Book Blitz: Lead the Way by Brittany Carter

Lead The Way by Brittany Carter
Published by: Swoon Romance
Publication date: April 22nd, 2019
Genres: Contemporary, New Adult, Romance

Fresh off the high of college graduation, Melody James is back in her Podunk town. She needs a job, but first, she’ll spend a lazy summer with no agenda at all.

But life’s got other plans for Melody, ones she’d sooner ignore. When the next-door neighbor passes away, his son returns home to take care of his affairs. Thane Cohen hasn’t been home in ten years. The last time he was, someone accused him of murdering Melody’s parents. Now, after major efforts to recover his self-worth and start a construction company, Thane wonders if enough time has passed for him to clear his once good name.

At the time of the murders, Melody was the only person who didn’t believe Thane was responsible. But how could she even suggest otherwise when just about everyone in town was convinced of Thane’s guilt? Her brothers would never allow it. With nothing to lose before, Thane packed up and left, leaving the town and Melody behind. Now that he’s back, rekindling an old flame in Melody and proving his innocence are critical.

When several car windshields get broken and fires start unexpectedly, the world inside their little town is tossed upside down. With Melody’s brother against her, and Thane fighting every attempt she makes at breaking down his walls, Melody’s push for answers leads her to a frightening conclusion. Thane may actually know more about her parents’ death than she was lead to believe. Can she trust him, or has everyone else been right about him all along? Only time will tell if she can let love lead the way.

*Author previously wrote under the name, Alla Kar

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EXCERPT

One side of his mouth curled for a nanosecond. “You need to leave. Your brothers are gonna catch you.”
She placed the carrots in her hand on the table behind him. “You’re not scared of my brothers.”
“I’m not. But they’ll tan your hide if you get caught over here.”
She shrugged. “I’m not scared of my brothers either.”
His gaze dropped to her lips, and her heart began to patter. Thoughts drifted from her head, taking away her ability to speak. She leaned forward; one palm rested against his wide chest. Suddenly, he shifted, grabbed her waist, and placed her on the table behind them. With one hand on either side of her hips, he leaned forward. He smelled woodsy, like rain, earth, and man. It intoxicated her brain, filling her body with raging feelings. Feelings she’d never had before. Not once had Lucas ever made her feel so alive without touching her.
Her mouth watered as he neared, his lips only a hairbreadth away from her own, the minty smell of his mouth had her head gone. His unruly hair was messy from the rain, and she reached up with her other hand to run her fingers through it.
He caught her wrist; his thumb ran three slow circles around her pulse. Kiss me … please. She had no idea why her body betrayed her so easily. The tip of his tongue ran across his bottom lip. Melody couldn’t look away from it, even when he took his other thumb and ran it across her bottom lip. The tension weighed heavily down on her chest, begging for a release.
Just one kiss would cure her, right?
A deep grunt left his throat, and she just knew he’d kiss her. She knew he would lean down and put her out of her misery. Only one more inch and …
“Go home,” he whispered against her mouth.
Her heart sank with embarrassment. Rejection clogged her throat. She wanted to crawl into the dirt and die. Turning her head, she looked down at the shed floor. She was stupid for going over.
Melody jumped down from the table, stopping at the door. “I know you didn’t do it,” she whispered. Thane leaned over the table again, palms flat against the wood, his eyes fixated on her. “You don’t know anything, Melody.”

Author Bio

Brittany Booker Carter previously writing as Alla Kar. I'm a Christian, lover or romance, a wife and mother to a wild-child!

