Category Archives: Excerpt
BLOG TOUR – Bad Luck Club (Asheville Brewery Series) by Denise Grover Swank and A.R. Casella
Can two broken people grow together, or will they tear each other apart?
Bad Luck Club, an all-new, not-to-be-missed, opposites attract standalone romance in the laugh-out-loud Asheville Brewery Series by New York Times bestselling author Denise Grover Swank and A.R. Casella is available now!
A grumpy man. A recovering people-pleaser. And the secret club that brings them together.
Lee Buchanan is a hot mess.
Turning one’s father in to the feds can do that to a man.
He had nothing to do with his father’s Ponzi scheme, but he’s blacklisted from commercial real estate all the same. Which is how he ends up in Asheville, working at the brewery he inherited with his siblings. He’s salty as hell, and he doesn’t care who knows it.
Until the gorgeous, intriguing Blue Combs issues the most peculiar invitation he’s ever received: Come to the Bad Luck Club. We can help you.
It sounds like a cult or, worse, a group of Mary Sues, but Blue is different from any woman he’s ever met. For better or worse, he’s drawn to her.
Just like she’s drawn to him, even if she has no intention of going all in with another man. She’s been there, done that, twice, and the life she’s built for herself is too important to risk.
What starts as one person’s desire to help another turns into a connection too powerful to be denied—but can two broken people grow together, or will they tear each other apart?
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Excerpt
She turned into Bear’s long drive, and Lee cursed a little under his breath.
“We’re here, aren’t we?”
“This is it. You’re looking at the Cluster.”
There was plenty of parking for everyone, thankfully, but the people who lived closest to each other usually carpooled for meetings. That made it hard to tell who’d already arrived, but it looked like they were among the last. She couldn’t decide whether that was a good thing.
She parked the car and turned to Lee, who was giving her a pointed glance. “Cloister? That isn’t helping dissuade me about the whole cult thing. The whole cabin in the woods thing doesn’t seem like a great sign either.”
“Not cloister. Cluster, like cluster…fudge.”
A smile played on his lips. “Let me guess, your father didn’t like it when you swore.”
“Of course not,” she said, smiling back. “It wouldn’t be ladylike.”
“And why, may I ask, do they call their own house a cluster—” he gave her a wicked look, “—fudge?”
“I guess you’re about to find out.”
They both unbuckled their seat belts, but he made no move for the door. Gazing at her, the gold flecks in his eyes like mica, he asked, “Blue, what part of last night convinced you to break things off with Dan?”
She didn’t answer right away, her heart still choking her, and he smiled at her—a sexy, unreserved smile—the kind that made her wonder how many people he’d looked at this way.
“Radical honesty, remember?”
Her whole body hummed like a tuned instrument. It hadn’t been like this since the beginning with Remy.
And if that wasn’t a thought to wake her up . . .
Except it didn’t jar her enough. Because she found herself leaning toward Lee a little, as if caught up in a whirlwind of his making. As if those vines were cinching their very bodies together. “Because I wanted you to kiss me,” she admitted. She silently added, Because I felt more connected to you in one night than I did to him in two months…
But Lee was reaching for her then, his hand weaving into her hair, pulling her to him, and those lips that had driven her to distraction the night before, the ones that had hovered over her neck, were suddenly on hers. They were warm and commanding, and Blue felt lost to the longing that unfurled within her, to the heat that ignited in her core. He’d probably meant it to be a soft kiss, exploratory, but his hand burrowed deeper into her hair, pulling her closer, and she found herself moaning as his tongue swept into her mouth. She wrapped her hands around his arms, mindlessly trying to bring him closer, needing to feel him against her like she had last night, like she’d dreamed of, and suddenly he was lifting her up onto his lap. They were facing each other this time, and she had a flash of what it would have been like if they’d talked like this last night—looking into each other’s eyes, bodies locked together—and the intimacy of it was more arousing than anything she’d ever experienced. She was the one who kissed him this time, reveling in the fact that he’d given her control by pulling her on top of him, until she caught a glimpse of the bench Cal had made, beneath the willow tree in the Cluster’s back yard, and oh God, what the hell was she doing?
About Denise Grover Swank
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Denise Grover Swank was born in Kansas City, Missouri and lived in the area until she was nineteen. Then she became a nomadic gypsy, living in five cities, four states and ten ho uses over the course of ten years before she moved back to her roots. She speaks English and smattering of Spanish and Chinese which she learned through an intensive Nick Jr. immersion period. Her hobbies include witty Facebook comments (in own her mind) and dancing in her kitchen with her children. (Quite badly if you believe her offspring.) Hidden talents include the gift of justification and the ability to drink massive amounts of caffeine and still fall asleep within two minutes. Her lack of the sense of smell allows her to perform many unspeakable tasks. She has six children and hasn’t lost her sanity. Or so she leads you to believe.
