Blog Tour - Just One More Breath - Leigha Lewis

Synopsis 

What would you do if you've lost everything? If the reason you woke up in the morning no longer existed? If life dealt you a blow so devastating that something as simple as breathing was just too painful, how would you find the strength to go on?
Nicole Miller was happy, busy with her family and her dream job. Life was perfect. When tragedy struck, she succumbed to her devastating loss and crumbled under the heavy weight of her despair. She didn’t know where to find the strength to keep going.
Divorce Attorney, Shawn Burns had seen too many destroyed marriages to believe that happily ever after actually existed. By avoiding commitment, he remained aloof, and most importantly, unattached. Nicole, Shawn’s old college friend, is the only woman that he would ever be willing to give his heart to, but she was married to someone else…
Some friendships survive under stress. Some do not. Can Shawn, provide the healing balm for his friend’s soul? Will Nicole ever be able to find hope, forgiveness, or love for her desolate heart?

Prologue 

 I sat in the front row of the church with my left hand locked tightly into my mother’s, my right hand locked tightly into my best friend’s, and a small book tucked under my arm. I listened intently as person after person stood to read scriptures or offer words of comfort. Each person stopped in front of me, dabbed their red, swollen eyes as they gave me hugs and kisses, and offered me condolences. Like a robot, I automatically thanked each and every one of them and smiled as best I could.
My mother stood and approached the podium. She gave a beautiful eulogy; she summarized the ten short years of her grandson’s life better than anyone else could, including me. She told a few stories about the love between my sweet boy and me. Some even I had forgotten. She broke down a few times as she spoke on how hard the loss of his life had been on our family, but managed to make it to the end without completely falling apart. All the while, I stared at the shiny royal-blue child-sized coffin in front of me, feeling completely numb.
As the service wrapped up and the crowd made their way to their vehicles, I kept my eyes on the casket; I wanted to take in every moment I had left with my child. I needed it, because if there was one thing that I was able to comprehend in the big mess that my life had turned into, it was that these moments were devastatingly final. Therefore, I needed to stay in the moment and remember every detail.
When we approached the gravesite, I sat quietly as those around me stood and sang Amazing Grace.

“I once was lost, but now I’m found. Was blind, but now I see.”

I shook my head, wondering who the hell chose that song. It couldn’t be any further from the truth. In my twenty-eight years of living, I had never felt more lost, or blinder, than I did at that very moment.
When my only child‘s body began its descent into the earth, nothing about me felt right. It was as if my soul had taken up residence in a foreign body. I felt as if my right arm was missing, as if my lungs had lost their elasticity, and as if my heart had been ripped from my chest.
I managed to keep my tears at bay as the workers began to pile dirt and rocks into the hole. I found myself worrying about things I hadn’t thought of before. Would he be cold down there? Or get lonely? I didn’t know why, but somehow leaving him all alone in a hole in the ground suddenly seemed cruel. The wails of those around me started to infiltrate my thoughts, but I tried my best to push them out. I needed to focus on my son and myself. When I felt strong enough, I pushed to my feet and approached the freshly covered hole. I walked to the place where I knew his head lay and sat next to it.
Then I pulled out the book that I held for the last two hours and did what I had done every night for the last ten years.

I read my baby boy a story.

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About the Author

Leigha Lewis lives in Brooklyn, New York with her husband, three year old daughter and Maltese puppy. She loves to read stories about the most unlikely individual finding all consuming, heart stopping love. 

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Author-Leigha-Lewis/245628252289376

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Release Day Blitz - An Endless Love - Niquel

Synopsis

Have you ever felt broken? It feels like a part of you would never be complete again-like it would never heal. Jake Shaw is a bad man, an obsessed and deranged psychotic being who deserves to be locked underneath the walls of the cell he’s rotting in. The beating he received from Allan wasn’t enough and Alecia hopes he gets what’s coming to him. She didn’t ask for this, but he broke her, something she never thought would be possible.

Allan had a secret, an ‘addiction’ so to speak. He was in pain and didn’t have the balls to admit it. The one girl he allowed to get close to him was assaulted by his own brother and Allan beat his ass within an inch of his life. He went through a lot to hide the excruciating pain he endured everyday and his secret was about to be exposed. His life was spiraling out of control.