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Book Blitz: Right Kiss Wrong Guy by Natalie Decker

Right Kiss. Wrong Guy by Natalie Decker
Published by: Swoon Romance
Publication date: January 23, 2018
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult

You’d think a girl with the most romantic name in the world would have her pick of boyfriends.
But Valentine’s Day sucks when you’re single. Just ask Juliet Valentine, whose last name happens to also be the name of the most dreaded made-up holiday ever.
A romantic at heart, this year is especially hard on Juliet. Her sister, Layla, is in a new relationship, her mom’s match-making business is doing great, and her school’s new fundraiser is “Love-Grams.”
Juliet’s miserable, a little jealous, and lonely.
Quarterback Jared Black is the most popular guy in school. A star athlete, Jared tops the most-eligible bachelor list year after year. But to Juliet Valentine, he’s all but invisible. She isn’t impressed.
Jared’s never had to work hard to get the attention of a girl before. Valentine’s Day is fast approaching, and he’s determined to ask Juliet out. After all, if Tyler can win over Layla, Jared ought to have a shot with Layla’s sister.
Unlike Tyler and Layla, charm, flattery and good looks won’t work on Juliet. So with the V-Day dance coming up, Jared uses the school’s Love-Grams to let Juliet know how he feels. Should be simple enough, right?
Wrong. Each attempt ends up either in the trash or thrown in someone’s face. Juliet won’t play his game.
Now, without a date to the dance Jared realizes it’s going to take a Hail Mary to win the girl of his dreams.

Goodreads / Amazon

Author Bio:
Natalie Decker is the author of RIVAL LOVE series and the Scandalous Boys series. She loves oceans, sunsets, sand between her toes, and carefree days. Her imagination is always going, which some find odd. But she believes in seeing the world in a different light at all times. Her first passion for writing started at age twelve when she had to write a poem for English class. However, seventh grade wasn't her favorite time and books were her source of comfort. She took all college prep classes in High school, and attended the University of Akron. Although she studied Mathematics she never lost her passion for writing or her comfort in books. She's a mean cook in the kitchen, loves her family and friends and her awesome dog infinity times infinity. If she's not writing, reading, traveling, hanging out with her family and friends, then she's off having an adventure. Because Natalie believes in a saying: Your life is your own journey, so make it amazing!
Find out more visit: www.authornataliedecker.com

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Blog Tour: Edge of Something More by Andi Loveall

Edge Of Something More by Andi Loveall

Published by: Swoon Romance

Publication date: November 10th 2015

Genres: Contemporary, New Adult, Romance

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Synopsis

After a nasty breakup, twenty-two-year-old Devin Ashford is on a mission to travel the world one random excursion at a time. He wants to forget his ex, discover new experiences and end up with some awesome stories to tell. If it takes spending all of his savings to do it, he is ready.

His first stop is a communal homestead in the Appalachians of North Carolina, which turns out to be a bohemian paradise. The weed is plentiful, the owners adore him, and the very sight of Cora, their nineteen-year-old goddaughter, makes him want to set up a permanent camp.

Cora warns that she isn’t ready for a serious relationship, but Devin is falling hard. Playful kisses turn into passionate sex, and each day is spent connecting and enjoying the mind-numbing awesomeness—until he makes the mistake of saying “I love you.” Discussing the future kills the good vibes, and Cora pushes him away.

Pissed off and rejected, Devin begins preparing for his next excursion: backpacking India. But just when it’s time to go, the death of one of the homestead’s beloved animals leaves Cora upset and in need of a friend. Devin’s kindness wins him another shot at romance.

With a plane ticket in hand and his pride on the line, Devin and Cora find themselves teetering on the edge of something more.

AUTHOR BIO

Andi Loveall grew up in the blistering heat of California’s Central Valley and has since traveled far and wide in search of adventure and romance. From the steamy streets of Bangkok to the dancing fireflies of the Appalachians, the places, people and things she has seen have convinced her of two things: Life hurts no matter where you go, and the world is a crazy-beautiful place.

A freelance writer by day and storyteller by night, Andi is on a mission to create characters that come alive in worlds she can’t quite reach. When she’s not writing, she’s usually hula hooping, dying her hair bright colors or making delicious home-cooked meals for herself and the people that she loves.

