by Angela Smith | Nov 14, 2013 | Guests
Welcome to Flick’s Virtual Book Tour. One randomly chosen commenter will win a $50 Amazon/BN.com gift card. Click the banner to find the extra tour stops, or find it here at Goddess Fish Promotions.
Leanna Matthews enjoys flying below the radar. She does well in school, has a few close friends and hides the fact she’s an astral-traveling telekinetic. But there’s no escaping her creepy dreams or Simora, the bizarre little spirit lady, that suddenly pops out of nowhere to warn her against keeping secrets and predicts an encounter with a sinister evil. For the first time in forever someone…or something…is on to her.
But life turns around when Leanna meets Piper one sunny afternoon. She’s inexplicably drawn to him, almost as if she’s been waiting for him to come. Forbidden to have a boyfriend Leanna throws caution to the wind, lying to her family and friends to be with him, while ignoring Simora’s ominous message.
Yet Piper has a secret of his own. He is on a mission and Leanna, unwittingly, is the key.
Excerpt…
He stood idly by Ms. Fenson’s hedges, shifting around uncomfortably and looking at nothing in-particular. After gazing at the sky, he stared at his feet and pulled at the shrubs behind him – which unless he had a death-wish, was an absolute no-no. Ms. Fenson was a legend in her neighborhood and Leanna knew if this guy stood anywhere near the hedges too long she’d most certainly come after him – and it wouldn’t be pretty! Although notorious for her loony behavior, no one denied Ms. Fenson took excellent care of her yard and was fiercely protective of it – in a scary, mad-womanish sort of way.
I’ll just walk by him, Leanna thought, trying to ignore the sudden tightness in her chest. Anyway, who cares? He doesn’t know me from a hole in the ground.
With each step, her legs turned to mush. But an invisible force pulled her forward. The pressure grew stronger, involuntarily pushing her along until she finally passed him; her heart racing, her body stiffening…
“Hey!” he called.
She stopped abruptly. Was he talking to her? It was hard to focus; the thumping in her ears grew nauseatingly louder. But since there wasn’t anyone else around, he must be speaking to her. Leanna turned around uncertainly.
He casually strolled over with his hands in his jean pockets. When they finally stood face-to-face, Leanna’s breath caught.
He was even more strikingly handsome up close. At around 5’10, he wore his wavy hair cropped close to his head, and in spite of his loose, red Ecko T-shirt, he sported a visibly muscular build. His chestnut eyes were splashed with the tiniest specks of green and framed by long, dark eyelashes, in stark contrast to his honey brown skin. They were the most beautiful eyes Leanna had ever seen. But it wasn’t the color that intrigued her. His eyes were clear and telling; their depths ran deep. And for a fraction of a moment, she could’ve swore she saw herself.
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Keira Des Anges
By day, Keira des Anges has the distinct pleasure of assisting teenagers with disabilities find employment, empowering one life at a time. By night, she is a chew toy for her dog and cat and avid reader of anything spooky, magical and totally out of this world. She lives in sunny Florida with her husband and two kids.
Twitter: @KeiradesAnges
Facebook: www.facebook.com/KeiraDesAnges
Website: www.keiradesanges.com
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Flick-ebook/dp/B00D8MW7EE/ref=la_B00DCFJYB6_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1379722174&sr=1-1
How Keira Des Anges Gets in the Zone
5 Ways to Get In the Zone
Writing is a deeply personal experience. It isn’t an exact science and there’s no right or wrong way to get it done. But who hasn’t sat listlessly at the computer, or stared down at that blank piece of paper, wishing…praying…for just the right words to magically spring from our hands. But if there isn’t a formula, how do we unleash our creative juices and write that next masterpiece? Here are 5 tips that just may help:
1. Create the Perfect Space: Ambiance is everything and we feel better in a comfortable environment. This might be a special chair, sitting under a particular lamp or writing in a certain place or room. Our environment can make the difference between 1 paragraph versus 10 pages. Think about it. Where do you feel at your best?
2. Unclutter Your Mind: Should I wash clothes? Did I pay the electric bill? Did I turn in the project at work? It’s hard to turn off the self-talk running rampant through our head. For most of us there are a million things we need to do, and thinking about them while trying to write is the kiss of death. Close your eyes, inhale and exhale. Empty your mind; allow the story to take over.
