Daily Archives: 10/11/2017
A rock star. A stripper. Can a hookup lead to a happily ever after?
RELEASE BLITZ ~ Can’t Miss Christmas by Miranda Liasson
When a children’s book author’s only chance to get home for Christmas lies in a road trip with her sexy ex-husband anything can happen, naughty or nice. Unwrap this Christmas novella from Amazon best-selling author Miranda Liasson, CAN’T MISS CHRISTMAS…
About CAN’T MISS CHRISTMAS
Finding love again is the best Christmas present of all.
It’s two days before Christmas and bestselling children’s author Grace Alberts needs to fulfill a promise—to make it to a book signing for the kids at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, the place that did so much for her during a very rough time. But the weather’s getting awful and all flights are cancelled out of Boston, where she’s wrapping up her book tour. Then in walks her annoying but extremely sexy ex-husband, who (as usual) thinks he’s got all the answers.
Graham Walker just stopped by to get a book signed for Grace’s biggest fan, his niece, and wish Grace a Merry Christmas—why not? But he soon finds himself troubleshooting her dilemma. He’s got a Range Rover that can plow through a hundred-year Nor’easter. He’s even headed home to Philly. Trouble is, Grace’s and his past is a disaster, something he has no intention of reliving while driving through a winter storm, no matter how much he once loved her. And maybe still does.
Bad weather has a way of bringing out the best and the worst in people, and when a run in with some deer antlers leads them to a forced stop in Mirror Lake, Connecticut, anything can happen, naughty or nice. Maybe a bit of enforced alone time and some Christmas magic can be just what it takes for them to face their past—and each other—once and for all.
On Sale in Digital: November 7, 2017
Add CAN’T MISS CHRISTMAS to your TBR pile on Goodreads!
CELEBRATE THE RELEASE WITH A GIVEAWAY!
Grand Prize: 1 Winner Will Receive a Kindle Fire
Runner-Up: 3 Runner-Up Will Receive any Backlist Miranda Liasson Title (Digital Version Only)
Excerpt:
As soon he could, Graham exited the highway and stopped at a convenience mart for gas. It was a relief having something to do. If he didn’t stop reacting to Grace—his whole body on alert, his pulse pounding, his imagination racing to places it had no business going—well, it was going to be a very long trip.
“I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas” blared from a speaker as Graham filled the tank. He turned up the collar on his coat, wishing he had on more comfortable clothes for the long drive.
He wished everything was more comfortable on this crazy drive. When he walked into the store, Grace was buying pretzels and a coffee. He got a coffee too, and paid for her things before she could protest. At the last second, he asked for a couple of lottery tickets, an instant scratch-off game and one of the daily numbers tickets.
“You still buy those?” she asked from her spot in front of him in line.
He used to buy them all the time. He hadn’t, though, since those days when they were broke and poor and winning would mean a ticket to a new life.
But today was…different. He’d bought it on impulse, maybe as a talisman for luck. To survive the drive intact. Or more than that. Something deep down inside made him buy it because it reminded him of the old days.
When they were broke. When all they had was a mattress on the floor and an old steel shelf from his dad’s garage where they kept their underwear and socks. When dreaming of winning the lottery brought visions of a less dumpy apartment, furniture, a car.
Those had been the happiest times of his life. They’d been so in love. They’d had everything and never even knew it. But of course he couldn’t say any of that.
“You sure you’re not hungry?” he asked. “It’s a five-hour drive in good weather.”
She looked hungry. He knew her well enough he could tell. She was a little pale, a trace of dark circles under her eyes. Or maybe she was like him, too nervous and keyed up to think about food. “We can stop and get something after we’re on the road for a while. Does that sound good?” he asked.
“I thought you hated to make stops,” she said, her mouth pulling up in a smile. “When we were married, I used to have to barter for pee breaks.”
“Maybe I’ve learned to be a little less…”
“Anal?”
“Ha ha. In all fairness, I recall several road trips where we made plenty of stops at rest areas but never got out of the car.”
That made her blush.
“We were young,” she said, clearing her throat. Their eyes met, and he could swear he saw a piece of the same heartbreak that was currently wreaking havoc with his entire body.
“We’re still young,” he said, his frustration coming through a little. It was just that they were acting like a pair of eighty-year-olds reminiscing over times that were gone forever.
They could still create good times.
