Thursday, September 7, 2017

LONG, TALL COWBOY CHRISTMAS by Carolyn Brown Teaser Excerpt Blitz











LONG, TALL COBWOY CHRISTMAS by Carolyn Brown (September 26, 2017; Forever Mass Market; $7.99; Happy, Texas Series Book 2)

A heartwarming holiday read from USA Today bestselling author Carolyn Brown

Nash Lamont is a man about as solitary as they come. That's exactly why ranch life in middle-of-nowhere Happy, Texas suits him. So what the heck is he doing letting a beautiful widow and her three rambunctious children temporarily move in? Before he knows it, they're stringing Christmas lights and decorating the tree... and he's having the time of his life. But after everything he's been through, Nash knows this kind of happiness doesn't last.

Kasey Dawson thought she'd never get over the death of her husband. Nash, with his strong hands and infinite patience, is stirring something she hasn't felt in a long time. Kasey knows the sexy cowboy isn't telling her everything about this past, though. And she refuses to risk heartbreak all over again. But her kids have a plan of their own: Nothing will keep them from having a real family again-even if it takes a little help from Santa himself.


"Genuinely sweet." --Publishers Weekly

Excerpt:
Padding out of the room in her flannel pajama pants and an oversized faded shirt, Kasey found Nash washing dishes and no kids in sight.
“Shhh…” He put a finger over his lips. “They just now dropped off for naps. If they hear your voice, they’ll wake up.”
She frowned and pointed toward the dining room. “What is that?”
“Camping out,” he explained.
A white sheet had been draped over the dining room table, creating a tent. Underneath were pillows, books and two sleeping children.
“They’re camping and I’m watching out for bears and skunks,” he explained. “Hungry?”
“Starving. I’m always nauseated at the onset of one of the headaches and afterwards so hungry I could eat one of those bears if you catch it.” She caught a whiff of Italian food. “You cooked?”
“Of course,” he said. “Sit down right here and let me work on your neck. Lots of headaches are stress related and come out of the neck.”
She eased down into a chair and Nash went to work on her temples first, placing his hands on her cheeks so that his thumbs worked on the spots between her eyebrows and hair line. Making lazy circles and increasing the pressure every few seconds, he kept up the massage for a good five minutes before moving around to the back of the chair. He took her neck in his hands, heating her hormones to the boiling point. Rolling it around in his hands, she could feel the tension leaving her body by degrees. Then he began to massage her shoulders, digging his fingers into the knots and dissolving them. The pain in her head dissolved to half strength and her stomach grumbled.
“Now for food. Sit right there and I will bring it to the table.”
Kasey couldn’t remember the last time a man had waited on her.  “God, this is amazing,” she said after taking a bite of the spaghetti he put in front of her. “Did you make the sauce from scratch?”
He nodded. “Just like my cousin Amanda taught me. She married an Italian, and she’s an amazing cook. After eating her marinara, that stuff you buy in a jar at the grocery store is pretty bland.”
 “You cook and watch kids, run a ranch—what can you not do?” Kasey asked.
“I’m not real good at talkin’ to most people,” he said.
“That’s not what I see.” She almost groaned when she bit into a slab of garlic bread.

“Oh yeah? And what do you see?”
“I see a man who’s got some demons, but you talk to me just fine,” she told him between bites.
“Well, you’re special,” he replied softly.

Buy the Book!













Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/2gCkRYq

About the Author














Carolyn Brown is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling romance author and RITA® Finalist who has sold more than 3 million books. She presently writes both women's fiction and cowboy romance. She has also written historical single title, historical series, contemporary single title, and contemporary series. She lives in southern Oklahoma with her husband, a former English teacher, who is not allowed to read her books until they are published. They have three children and enough grandchildren to keep them young. For a complete listing of her books (series in order) check out her website at CarolynLBrown.com.

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Monday, August 28, 2017

Here Comes the Bride Release Week Blitz











There goes the groom . . .

For Professor Laurie Wilson, planning her wedding to longtime boyfriend Brandon Kopp has been a whirlwind. But somehow, between all the cake tastings and dress fittings, she never imagined being left at the altar. In the aftermath, she does what any sensible woman would—she swigs champagne and considers keying his car. Until someone knocks on her door with a much better idea for revenge.