Could they hold on to the pieces long enough to mend their broken hearts? Or was it impossible?

Buy Now

AMAZON/B&N

The Forbidden Series

AMAZON

About the Author

Author Niquel is an artistic jack of all trades. She writes, does all of her own graphics, and makes custom handmade crafts for little girls. Born and raised in and around Boston, she’s attended two colleges, Massasoit for graphic design and CDIA at Boston University for 3D animation. She decided to revisit her long lost passion for writing and created The Forbidden Series of books. Book one, A Forbidden Love will be released in March 2014 and the 2nd book in the series will be out late spring/early summer.

Niquel currently lives just outside of Boston, with her very supportive significant other and their two precious daughters. 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/author.niquel

Twitter: authorniquel

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Buried Cover Reveal by Selena Laurence

Buried

Hiding from Love series

by Selena Laurence

Releases August 4, 2014

* Stand Alone Novel *

Preorder

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Seven years ago, Juan Martinez lost everything—his only parent, his home, his life as he’d known it. Alone, lost, and desperate, he turned to the Reyes Hispanos—the RH—one of the most violent gangs in South Texas. But when you sell your soul to the devil, you pay a heavy price. Convicted of a drive-by shooting, Juan has served hard time. Finally out on parole, he wants to disappear—from the RH, from memories of all that he’s lost, and especially from the gorgeous woman who just showed up next door.

Beth Garcia grew up following after her older brother, David, and his best friend, Juan. She always dreamed of a day when she’d be old enough for Juan to look at her as someone other than David’s little sister. But he disappeared at seventeen, after his mother was deported, and Beth thought she’d lost him forever. When she finds him living at the halfway house next door, she knows he’s still the same guy inside. Determined to save him from himself and the RH, Beth sets out to prove that he didn’t commit the crime he was convicted of. But the path to absolution is dark, and even Beth may not be able to discover the real Juan.

Can a man with a damaged soul and a beautiful heart let a woman with fierce loyalty and unwavering love risk it all to save him? Or will his past bury them both this time?

"You're killing me here, you know that, right?" I move a bit closer to her now, almost near enough to touch.

"Then stop fighting it," she whispers. 

I take the last step, leaving only an inch between us, head to toe. I can see the shine on her sweet cherry lips, and smell the cinnamon in her hair. "It'll never work. I'll never be free, and I won't bury you with me." 

She gazes up at me and there's so much trust in her eyes, so much faith and pure devotion, it literally steals my breath away. For a moment in time, everything stops. The birds in the trees, the cars rolling by on the street, the sun beating down on my skin. All of it just stops as if someone hit the pause button. I look into her eyes, and I can't fight it any more than I can fight the gravitational pull that keeps my feet on the ground. 

My head tilts incrementally to one side, and lowers, bit by excruciating bit until her breath feathers across my face and my lips meet hers. I press against their softness, hearing the tiny gasp that she makes. The lipgloss is slick, and I can't help but think of all the other places on both her body and mine that I'd like to make slick. I feel my breathing ratchet up a few dozen notches as my mind goes to static. I haven't kissed a woman since the night before I went behind bars, and my engine is revving at full-throttle. 

But Beth is special—beautiful and strong. If there is one thing I've learned working for the RH and living behind bars, it's how to control myself. When so much around you is out of control, you realize quickly that self-control is one of the best weapons you've got. As much as I want to press Beth up against the wall of the house right now and drive every part of me into every part of her, I don't. I stand stock still, hands fisted by my sides, and I gently, ever so softly, kiss her. 

It's electrifying. Like someone just took a defibrillator to my poor shriveled lump of a heart. It surges to life and screams for freedom—freedom from the past, freedom from the sins, freedom to love this woman. I start to pull away, knowing that touching her more will only make the inevitable loss that much harder, but her hands snake up around my neck and against my lips she murmurs, "No." 

"Beth," I gasp. "We can't." 

She opens her eyes, lips millimeters from mine. Her long dark lashes sweep up and then down once, as she says, "Yes. We can." 

Before I know what's happened we're together from knees to lips, her warm, giving curves molded against me in places that haven't felt this in so long they've forgotten just how amazing it can be. 

