the crease that appeared between his brows, the cleanliness of his fingers turning the pages, the rugged line of his jaw.

Suddenly therapy didn’t seem so bad.

Buy on Amazon, All Romance, Amazon, and Secret Cravings.

Giveaway & Book Blitz: Hardened Desire by Layna Pimentel

What is it about these fascinating sculptures that holds my intrigue? While I’m sure I’ll never know that answer, the one thing I can say for certain, I don’t think I’ll ever stop collecting them any time soon. Whether it’s a garden ornament or an ornate carving in a picture, in my eyes, they’re beautiful no matter how grotesque they appear.

Even at the end of the Disney movie Beauty and the Beast, I was disappointed how they were magically transformed into cherubs. Cherubs on a castle! How outlandish is that? I’ve never seen anything more horrifying. Perhaps that’s just me being over dramatic, but I love the dark and mysterious.

Do you have a favorite garden ornament, knick knack, sculpture, or painting? I’d love to hear from you. For one lucky person today, I’ll be giving away a surprise paranormal romance book from Secret Cravings Publishing. (Not one of my own.) Be sure to follow the rafflecopter link on how to enter, and please leave an email address with your comment. The winner will be drawn and announced on May 16^th. Thanks!



a Rafflecopter giveaway

BLURB

What could Luc Mercier, a gargoyle who's more than a century old, possibly have in common with modern introvert, Gillian Harris? Loneliness and isolation.

When meddlesome friends bring the two together, neither is prepared for the flurry of emotions nor revelations that overwhelm them. That is, until Gillian stumbles across the truth and struggles with how she let her guard down.

Learning to love again has never been harder.

EXCERPT

Luc picked up a newspaper from the stand and tossed a two-dollar coin to the elderly man working the counter. He ascended the cavernous stairs of Bloor and Dufferin subway station, irritated by the lights flickering intensely. I should have just taken my car.

But if he did, Luc would have missed an opportunity to observe society other than from the café he frequented lately. A society he didn’t belong in, technically speaking, and had no business being a part of. Long gone were the muddy, off-beaten roads of provincial France. Long gone was the time when an over-flowing bodice was considered scandalous.

Now people thrived on exposing as much skin as possible. The modern day sentiment of what was attractive and acceptable embarrassed him to the core, from the mode of dress to the inappropriate use of language. Didn’t anyone know how to speak without using an expletive every other word? Where had humanity gone wrong? It was ghastly enough that children didn’t respect their elders, much less their parents.

Nevertheless, as much as this modern world perplexed him, nothing could deter him from at least enjoying his freedom, regardless of the limitations restricting his activities to the darkness of the night.

He did, however, miss the ambiance of candle light and the soft cries while seducing a woman, tormenting her with his wicked tongue. Exploring deviant, but heavenly, practices of binding and mixing pleasure with pain. Sweet promises falling from his lips while exploring every inch of her delicate and exquisite flesh.

These days, the few women he was able to enjoy weren’t interested in highly sensual liaisons. No. Today’s women thrived on being in control of seduction, whether they were proficient or not. There certainly wasn’t anything wrong with the scenario, but it wasn’t his taste. He preferred his women soft, like Genevieve…his sweet, sweet Genevieve.

No matter how many decades passed, the only woman he’d ever confided in, and planned to wed, crept into his mind many a time. Genevieve was an old soul, who found him and fell in love. Then, much like a Greek tragedy, their story ended woefully. The trust and courage it had taken to confess to Genevieve of the monstrosity he had become left him restless and, for once in his miserable existence, vulnerable. If not for her kindness, encouragement, and love, who knew what he would be doing and where.

This last week, though, he thought to explore the possibility of trying again. A particular woman, who frequented the café where he spent his early evenings drinking a brandy and reading The Daily Sun, had caught his particular interest. Her laughter aroused his curiosity in the few and far between moments when he contemplated actually living life. Her voice, whether chuckling or whispering to her friend, always made his body react in an animalistic way.

While they had never met, she seemed like someone he’d be interested in getting to know, at the very least, for a little while. Luc doubted very much he’d find another woman like the love of his life and often thought it would be better that way. How could he even begin to explain why he only ever spent time with her at night, and why he’d always be gone before the first sign of daybreak?

WHERE TO BUY

www.secretcravingspublishing.com

www.amazon.com

www.allromanceebooks.com

www.barnesandnoble.com

www.bookstrand.com

WHAT AM I WORKING ON NEXT

I’m working on the third installment of my Pleasure Garden Follies series. The first book Scandal at Vauxhall will be releasing this July, so make sure to stop by my site for latest updates.

BIOGRAPHY

Born and raised in Toronto, Ontario, Layna discovered her love of reading at an early age. When she isn’t devouring salacious romance novels or writing, she enjoys losing herself in researching ancient history and mythology, weaponry, and hiking. She lives in Northern Ontario, with her husband and two daughters.

Layna is a member of the Romance Writers of America, and is a monthly contributor at 69 Shades of Smut. For updates on her upcoming releases, or to leave her a comment, you can find at:

Website: www.laynapimentel.com

Twitter: www.twitter.com/LaynaPimentel

Facebook: www.facebook.com/AuthorLaynaPimentel

Strong is Sexy Heroine of the Week: Erin O’Malley

Book: Slipping on Stardust
Author: Gordon Osmond
Heroine: Erin O’Malley

Erin is a 19-year-old chemistry major who lives in the small town of Johnson , Ohio.

I would like the novel to speak for itself in describing Erin ’s strength and her sex appeal.

Danton decided that someone should answer the door. When he did, he was rewarded with the sight of a young girl, for many years cute, now airily inhabiting the cusp between seriously pretty and downright beautiful.