3. Turn Off the Phone and Wi-Fi: Oh, technology! Procrastination is thy name! The allure of texting, answering the phone and social media is just too strong. It sucks us in and before we know it, hours of valuable time is lost. Don’t try and beat it – you’ll lose. Just turn them off.
4. Remember the Muse: Writing is emotionally frustrating at times. When this happens, remember what inspired you to write in the first place. What do you love about it? What spurs you on? Focus on the moment your love affair with writing began.
5. Write When Fully Awake: You’re tired and in the middle of a really good scene. The computer screen grows blurry and your head falls forward, but you plug on, determined to see it to the end. The next morning you turn on the computer only to discover the story you so desperately wanted to finish sounds choppy and disjointed. The idea is good, but the execution is poor. I’m all for jotting down ideas wherever I am, yet, save the big stuff for when you’re fresh and alert.
Last but not least, enjoy, enjoy, enjoy! Watching the story develop is exhilarating. Relish the experience. It is a journey all your own.
by Angela Smith | Oct 22, 2013 | Guests
Welcome to the Blurb Blitz tour for A Song for Sophie! Mackenzie will be awarding one of her backlist titles in PDF format to a randomly drawn commenter at every stop, and a Grand Prize of a bundle of 15 PDF titles from various authors and genres of romance, (excluding erotica) to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour. So follow the link and comment, comment, comment!
A Song for Sophie
Written by Mackenzie Crowne
Jobless, practically homeless, and tired of being manless, Sophie Taylor jumps at the chance to be Beaumont Walker’s personal assistant. Six weeks on the road with country music’s bad boy—and, more importantly, his all-male crew—is the perfect opportunity to change her life.
Beau Walker doesn’t need any more distractions. Sophie, with her butt-ugly suits and balls-to-the-wall attitude, shouldn’t be one, but she proves to be distracting and more—even, surprisingly, a friend. So when he discovers her plan to snag a man from his worldly wise crew, he’s determined to protect her from herself.
When Sophie realizes Beau is behind her failure to attract even one member of his crew, the last place she expects to find herself is in his bed. But will one night of passion convince her she’s woman enough for him? Or will it destroy their friendship and his budding belief in true love?
Excerpt:
His lunch date? Is he insane? His definition of a personal assistant was obviously different than hers. “Now, just a minute.”
Beau ignored her, pulling her toward the wood paneled building. She blinked up at the neon star mounted above the door. A flashing steer rode above the sign announcing the Lonesome Steer Honky Tonk. A few miles outside of Amarillo, she’d driven by the popular bar occasionally, but had never been inside.
“A honky tonk? Really? This isn’t the kind of place I’d expect to find your mother.”
He kept a tight hold on her wrist when she tried to jerk free. “Savanna started her career on the Lonesome Steer’s tiny stage. She makes a point to stop in to see the owner whenever she’s in town.”
Yanking open the door, he pulled her in behind him. Her eyes were slow to adjust to the dim light after the bright sunshine outside. She blinked, glancing around as the door thumped shut behind them. Surprisingly busy for a weekday afternoon, most of the round wooden tables were occupied beyond the large, empty dance floor.
Heads turned at their arrival. Several of the diners called out greetings while others jabbed elbows at their companions and nodded in Beau’s direction.
“Unless you want me to cause a scene in front of your adoring fans, I suggest you let go of my wrist.”
Author Bio and Links:
I’m a wife, mother, and grandmother (a really young one). My husband and I were blessed with two rambunctious little boys who we managed to raise into wonderful men without any disfiguring mishaps. Dirt bikes and ESPN are the order around our house, and life at the ‘Testosterone Ranch’ more closely resembles one of today’s wacky reality shows, than yesterday’s ‘Leave It To Beaver’.
I’m one of eight kids, raised just north of Boston. I moved to Phoenix as an adult because living in the southwest feeds my soul. My childhood was a free-for-all, chock full of laughter, love, family and friends. I was raised on the concept that a stranger is just one conversation away from being a friend and I’m happy to say, that experience remains true today.
My love of books, specifically the romance genre, has been a lifelong affair, both as a reader and a writer. A bout with breast cancer sharpened my resolve to see my stories shared with others. Today, I am a five-year survivor, living my dream.