I put my hands on her waist, willing myself to keep them there. Her fingers play with the short hairs at the nape of my neck, and even as my dick swells and turns hard as a rock, some kind of tension releases from her mouth to me as I stroke along her perfect white teeth. She tastes like the cherry lip gloss and I know that cherry candy will now be my favorite flavor until the day I die. 

I can feel her nipples harden against my chest and I push my hard-on into her, desperate for relief. She groans and stands on her tiptoes, grinding her pelvis against me as she does. 

My hands move up her sides, my thumbs finding the underneath of her breasts. If there were a form that was considered geometrically perfect, the curve of that sweet spot where her breasts meet her chest would be it. That curve should represent the most complex mathematical equation there is, and God, how I'd love to be the one man to solve it.

The Hiding from Love series

Hidden 
(Nick & Lyndsey)
** 99 cents **
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Camoflauged 
(Gabe & Alexis)
** FREE **
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Concealed 
(Gabe & Alexis)
Goodreads   |   Amazon   |   B&N   |   iTunes

Buried 

(Juan & Beth)

Goodreads

Coming August 4!
Preorder
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Selena Laurence is the Barnes and Noble Bestselling author of what she likes to call Edgy Contemporary Romance. Her books have been Amazon Top 10 bestsellers in multiple categories including Multicultural Romance, Hispanic Fiction, Urban Fiction, Military Romance, and Romantic Suspense. Her New Adult romance, Hidden, won the 2014 Reader's Crown Award for Contemporary Romance of the year.

Selena lives in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains and spends a hell of a lot of time at soccer games, on her laptop, and reading. She requires a Mocha Latte every day to function, keeps a goldendoodle at her feet most of the time, and has more kids than she or Mr. Laurence know what to do with.

Connect with Selena

Facebook | Goodreads | Web

Selena is also author of the Lush Series, a story of four high school friends who form the rock band Lush.  Take a ride with rock stars, men, brothers, and lovers, as Joss, Walsh, Mike, and Colin discover what it means to succeed, to fail, to hurt, and to love.

A Lush Betrayal

(Joss & Melanie)

Goodreads   |   Amazon   |   B&N   |  iTunes

For the Love of a Lush

(Walsh & Tammy)

Goodreads   |   Amazon   |   B&N   |   iTunes

Low Down and Lush

(Mike & Jenny)

Coming Fall 2014

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Blog Tour - The Good Girl by Emma Nichols

When Willow Stone discovers that she is in competition with the exotic and worldly Molina for the coveted position of sex advice columnist, she realizes it's time to up her game. Though she has impeccable writing skills, there's no denying that a lifetime of being the good girl has left her ill prepared for this position. Realizing it's her lack of experience that will keep her from achieving this dream, she decides to proposition the bad boy who once lived in her college dorm that always had a stream of women doing the walk of shame from his room on a nearly nightly basis. Surely someone that shallow, that experienced, and that wildly attractive could teach her a thing or twenty. 

Only Wyatt has his own plans, and they don't allow much time for teaching Willow what she would already know if she could just break free of the cool, calculating, proper demeanor that was part of being a Stone. His reputation has served him well through the years and being the black sheep of his family has never bothered him. What does, however, is Willow. She is a mystery to unravel, a present to be cherished, a young woman who just might rock his world by bringing him back into his family's fold. She was everything they wanted for him and precisely what he had avoided since he started dating.

What will happen when the good girl gets mixed up with the bad boy?

ONLY 99 CENTS!!!!

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Excerpt 1 

“Where were we?”

“I think we had just established my sordid past and utter lack of experience,” I said sarcastically.

“Ah, yes,” he said as he tapped his finger on the counter. “Now, why is this experience so important to you?”

Confused, I tried to decide how to answer that. “I want this column so badly…” I shrugged. “It’s expected that I do something with my degree and fast. Stones aren’t burdens on society…” My voice trailed off.

“So, you are battling a lifetime of expectations and family lectures about your station in life?” He smirked. “I know a little something about that.”

Obviously, I let that go because...how could he possibly? Oh, but the house. “Who does the garage belong to...the one you live above?” Then I leaned over and waited patiently for a response.

“Ah, that inquiring mind. You don’t need a sex column; you need to be an investigative reporter.” He laughed. “Yeah, it’s my parents’.” He wiped down the bar before adding to it. “I’m an Evans.” Then he winked at me.