Eileen then seriously overplayed her hand, "And you need your rest, my dear. You are looking a little tired," to which every male in the room vigorously chorused, "She is!?"

Eileen’s thoughts fell into easy focus on the little monster that had attracted totally disproportionate attention at Adrian 's welcoming party. That Erin had done so without the slightest intention of so doing only heightened Eileen's annoyance.

Erin’s intelligence is perhaps best displayed when she explains to her ex-boyfriend’s father why she decided to terminate the romance.

"Look, Mr. Brockway. I really hadn't meant to get into this, much less with you, but there's a limit to how much baloney I can be asked to consume on any one occasion."

Erin began to walk up and down in front of an amazed audience of one.

"To take your points, not necessarily in order, Kyle's heightened sensitivity of which you speak so reverentially is, as best I can tell, dedicated exclusively to the service of his own wants and needs. His chronic lateness is not an endearing eccentricity but rather a clear expression of his assessment of the relative values of his time and that of others which is disrespectful at best. It's the same kind of arrogance that causes him to use the answering machine to screen calls when he's home and could perfectly well talk to whoever is caring enough to call him—another of his little habits that drives me crazy. By the way, as my dentist says, stop me at any point. No, on second thought, don't.

"You asked me twice if I thought he was under more pressure going into a field like ballet. I think less. Why? Because no one expects him to succeed. His failure is pre-approved. I mean, you went to law school, right? People expected you to graduate because most do. They expected you to earn a living as a lawyer because most do. If you'd failed, you would have been treated as some sort of inferior reject that got shunted off the assembly line as defective. Kyle's going into a field where failure is the norm so there's no stigma attached to it. Indeed, society cedes a sort of heroism to the struggle regardless of the outcome."

With a master debater's instinct for saving the jugular thrust for last, Erin summed up her argument.

"And I'd feel a lot better about that desire to please thousands of people simultaneously if I didn't think it were born of an accurately perceived constitutional incapacity to please them one by one. That's it—over and out."

"Whew!" was all that Danton could manage at first. Then he recovered sufficiently to add, "And I thought love was blind."

"It is. But 'like' is twenty-twenty."

"You've clearly given this a lot of thought," Dan observed.

"I'd like to think I give everything important a lot of thought."

Danton was beaten and absorbed in the prospect of getting this nineteen-year-old chemistry major to become a lawyer.

Blurb:

Click on cover to
buy on Amazon

There’s nothing like the arrival of a Hollywood star to stir the passions of the people of Johnson, a sleepy small town in Ohio. During his stay with Johnson’s most physically appealing family, the star shakes up the lives of the reigning queen of the local theatre scene, her lawyer husband, and the couple’s handsome but sexually undecided son. Add a scandal at the husband’s law firm and a kidnapping with suicide demanded as ransom and you have what propels family members to New York City and Hollywood and Gordon Osmond’s debut novel to its shattering conclusion.

Those who have ever been involved in small-town life, regional theatre, adolescent rebellion, or legal entanglements, and those who admire the works of Oscar Wilde and Kurt Vonnegut, to whose writing style Osmond’s has been likened, will find themselves within the fast-turning pages of Slipping on Stardust.

Are you an author with a strong heroine in your book? Want to see her featured? Find out how here.

Cover Reveal: Soldier in Chains by Megan D. Martin

Megan D. Martin is here revealing the cover for her upcoming erotica release Soldier in Chains. So, whatcha think?

Blurb:

Dorian North, a soldier in the United States Army, is only hours away from being finished with her final tour in Afghanistan. It's only when she’s ambushed by al Qaeda that Dorian is knocked unconscious and awakens to find herself bound and gagged in a stranger's bed. She desperately tries to escape, but quickly finds herself enamored with her captor's alarming handsomeness.

Rob Hutcherson is a former Sergeant of the United States Marine Corps, who stumbled upon an al Qaeda ambush. He rescues the surviving soldier: the most beautiful woman he's ever laid eyes on. Taking her back to his home he finds his attraction to the fierce young woman to be overwhelming. When she wakes for the first time her goal is clear: escape. In fear for her safety he chains the little hell cat to his bed. He can't bear the thought of losing her, so he plans to show the little spit fire all the reasons she should stay…

Release day has been moved up! Look for Soldier in Chains at your favorite book seller after Friday, April 12^th!

Available as an ebook.

About the author:

Megan D. Martin is a multi-published author, editor, student, and mother.

She enjoys decorating her home with strange things that do not match, playing her old school Nintendo Entertainment System, and buying fish for her many fish tanks.

To learn more about Megan check her out on these social networking sites.

Blog: http://www.MeganDMartin.blogspot.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/Megan_D_Martin
goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6656963.Megan_D_Martin
Google+: https://plus.google.com/115096823539939478098/posts

Virtual Code: Infinity Love by D.F. Krieger

HUGE thumbs up for uniqueness. In a time when 1,000 ebooks are releasing a day, it's quite a feat to write a story nobody has read, and Krieger pulled it off.


The heroine Zayda is designing a program that through virtual reality allows you to "visit" your dead loved ones. So she uses the program to see her dead husband, but only when it's too late does she realize the emotional ramifications of this...what if you don't want to go back to the real world?

And there's a glitch...she has taken a microchip of her husband (this is kinda futuristic, technology wise) and because of this chip, her husband is REAL, just in virtual land. He's not a program after all.

I had a hard time at moments visualizing stuff, but that's probably because I know nothing at all about these things. I know how to open a program and type and that's about it. I felt kinda dumb at moments. LOL

But it was a solid, unique, and entertaining read, and I can see why the ending may be controversial, but it made perfect sense to me. If you have nothing in your life to lose...well, then...

Four bikes. I won this from the author in a blog hop.