Author links

Website / FB / Twitter

**GIVEAWAY**

Click HERE to Enter for a chance to win a $10 Amazon GC and copy of The Edge of Something More [eCopy]

Guest Post

My Letter to Devin Ashford

Dear Devin,

Now that your story is about to be revealed to the world, I thought you might like to hear from me. I don’t care if it’s creepy that I’ve been watching your life, or if receiving this message from across the universe will make you uncomfortably aware of every move you make from this point on. I have to tell you what you’ve done for me.  

You Taught Me

I made you a promise you didn’t realize you heard, and I remained committed to it, for hours and days and years. Every time I got an idea for a new story, I noted it down and went back to you. I have back problems, wrist pain, and strained eyes, mostly because of my obsession with you. Throughout my relationships, you have been there. I’ve spent time with you in different states and thought about you from the opposite side of the planet. You were the one guy that I could truly devote to, and even though you’re not for me, your existence taught me a lot about love.

You Inspired Me

You really did. Because of or at least partially due to wanting to be like you, I left my home to go traveling and ended up on a WWOOF farm. I went backpacking overseas. I tried to do and be as you did and were, and there were so many moments when I couldn’t tell whether I was writing your story or you were writing mine.

Even weirder, the situation between you and Cora began to manifest in my own love life in various ways. This makes me a little nervous about all the horror stories I plan to write, but that’s a topic for another blog.

You Showed Me

The way you treated Cora showed me that it was possible, if only in another dimension, for people to show each other respect. I of course know that, but I was stuck in a toxic relationship at the time, and you were my escape. You always wanted to do something cool and different with your life. You’ve done a lot for yourself, but it doesn’t even compare to what you’ve done for me. Thank you for existing. I hope others are inspired by you as well.

Thanks everyone for checking out EDGE OF SOMETHING MORE, and thanks for having me at A Southern Girl’s Bookshelf!

Release Day Book Blitz: The Ghost of You by Amanda Burckhard

The Ghost of You by Amanda Burckhard 

Release Date: February 24, 2015

Publisher: Swoon Romance

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Buy Links: Amazon

Summary via Goodreads

Emmy has everything she’s ever wanted: a hot boyfriend she adores, great friends, a promising future, and even a well-connected family. But one night rips it all away.

A car accident shatters her world, claiming the lives of her twin brother and her best friend. In the wake of the accident, her friends drift away, her family falls apart, and her boyfriend cheats.

The grief is more than she can handle, so she finds escape at the bottom of a bottle of painkillers. Taking the pills makes her brother alive again, if only in her head. Seeing and talking to her brother as if he were still alive is the only thing that keeps her going. Until Logan King moves to town.

Logan sees past the mask of pristine popularity she wears in public and he’s the only one who can tell she hasn’t moved on. His uncanny ability to read her forces her to open up and she starts to fall for him, no matter how unwilling she is to admit it. But Emmy isn’t the only one keeping secrets and when a close brush with death sparks events that bring everything to light, Emmy will have to decide what’s more important: learning how to forgive and move on, or holding onto the pills and the ghost of her past.

About the Author

Amanda Burckhard grew up exploring bat caves and hunting for dinosaur bones in the Black Hills of South Dakota. When she wasn’t crossing paths with mountain lions, she was making up stories and devouring books at the library. Although, she still does that.

Amanda loves to travel and cross out things on her adrenaline packed bucket list. Some of the things she's been able to cross out include see an active volcano erupt, ride a gondola in Venice, and pet a tiger.

She currently lives in North Sioux City, South Dakota and works as a microbiologist by day. Some of her obsessions include comic book movies, hot chocolate, sushi, sunshine, and Doctor Who.

Author Links

Website│Goodreads│Twitter│Facebook

GIVEAWAY

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Excerpt

Everything in my room reminded me of him somehow. The candle Mom got me he used to joke smelled like cinnamon on steroids. The lopsided dream catcher we made at a school carnival in middle school. The running shoes he got me last Christmas. I didn’t want to see any of it. I wanted him.