Apparently I was supposed to know what that meant and because of it, who he was. What I gathered was that it was like being a Stone. My heart went out to him. “So, you understand the dangers of not living up to expectations. Please understand, I don’t look at this column as anything more than a stepping stone in my career. I’m not sure where I want to take the degree, but I love writing. I love helping people. This meets all those criteria.”

For some reason, I didn’t want to see his face. I just wanted to think for a minute. He had struck a nerve. Why did I need that job? It would force me to stretch myself. There was something about a challenge. Then, there was sheer, utter, simple curiosity. I was the only one of my friends who was practically still a virgin. When we gathered together on holiday breaks, I was the one who never had a boyfriend, who never had sexcapades to relay, who sat back and tried to pretend to understand these foreign objects and experiences they talked about. I hated it. Then I smiled. As I stared in front of me, another piece of my phone had appeared.

“Can I see the list?” He asked seriously.

Shaking my head, I refused. “No. It’s too...humiliating.”

“Dammit woman, I can look it up online, but it’s just easier if you share the print copy. Okay?” He scowled at me for a moment. Then as I pushed the paper toward him, he smirked. After studying it for a moment, he looked up at me. “One night stand?”

“Nope. I knew them. It was a date. It just never went beyond that.” I stared at him evenly, trying not to give away any emotion.

“Did you like them?” He asked. “Either of them?”

Taking a deep breath, I said, “Not really. I just felt like...it was time. There wasn’t a crush, a bunch of love letters, phone calls, any of that. The first was prom. And for lack of a better defense, everyone was doing it.” I let out a hollow laugh. “The second, was a house party after graduation.”

“Drunk?” He asked, perplexed.

“No, but he was. This one was someone that my family approved of and had been pushing me toward for years. I just kind of gave in.” I sighed. “Does any of this make sense?”

“Honestly, no. I can’t understand how someone as beautiful as you could possibly think of settling for less than every single thing she deserved. Forget about your parents. What do you want?” He stood there, challenging me.

It was no longer about the phone, no longer about the game of Truth or Truth. I had to answer. We were really talking. “I’m not sure I know. I don’t know if my life has ever been about what I want.”

“What if we try to figure that out, together? And...what if I help you with this list?” He asked.

Excerpt 2

Without thinking, I walked toward him and wrapped my arms around his neck. Wyatt smiled down at me slightly. It was obvious he was wondering what I was doing, where this was going. Honestly, I didn’t know. It’s not like I planned this. All I knew was that at the moment, I had to be close to him, had to have my lips on his. There was something truly perfect about the way his hands fit on my lower back, something magical in his touch. Up until now, I hadn’t been able to put a name to that feeling. Nothing in life had prepared me for it. This was lust.

Capturing my lips with his, Wyatt groaned deep inside. The vibration went through me, tickling and shocking my lady parts awake. His hands roamed up and down my sides until the intensity of our kiss had him hauling my body as close to his as physics would allow. Again, I found myself melting into him, wanting all of him, more of him than I ever had before. My hands were in motion, one behind his neck, ensuring he could make no quick escape, the other felt the planes of his face, the angles of his jaw, until I had fingers knotted in his thick dark hair. Damn, he was good.

Ever so slowly, reluctantly even, he finally broke off the kiss. “Why?” I whimpered in confusion.

Gently he pried my hands from around his neck and held them in his. Kissing each hand affectionately, he gradually released me. “Twenty-nine,” he said, almost proudly.

“What?” I asked as I shook my head, trying to clear it enough for thought. The kisses had blinded me almost as much as he was blindsiding me with this.

“Your list,” he said simply. Then he turned and headed into the bathroom.

“My list.” Walking over to the counter, I found that fucking list, right where we left it. There it was…#29: Making out with no sex long after you’re no longer a virgin. I was really beginning to hate that list.

Excerpt 3

“Hey, doll,” he said in that easy way he had of unnerving me. Slowly he leaned over the bar after pulling up a drink he already had poured. “Cosmo?” He chuckled. “It was your new favorite last night.”

Frozen in place, I paused before speaking. Breathe, Willow. Head high, chin up, chest out. Stones don’t get thrown. That was a paraphrase. My mother never would have spoken so informally. Her advice was sound, though. I pasted a smile on my face and headed to the nearest bar stool, directly across from him. “Good evening, Wyatt,” I said smoothly. “It looks like you’ve been expecting me.” Then I reached for the drink and took a healthy, stabilizing swig.