Oh hell. There he went again. It had taken him so long to get over her. Longer yet to even look at another woman. And here he was, two years later, after just thirty minutes in her presence, fantasizing about everything he’d worked so hard to leave behind. Old habits died hard.
When the clerk handed him the lottery tickets, he pocketed the daily number one for later and handed the scratch-off one to Grace. Another old habit.
She looked at him and then the ticket and frowned. “You want me to scratch off the numbers?”
He nodded.
“You’re crazy,” she said.
“For old times’ sake,” he said. “Well, why not? We may as well start this journey off on the right foot.”
She rolled her eyes, but for a heartbeat, something flickered in her eyes. He wasn’t sure, but maybe she’d been touched a little by the corny gesture.
“Oh, all right,” she said, using her nail to scratch off the numbers.
“We didn’t win,” he said, looking over her shoulder. Of course they hadn’t. They’d both lost, badly, a long time ago. Except that had nothing to do with a lottery ticket.
BLP REVIEW ~ Tracy
I love a good second chance romance and Can’t Miss Christmas was up there for me – I mean, c’mon, another shot at love AND Christmas, how could I resist that?!
This is a story of a couple in love who lost their way and for multiple reasons weren’t able to get back to each other. Their meeting up again was a spur of the moment thing when Graham Walker decided to get a book signed by Grace Alberts (who just happens to be his ex-wife) when he’s passing a bookstore where she is currently signing books for her young fans….
They haven’t seen each other in a while but the attraction and connection is still there even though they’ve gone their own way and both still feel hurt from their past actions. Watching them realise what they had, what they lost and realising that there could still be a way forward for them was heartwarming and I was engaged from start to finish.
I haven’t read the Mirror Lake books by Miranda Liasson but after meeting some of the characters from that series in this book I’m definitely gonna be checking out the back catalogue and catching up with the residents in the small town!
A definite 4* read for me.
Author Bio:
Miranda Liasson loves to write stories about everyday people who find love despite themselves, because there’s nothing like a great love story. And if there are a few laughs along the way, even better! She’s a Romance Writers of America Golden Heart winner and an Amazon bestselling author whose heartwarming and humorous small–town romances have won accolades such as the Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence and have been Harlequin Junkie and Night Owl Reviews Top Picks.
Connect with Miranda:
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads | Amazon | Newsletter | Bookbub | Pinterest | Blog
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COVER REVEAL ~ Hard Wood (Ash Brothers #1) by Jenika Snow
is coming MARCH 19, 2018 from Carina Press.
Guaranteed hot, safe, and sporting big axes!
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RELEASE BLITZ ~ Hot Fur the Wolf by Jessie Lane
Title: Hot Fur the Wolf
Author: Jessie Lane
What’s a witch to do? Choose her coven or love?
“Will it hurt?”
Brock ground his teeth while staring at the small human woman in front of his counter.
Placing his hands on the glass display counter, he tried to appear as nonthreatening as possible. “Ma’am, it’s a tattoo, not a massage. Of course it’s going to hurt.”
The blonde bit her bottom lip with uncertainty as she stared down at the design she had picked out. “Hey, I’ve had a deep tissue massage—that hurt. So, I can take some pain, but, like, how bad will it hurt? Really bad?”
Losing his patience after dealing with this same woman for over two hours, he finally snapped, “Well, it’s not going to feel like rose petals across your skin, lady. You’re talking about a needle penetrating your skin thousands of times over a period of hours. It’s going to hurt like hell.”
When a throat cleared from behind him, Brock almost hugged the person who had interrupted, giving him a reprieve.
Brock knew damn well he didn’t have a phone call. With his sensitive shifter hearing, he would have heard the phone ringing from the back office. Jimmy was giving him an out to get away from this customer, and he sure as hell was going to take it.
Looking back to the customer in front of him, he politely excused himself, then retreated to the office at the back of the shop. He sighed in relief as he walked into the small room with a desk, a computer, a filing cabinet, and some of his original art on the walls.
It wasn’t easy being the owner of a tattoo studio, but he loved every minute of it. The customers usually didn’t get on his nerves the way this one had, and that was probably why Jimmy had intervened.
Brock knew what his problem was the moment he sat down at his desk. He needed relief. It was a full moon and his wolf was riding him hard. Unfortunately, his human half was tired of meaningless hookups.