My friends call me Mac. I hope you will too.
Mac’s Links:
Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Mackenzie-Crowne/e/B007YH4QZ2/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1
Amazon Buy Link: http://amzn.com/B00ES5J6LW
mackenziecrowne.com: http://mackenziecrowne.com/wp/
FaceBook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/MackenzieCrowne
Twitter @maccrowne: https://twitter.com/MacCrowne
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5821344.Mackenzie_Crowne
by Angela Smith | Oct 3, 2013 | Guests
Today is a Blurb Blitz for Cristin Harber’s Winter Heat. Cristin will be awarding a $25 GC to Victoria’s Secret, and gifted e-copies of the five titles in the series (starting w/ Winters Heat. Three novels and two novellas) to one randomly drawn commenter during this tour AND the Virtual Blitz Tour.
After putting her life on the line to protect classified intelligence, military psychologist Mia Kensington is on a cross-country road trip from hell with an intrusive save-the-day hero. Uninterested in his white knight act, she’d rather take her chances without the ruggedly handsome, cold-blooded operative who boasts an alpha complex and too many guns.
Colby Winters, an elite member of The Titan Group, has a single objective on his black ops mission: recover a document important to national security. It was supposed to be an easy in-and-out operation. But now, by any means necessary becomes a survival mantra when he faces off with a stunning woman he can’t leave behind.
When Titan’s safe houses are compromised, Colby stashes Mia at his home, exposing his secret—he’s the adoptive father of an orphaned baby girl. Too soon, danger arrives and Mia lands in the hands of a sadistic cartel king with a taste for torture. As hours bleed into fear-drenched days, Colby races across the globe and through a firestorm of bullets to save the woman he can’t live without.
Excerpt: Setup- Colby Winters and Mia Kensington are waiting for her attackers to make another move. They’re trying to appear distracted outside a motel room, as if they let their guard down.
What was it like? Oh, man. He had a thing for her in a bad way. Winters bent his head toward her. Their foreheads kissed, and there was no question. While she was with him, she was his. His to protect. His to savor. A woman like Mia was rare. At least he had brains enough to notice.
He never should’ve put her in this position. He could’ve packed her off in a plane, back toward the East Coast. Someone from Titan could’ve kept her safe while he finished his original job. But selfishness and curiosity made it so he wouldn’t push her away. He couldn’t, because an irrepressible desire consumed him, powering lust through his veins.
“Colby.” Her hushed whisper tickled his skin. “What are we going to do?”
His pulse thumped in his neck, and he tightened the forearm wrapped around her waist, melding her onto him.
I’m on the job. Serious danger ahead.
He’d missed it before and couldn’t let that happen again. No time for arousal. No time for fantasies.
Images flooded his brain, searing his senses. He remembered the taste of her tongue. Red-hot cinnamon. A sweet, delicious burn of aphrodisia.
What were they going to do? Where to begin… A million ideas popped to mind, starting with making good use of the wall behind him.
No woman had pressed against him like this, so pliable, supple, and luscious. They had always draped him like sex kittens on steroids. Those other women were as over-sexed and one-dimensional as they were obvious, all self-fulfilling prophecies, and they were the definitive opposite of Mia Kensington.
Before Mia’s hands explored him, before her beautiful body had even disrobed, she toyed with his mind like it was the first of many playgrounds. And he wanted to play so bad.
“I’ve started a list.” His lips flitted over hers. “Want me to share?”
Her eyelashes fluttered. “What kind of list?”
“I have you thirty feet from a bed. What kind of list do you—” A drunken couple stumbled out of the bar. Actually, more likely a john and a pro. He should have seen them before he heard them. “More on the list later, doll.”
Men were coming to hurt her, and his hard-on could pick another time for games.
“Okay, Mia, here’s what we’re going to do. When they pull up, act like we let loose. We had too many drinks.” He motioned to the karaoke bar with a tip of his head, then dipped his lips to her neck, lingering under her ear. “I’m convincing you to come to my room. You’re not putting up too much of a fight. Just enough to keep it fun.”
He nipped her earlobe, and she took a tiny gasp. It made his gut jump. Her taste drugged him, intoxicated him. Temptation was a cruel mistress. Giving him a little and making him wait.