“Maybe just a little,” he responded with his classic wink. “I mean, how long could a type A like you survive without this.” He patted his vest pocket and after glancing about conspicuously, he pulled it open just enough to reveal the phone secreted within.

I could feel a squeal rising in my throat, it was all I could do to control the sound, but nothing could keep me from diving over the bar with my arm outstretched as I reached for my phone. Naturally, he had simply taken a step back and away from me while stifling a laugh.

“Sorry, doll,” he said while shaking his head. “Nothing in life is that easy. You should know that by now.” His blue eyes stared at me intently.

My stomach was doing somersaults. All I wanted to do was get my phone and go...maybe finish my drink. Instead, he was holding me hostage with my phone. “So now what?” I tried to project this relaxed and confident demeanor, but much like before, in his presence, I was doing a poor job of it.

“Well, I thought we might play a game. You’re fun, right?” He laughed at his cleverness.

“Oh, yeah. I’m loads of fun, especially when I’m loaded...apparently. Again, I ask...now what?” My arms were crossed over my chest now. He was making me good and nervous.

Once again, he leaned over the bar, “Well, I thought I’d ask you some questions...instead of Truth or Dare, we’ll make up our own game...Truth or Truth. I’ll decide if you reveal enough with your response. If you do, with each answer, you earn back a piece of your phone.” He studied me, watching for a reaction.

It was my turn to be calm and collected. I met him on the bar. We were practically nose to nose, separated by my martini glass. Stirring it slowly, I made him wait on my reaction. Then I took the cherry from the rim and popped it into my mouth. After devouring it while he watched, his eyes intense and hungry, I smiled. I had no choice, really. Wyatt had my phone and seemed determined to mess with me. I refused to let him win. Instead, I exuded confidence. “Let’s play.”

What made her decide to be an erotica author?

Simple.

How else was she going to parlay her two favorite past times into a career?

Emma is single and loving it. Like her first character, Alysin, Sin for short, she doesn't believe in settling or in settling down. She loves to indulge in her passions whenever the mood strikes and enjoys keeping all of life's cliche moments spicy.

Known for her sense of humor, Emma surrounds herself with friends whose antics often become the source of book fodder. Her ideal situation would be to explore the Caribbean while writing. She pursues that dream daily.

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Ker Dukey : Cover Reveal : EMPATHY : JULY 15

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Title: EMPATHY

Author: Ker Dukey

Genre: A Dark, NA Romance. Standalone Release Date: August 29th, 2014

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ADD TO GOODREADS:

Synopsis: Blake: I am a brother I am a police detective I am a contract killer I don’t want to love I don’t want to feel I don’t want … EMPATHY. They say some people are born with decreased activity in the front central lobe causing them a deficiency in empathy. Maybe that’s true about me but whether I was born this way or created in a moment of evil, empathy was something I didn’t possess until her green eyes met mine in the mirror and I couldn’t take her life. I didn’t want to feel, didn’t want this woman in my life complicating how I lived but she was there at every turn. Sent to haunt me for my sins. Her light so bright she provoked a shadow from everyone she touched. When a job turns bad quickly altering my life forever I’m forced to feel. When nothing is making sense I’m forced to face truths I never would recover from. When life drowns you in its cruelty you don’t know which way the current will drag you or who you’ll become once you re-surface. Melody: I was a daughter I was a student I was a victim Did I have his love? Did I make him feel? Did I have his empathy? When the actions of a soulless killer forces sorrow into my veins I never dreamed the man healing my wounds would be the one to leave the worst scar. His love would scar my soul. Scars are permanent; I will never feel the relief from them. Will I learn to live with them, remember why I have them and learn never to let him close enough to inflict more? Will I eventually cover them… like tattoos coating them with new memories, new love and new starts? I didn't know these answers because the pain was too suffocating, the only thing I knew was they will always be under the surface lingering. He had scars too, from his sins. There is nothing that can cover them, they were too deep, too ugly, too dark and they marked us both forever.

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* Other Books by Ker Dukey *

THE BROKEN

THE BROKEN PARTS OF US

MY SOUL KEEPER

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::: Connect with the Author :::

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