Connect with Denise
Facebook: https://bit.ly/3gLPdF2
Instagram: https://bit.ly/31QjfmL
Twitter: https://bit.ly/3gOHyFR
Stay up to date with Denise, join her newsletter: https://bit.ly/3gLPtnu
Website: https://bit.ly/3hRjcNl
About A.R. Casella
A.R. CASELLA is a freelance developmental editor by day, writer by night. She lives in Asheville, NC with her husband, daughter, two dogs, and a variable number of fish. Her pastimes include chasing around her toddler, baking delicious treats, and occasional bouts of crocheting. Any Luck at All, co-written with New York Times bestselling author Denise Grover Swank, is her first book.
Connect with A.R. Casella
Facebook: https://bit.ly/3gOsV5v
Website: https://www.arcasella.com/
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BLOG TOUR – Origins (The Grimm Cases #1) by Lyla Oweds
Thank you for joining us today as we bring you Origins by Lyla Oweds!
Origins is the first book in Lyla’s New Adult Paranormal Fantasy, The Grimm Cases!
GRAB YOUR COPY TODAY!
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Book Synopsis:
The things I see aren’t for the faint of heart.
And I am no longer willing to ignore them. Not even when my family, and my best friend, tell me to keep quiet about what’s happening. They say people will think I’m crazy.
Maybe I am.
But the spirit haunting my professor’s house is definitely trying to tell me something, and I’m the only one who can see it.
The one person who can help me is my best friend’s brother. But I don’t know if I can trust him or his friends. Or if I can step outside the protective bubble I’ve built around myself.
At this point it’s a toss up: the ghosts will kill me or my panic attacks will.
Either way, I figure I’m going to die.
Excerpt:
Then there was my second reason for being at the library today. If I truly wanted to help this ghost-girl, then I needed to learn more about my sensitivity and any abilities that gave me—and people like me.
I frowned down at the top of my white coffee cup. Remembering this topic made me recall the events of the night before—
“Bianca?” Finn’s shocked voice broke through my thoughts. My eyes shot up. The blond-haired man was pushing past students in line at the coffee shop in order to reach my small, round table. “What are…”
“Hello, Finn.” I smiled at him, hoping the guilt from my lies didn’t show on my face. “How are you? What are you doing here so early in the morning?”
Finn’s mouth dipped, and he didn’t respond at first. Instead, he set his leather backpack on the floor and sat down in the seat across from me. “It’s not early. And I come here every day—to study. But”—he leveled a suspicious look at me, his gray eyes calculating—“you don’t.”
I raised an eyebrow in response, but he continued, “I got your message last night. Why did you cancel our meeting? What’s going on? I was worried.”
Sure. I could tell how worried he was when he didn’t even care if the ghost killed me.
I picked up my cup and blew on the rising steam before I answered, trying to sound nonchalant. “I do have homework too. Plus, I like reading. It’s not unheard of for me to come to the library, you know.”
“All right,” he conceded as he continued to study me. “But you only come late at night, when most people are partying. In fact, how can you even stand to be awake before ten in the morning?”
Darn him, he was right.
“The magic of caffeine.” I sipped on my coffee again, as if to prove my point. “Lots and lots of caffeine.”
His lips thinned, but he nodded. From the wary look in his eyes, he knew I was hiding something. But he seemed inclined to let it drop.
Instead, he pulled out his laptop and opened it—ready to do his technology thing.
That was kind of nonsensical. “Finn, why are you setting up? The library opens in less than ten minutes. Won’t you just move again?”
“Yes.” Finn began typing. “But that’s ten minutes worth of work that I’ve gotten done. I am busy right now, and I’m behind…” His voice trailed off as he frowned at the computer.
He was weird.
“I thought you finished your work for the semester already.”
Finn distractively waved his hand. “It’s not that. Don’t worry, it’s nothing that concerns you. I’m working on family stuff. My mother needed me to check into something. Where did you go last night?”
I ignored his question. “Your mom has you doing corporate work?”
“Something like that.” He looked up finally, his gaze meeting mine. My heart suddenly jerked—he was displeased. But about what?