Best man Andrew Lyndon thinks Laurie's better off without Brandon. But Laurie's father—and Andrew's boss—isn't going to accept anything less than a reconciliation. And he's made it Andrew's problem to solve. So Andrew decides to make Brandon jealous by setting Laurie up on a string of "dates." After a couple of weeks, Brandon will be begging Laurie to take him back. But Andrew's plan works a little too well because suddenly he's the one falling for Laurie—and planning a proposal of his own.

Excerpt
Laurie was busy killing her waistline with her days-long ice cream, popcorn, and pizza binge. But hey, she didn’t have to worry about fitting into the beautiful lace wedding dress anymore. And binging on junk food and all twenty-six episodes of the first two seasons of House of Cards kept her mind off her troubles.
But she hadn’t watched more than fifteen minutes before someone knocked on her front door. Damn. Couldn’t people just leave her alone? But then whoever it was decided to peep through the gigantic living room window that overlooked her rickety porch.
Laurie’s heart soared. The visitor who pressed his face up against the grubby window pane was definitely male. For an instant, she thought it might be Brandon, come to tell her that calling off the wedding was a horrible mistake.
But the guy on her porch was taller and thinner than Brandon. “C’mon, Laurie, open the door,” he said as he raised a green and red donut box. “I brought Krispy Kremes.”
Speak of the devil. Andrew Lyndon himself. The best man. With donuts.
She hauled herself up from the couch and padded to the front door. She cracked it open. “I’ll take the donuts, please.” She reached her hand through the narrow opening.
He cocked his head like an adorable puppy with big, soulful eyes. “You don’t get the donuts unless you let me in.”
“I’m not dressed for company,” she said, glancing down at her pink bunny slippers, gray sweatpants, and George Washington University sweatshirt. She’d been wearing these clothes since Sunday afternoon.
“I’m not company,” he said.
“No? Then why are you here bearing bribes?
Andrew’s mouth twitched. “Your dad sent me.”
How could you not like Andrew when the guy always told the truth? He was dependable. And honest. “Why did he send you and not come himself?”
“I don’t know. I’m here to talk to you about an idea.”
“What kind of idea?”
Andrew looked away and to the left, his body language screaming discomfort.
Laurie was suddenly intrigued. She opened the door wide and knew a moment of humiliation as he scanned her from head to toe. She hated the look in his eyes. Was it pity? She didn’t want anyone, least of all Brandon’s best friend, to pity her. “So what is this idea?”
“Teaching Brandon a lesson.”
“How? And why would you be interested in doing that? I mean, you’re his friend, right?”
He looked her straight in the eye. “Yes, I am. And I also work for your father.”
“Right. So conflicted.”
He nodded. “Your father wants to help you and Brandon get back together. He’s enlisted my help.”
She snatched the box of donuts from his hands. “I’m really sorry, Andrew. He can be a pain in the butt. But thanks for these.” She clutched the box to her breast and tried to shut the door in Andrew’s face.
Unfortunately, Andrew had good reflexes. He wedged his foot in the door and forced it open.
She retreated in the face of his superior strength, but not without a snarky retort. “I’m not sharing the donuts.” She selected a donut from the box and nodded her head at him. “Okay, you’ve got exactly five minutes for whatever it is you came to say.”
 “On Saturday, when I asked you what you wanted, you told me that you were willing to forgive Brandon. Do you still feel that way?”
A rush of sugar coursed through her as she sank her teeth into the donut. There was nothing in the world—not even sex— as good as a Krispy Kreme. She thought carefully about Andrew’s question as the donut melted in her mouth. “I don’t know,” she said honestly.
Andrew nodded, as if her answer hadn’t surprised him in the least. “He broke my heart,” she added, just to be clear. “How can I forgive that?”
“Easy. If you love him and want to be his wife.”
“Not so easy. I mean, why did Brandon do that to me? We were together for so long.”
“What if that’s the problem?” he asked.
“What? That we’ve been together? Like it’s okay for him to get bored?” Although that’s exactly what had happened.
Andrew shook his head. “No, it’s more like fear of better options.”
“What does that mean?”
“Maybe he feels as if he never took the time to…I don’t know, play the field, sow some wild oats, whatever.”
“Right.” She took another bite of the donut. In a minute, she would ask Andrew to leave, and she would forget this unsettling conversation.
 “So,” he said when she was down to licking the sugar off her fingers, “what if we showed Brandon the consequences of looking for better options?”
“Okay. And what, in your judgment, are the consequences?”
“I’m pretty sure Brandon hasn’t thought through how he might feel if you decided to go out and play the field.”
“So you’re saying that if I do what Brandon asked me to do—go explore other options—it will make him jealous?”
“Well, sort of. See, I’m not suggesting that you actually date other people. I’m suggesting that you give the appearance of dating other people. In order to make him realize what an idiot he’s being.”
“Okay, how do I give the appearance of dating? What do I do, just go directly to Match.com and post a sexy profile?”
He leaned back in the chair, looking so completely comfortable that it irked her. “Instead of Match.com, I was thinking along the lines of setting you up on a series of show dates, with guys Brandon either knows or admires or even hates. In short, guys that will annoy the crap out of him. We’d arrange them so that Brandon either sees you out with someone else, or hears about it. I’m betting that seeing you out with someone else will drive him crazy.”