“That’s your plan?”
“Not my whole plan, no. But that’s the part you have to play.” He traced the slide of her neck. “Think you can act mildly interested?”
“You’re crazy.” Her voice was husky. “Men are trying to kill us. How can you think about sex?”
“You’re not?”
“I’m… I’m—”
“You’re what? I’m getting into character. You should give it a try.”
“You’re rubbing your hard-on against me, is what you’re doing.”
“All part of my cover. Believable, huh?” Her innocent act was toast. She was far more like Jessica Rabbit than Snow White. “If I tried to drag you off to bed right this second, you wouldn’t join me?”
There was only one answer. He knew it. Felt it as sure as he felt her body mold against him. She couldn’t fight their hunger either.
Her breaths escalated. The quick rise and fall of her breasts fueled him. Winters cupped her chin in his hands, palms caressing her cheeks. Sweet Mia. If he could freeze this moment, it’d be one he’d put on repeat.
“I would,” she whispered. “But…”
“Forget everything else. It’s just you and me.” He thumbed her lips, dragging the bottom one down.
Slowly, his hands drifted into her hair. Lust hung heavy in the cool night air. Her dark lashes fluttered, and her hard nipples pressed against his chest.
How beautiful would she be naked? How would she feel? Impossibly smooth. He would whisk across her sensitive spots, watching those succulent breasts rise and fall in anticipation. He would make sure she ached for him. As much as he ached now.
His fingers tangled into her hair, and Mia leaned her head back, heavy lidded and heady breaths.
“Shouldn’t you watch for the bad guys instead of torturing me?” Her eyes were sealed shut, defenseless.
His lips grazed her neck, and she purred, the sinful sound acting as a deft stroke to his already engorged shaft.
“You don’t think I can multi-task?” He kissed behind her ear, dancing his mouth down her neck. It was a tease. A simple promise of what was to come. When he had a moment to concentrate on her, he’d do whatever it took—lick, kiss, caress, and suck—to make her cry out for him.
His fingers slid to her nape, trailing to the front of her shirt. The fabric felt fragile under his palms. He was losing a battle to a ripped shirt on a pretty girl, but revenge would be amazing.
“How can you do this,” she nudged her head down to where he nuzzled his erection, “and pay attention to anything else?”
“Can you imagine what it’s going to be like between us when I don’t have to worry about anyone but you?”
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Cristin Harber
Romantic Suspense Author: Higher Stakes. Hotter Action.
MOM. WIFE. AUTHOR.
Lover of all things sexy and happily ever after.
I live outside Washington, DC with my family: my husband (who doesn’t mind my collection of book boyfriends), an independent toddler, and an English bulldog named Britta who loves to be a conversation piece. Oh, we have a baby on the way—arriving about the same time as WINTERS HEAT debuts!
I love southern food, listen to country music, am always too hot or too cold, and spend hours reading and writing. I cheer on my University of Louisville Cardinals-GO CARDS! When I’m not pregnant (or nursing), I like a little bourbon or sweet wine. Pregnant or not, I love a lot of chocolate.
I can’t save the world, so instead, I write about those that do. There’s a special place in my heart for those who keep us safe. My Titan series debuts this fall with five titles available in 2013: WINTERS HEAT, GARRISON’S CREED, WESTIN’S CHASE, CHASED, and GAMBLED.
Links:
NEWSLETTER signup for series info: http://bit.ly/11aWFzM
GOODREADS: https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/7192034.Cristin_Harber
WEBSITE: http://cristinharber.com
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/cristinharberauthor
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/CristinHarber
Amazon: http://amzn.to/18mlNVe
Kobo: http://bit.ly/1ful6Rf
iTunes: http://bit.ly/19KIAdD
B&N: http://bit.ly/16Jaogh
All Romance: http://bit.ly/155v3On
Leanna Matthews enjoys flying below the radar. She does well in school, has a few close friends and hides the fact she’s an astral-traveling telekinetic. But there’s no escaping her creepy dreams or Simora, the bizarre little spirit lady, that suddenly pops out of nowhere to warn her against keeping secrets and predicts an encounter with a sinister evil. For the first time in forever someone…or something…is on to her.