His heart squeezed as he stared at the picture of his sister and her family. He wanted what his sister had—a mate and pups. At almost forty fucking years old, he was tired of spending his nights by himself. His old pack, who were halfway across the country where his sister still lived with her family, had been sad to see him go, but they understood his need to look for his mate.
Just the thought of having a houseful of kids and the woman who would give that to him made him yearn to run out of the shop and continue looking. Looking for her wasn’t the problem, though.
In his endeavor, he had moved to ten cities and had yet to find her with any of the wolf packs. He was starting to become desperate, wondering if he would ever find her. Not to mention restarting his tattoo studio in every town was a pain in the ass. He looked forward to the day he wouldn’t have to close a shop and move again.
What worried him most of all was time. As in, he was running out. Despite the human’s crazy beliefs, shifters didn’t live forever. They had normal life spans that lasted anywhere from fifty to ninety years. With his age, he was quickly losing time to find his mate and start having those pups he so desperately wanted. Brock worried he would never get his dream family.
Lost in thought, he didn’t hear Jimmy come back to his office.
“Hey, man, you all right?”
Jimmy was a wolf from the pack here in Louisville, Kentucky. The two of them worked well together. By watching them, one might think they had known each other for much longer than the few months they had been in each other’s company.
The alpha here had graciously let Brock move into the territory and set up his tattoo studio. Not all alphas were that kind. Some didn’t want stray wolves around their pack, preferring to be more secular. However, the Louisville pack had welcomed him with open arms and wished him the best while he looked for his mate.
Most wolves couldn’t handle being without a pack, but to Brock, finding his mate was more important than having a pack to call his own.
He was grateful that the Louisville pack was willing to let him stay in the area and search, but he dreaded having to move to a new pack’s area to keep looking. The Louisville pack had practically adopted him. Plus, it was nice to have Jimmy and some of the other wolves around so he wasn’t so damn lonely all the time. Jimmy’s sister Raven stopped by the tattoo studio on a regular basis and it sort of filled the hole of not having his own sister around.
Looking at the other wolf, Brock acknowledged for the first time since he had started to look for his mate that, if he had to leave this area, he would miss the pack almost as much as he missed his sister. Louisville had started to become home, which made his search for his mate here all that more desperate. He didn’t want to leave the one place that had started to feel like his, along with the pack that had welcomed him into their fold. He sure as hell hadn’t felt at home at any of the other towns he had visited, nor had those packs been all that welcoming.
Brock shook his head. “Sorry I’m being such an asshole today. It’s the moon, you know?”
Jimmy nodded, knowing exactly what he meant. The full moon brought their beasts closer to the surface. The animal wanted to run free, hunt, and be wild. If only Brock could find the woman he was meant to be wild with, then maybe he would stop feeling so restless.
Rolling his head around on his shoulders, Brock tried to loosen his tense muscles. “Where are you going? Out for a run?” Brock knew the Louisville pack had hundreds of acres outside the city limits. They did pack runs every month and had invited him to come along if he felt the need to cut loose with his wolf.
Brock gave Jimmy an irritated stare. “You want to take me to a fucking club? Are you out of your mind? In the state I’m in, I’ll end up killing the first asshole who pisses me off.”
Jimmy laughed. “Or, you could do something else with all that pent-up energy, like fuck. I’ve been trying to get you to go to this club for a reason, man. It’s a shifter-friendly place, no humans allowed. It’s not just some regular club.”
Brock’s interest was piqued. “What kind of fucking club is it, then?”
“It’s a shifter’s dream, bro. Most of the women are looking to hook up. And if that doesn’t cover your needs, there’s a fighting ring in the basement. Fucking or fighting, one way or another, you’ll get rid of all that restless energy you got rolling off you. Not to mention you never know, maybe you’ll find your mate there.”
Brock snorted. The chances of him finding his mate at the very club Jimmy had been trying to talk him into going to for months would be astronomical. He didn’t like the idea of hooking up with some random female for the night … but the fighting ring sounded like something that might help.
He had been here for four months, and in that time, he had been looking for his mate in what had to be all the wrong places—pack lands, human hotspots like the mall. Hell, he had even gone to a few human clubs and bars, knowing that some shifters liked to mingle in those areas. Between checking out those spots, spending much of his free time on pack lands, and running his business, he had not once gone to the club that Jimmy kept recommending. What did he have to lose?
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