ABOUT THE BOOK













Title: HERE COMES THE BRIDE
Author: Hope Ramsay
Series: Chapel of Love, #3
On Sale: August 29, 2017
Publisher: Forever
Mass Market: $7.99 USD
eBook: $5.99 USD
Audio: $19.98 USD

PREORDER THE BOOK HERE


THE CHAPEL OF LOVE SERIES








A FAIRYTALE BRIDE, #.5
A CHRISTMAS BRIDE, #1
A SMALL-TOWN BRIDE, #2
HERE COMES THE BRIDE, #3


ABOUT THE AUTHOR













Hope Ramsay is a USA Today bestselling author of heartwarming contemporary romances.  Her books have won critical acclaim and publishing awards. She is married to a good ol' Georgia boy who resembles every single one of her Southern heroes. She has two grown children and a couple of demanding lap cats. She lives in Virginia where, when she's not writing, she's knitting or playing her forty-year-old Martin guitar.


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Saturday, August 26, 2017

Review of Sweet Southern Trouble by Michele Summers

Book Summary:

Marabelle Fairchild has always went against what others expected her to do. Born of privilege and not wanting that life for herself she did everything that she could to distance her self from that including going to school to be a teacher and getting a job as a teachers aide. Hoping to secure herself a full time teaching job she volunteers to take charge of the school fundraiser which happens to be a bachelor auction. The catch she has to find eligible bachelor's to participate including one hot NFL coach named Nick Fraiser. Will Marabelle be able to convince Nick to participate or will she get distracted by the handsome coach and forget her real mission?

Nick Fraiser used to enjoy being called Raleigh's most eligible bachelor... however now he wants his boss to take him seriously and the only way to do that is to settle down and have a family. The only way to do that is to make a deal with a spunky, loud mouthed kindergarten teacher. His portion of the deal is he will get a handful of NFL players to participate in her bachelor auction fundraiser, her portion is she will pretend to be his fiancĂ©. But will they be able to keep up the rouse or will they find out that they might not be actually playing pretend. 

My review: 
Ever since I read Michelle Summer's book, "Not so New In Town" I have always wanted to read more by her. So when I saw this book on Netgalley I jumped at the chance to read it. I think Michelle did a great job of developing the characters from their personalities to their wardrobes. I really felt by the end of the story, we as the reader really knew who they were. In addition, I found that she did a great job of setting the scenes in the books as well. From the times when she was hosting his players to when he was helping her convince her parents they were engaged. Each time she really made you feel like you could see the room.

Another aspect of the book that I enjoyed was the humor that the author threw into the book along with the serious parts. For instance when Marabelle said a cute but funny statement in the early part of the book to herself, "He could be the perfect modern-day prince charming to her Cinderella scouring the locker room floors."

Lastly, what I really liked about this book was how Michelle had Marabelle and Nick's story grow from beginning to end. It was really nice to have a book really concentrate on the story and not worry about the other fluffy stuff that sometimes can happen in contemporary romance books. I honestly couldn't put this book down as it had me wanting to know what was going to happen to them. 

I can wait to read more from Michelle!