After a silent moment, the look passed and he grinned warmly at me. “I’m glad you are here with me,” he said. And in an unexpected move, he shut his laptop and pulled one of my hands into his own. “I work better with you around. You inspire me. I don’t know what I’d do without you, Bianca.”
I almost choked, and my face exploded in heat. This was the side of Finn that always managed to catch me off guard—the one that made me think I meant as much to him as he did to me.
And every time, I acted like an idiot. “I do? I—I’m glad I could help.”
“You do.” He traced his thumb over my knuckles. My face grew warmer at the action and his grin grew. “We should work together today. Are you going to be in the library all day? Sit with me.”
My warm feelings vanished.
I averted my eyes, unable to stand his intensity. He couldn’t know what I was researching. “Maybe…”
“Maybe?” Finn sounded surprised, and when I looked up, he was watching me with raised eyebrows. After our gazes met, he let go of my hand. “You don’t want to sit with me?” He paused, and an expression that I had never witnessed from him before shone in his serious eyes. “Bianca, are you meeting someone else? Have I done something?”
“No!” I vehemently denied, somewhat frightened at the intensity of his reaction. He was being terribly possessive. Especially for someone who had never even asked me on a date. I would have remembered if he had done so, because it was, after all, an event I had been dreaming about for years.
Or, was he only upset because he was afraid I had replaced him as a friend?
I was so confused.
I fidgeted as I tried to think of a way to redirect his attention. “I have research to do today. In fact, I might not even be here all day. I planned on going back and forth between the library and greenhouses.”
He rested his chin on his fist as he watched me. “You’re a terrible liar. The greenhouses are on the other side of campus, and you’re wearing a skirt.”
I froze, the fabric he mentioned clenched in my fist. Finn was right, of course. I never wore skirts when working in the conservatory. “Um…”
“What have you been up to—today and last night?” Finn studied me, his eyes demanding answers. “Are you lying to me about something?”
I grew more flustered as the seconds passed. I had to think of something!
He had made his point clear two days ago, and I couldn’t bring up that topic again. Even outside of meeting Damen, he’d never believe what Damen had said about me being a sensitive. Plus, if he knew I was involved in anything paranormal—especially trying to talk to a ghost—not only would he get involved, but so would my parents.
I couldn’t go through that confrontation with him again. Even if he—and everyone else—thought it was for my own good. It would break me this time.
So I had to think of something that would guarantee Finn would have zero interest in being anywhere near me today. A topic that would make a male flee in terror. Something awful.
“I—” My mental resources screamed out ideas, but nothing brilliant came to me. Lacking anything else, I blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “I’m doing a research paper on how human placenta usage in gardening may or may not be nourishing to the soil.”
Finn’s mouth was opened in shock, and my face burned. But I couldn’t stop now. “I have a theory that if you grind up the pla—”
“Stop!” Finn’s complexion was slightly green as he watched me in horror. “That’s great for you, but I really don’t need to know anymore. Please.”
Crude, but effective. It had worked.
More in the series:
If you’d like to read more, check out the first three books in the series gathered together here in Mu
Mu Contains books 1-3
1. Origins
2. Ghost
3. Blood
AND
Coming Soon
Book 5, CHANGE!
PRE-ORDER YOUR COPY TODAY
A mate bond is stronger than any other force in the world.
At least, that’s what they say.
But what Titus and I have is… unique. Especially as, even though we’d been reborn so many times, the dragon has never had a mate. No one knows what to expect.
Outside of that, everything with Damen, Julian, and Miles is not all fun and games. Things are different now, and while that’s natural, I’m not entirely sure I’m ready to make that next level of commitment.
However, we might not have a choice.
When Titus’s investigation ramps up, becoming entangled with my debut case, I’ve run out of all other options. The reality is, my usual methods of coping won’t work anymore. But to live is to grow, and to change.
About the Author
Lyla Oweds is an Amazon bestselling paranormal romance and urban fantasy author who resides in the beautiful Pocono Mountains, Pennsylvania. She grew up near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and is a native of Baltimore, Maryland, and has a deep appreciation for the paranormal, hauntings, and Edgar Allan Poe. As such, she loves all things fantasy, mystery, crime, and horror.
When not reading, writing, or working as a web programmer, Lyla can be found doing adult-y things such as being a mom to small children, cleaning, and gardening. She also frequently enjoys makeup videos, massages, wine, and coffee.
Connect with Lyla:
WEBSITE ~ FACEBOOK ~ INSTAGRAM ~ BOOKBUB ~ GOODREADS ~ TWITTER