Then I was screaming, ripping, tearing, throwing anything I could get my hands on. My vision blurred. My head pounded in my ears. When my hand tightened around a smooth cylinder on my desk, I almost didn’t realize what it was in time to stop myself from shattering it against the wall. Derek had given me the green, plastic flashlight when we were ten as a way to ward off nightmares. It didn’t work anymore, even with new batteries, but I could never bring myself to get rid of it. I collapsed onto the floor, hugging the flashlight to my chest, crying and sobbing so hard I couldn’t breathe or see or think.

What was I going to do without him? We were the Grayson twins. We did everything together. I didn’t know who I was without him. He couldn’t be gone. He couldn’t.

When I pulled myself off the floor, it was nearly dark out. I looked around the room that appeared as if a tornado went through it. The shelves from my dresser lay on the floor, their contents scattered. Papers and posters lay crumpled and torn into pieces. My bedding and clothes were strewn everywhere. Almost every visible inch of the floor was covered. I couldn’t remember doing most of the destruction. I didn’t even feel better after doing it.

Something on the ground caught my eye. Something orange and familiar. I reached for the small bottle of pills and read the label. Vicodin. They were from my tonsillectomy last year. They must’ve been stuck away in a drawer, forgotten and unused.

I remembered how they made me feel like I was floating on water, like my brain was fuzzy and nothing seemed like a big deal. That feeling would be a nice change to what I felt now.

Throwing two pills into my mouth, I grabbed a week-old bottle of Gatorade from my dresser and took a swig. I left my disaster of a room and went down the hall to Derek’s room. The room felt dull and lifeless without him. The posters of old rock bands plastering the walls and wrestling trophies displayed on every shelf didn’t fit without the boy who had put them there.  

I set the flashlight on his nightstand and crawled into his bed. His pillowcase smelled of peppermint. Jess and I had picked out that shampoo for him a few weeks ago. He swore he’d never use it, but I guess he changed his mind.

I stared at the flashlight until the pills made my eyelids droop and my mind slipped off into darkness.  

Derek’s voice reached out to me just as I was falling asleep. “It’ll be okay, Em. Sleep. I’m here.”

Cover Reveal: Had to Be You by Juliet Chatman

Had to Be You by Juliet Chatham

A New Adult Romance

Releasing June 2014

Published by Swoon Romance

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HAD TO BE YOU is a contemporary new adult romance set in a small Massachusetts beach town in the days leading up to a summer wedding. At its heart, this is a story about first love, but as it also carries over into post-college years, spanning that decade and touching upon more mature themes. It does not shy away from erotic description, but only as it reflects and reinforces the deep connection and passion defining the relationship.

When Rory Finn first left behind the familiarity of her quiet, picturesque hometown to pursue a professional career in the city after college, her intention was to focus on the future—until a jarring bit of unwelcome news forces her to face the past. What if her first love could actually still be the true love of her life? There’s just one little problem with the timing of this revelation. He is about to marry someone else.

As she embarks upon an impulsive, desperate bid to win him back, her mission turns into an unexpected and emotional journey of rediscovery. With both humor and heartbreak, the story itself transitions from past to present, exploring a small history of love from its tentative beginnings to what may just turned out to be its final bittersweet end.

Author Links:

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Cover Reveal: Plumb Crazy by Molly Blaisdell

Plumb Crazy by Molly Blaisdell

Expected Publication: June 10, 2014

New Adult

Swoon Romance

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Synopsis:

Small town country girl Elva Presley Hicks is about to attend her five-year class reunion with her best friends, Shay and Margarett.

The discovery of an old fanfic manuscript stirs up memories of her summer job as a plumber’s helper in Houston the summer before senior year. She earned a lot of money that year, but was lonely as heck.

It's not like there weren't any suitors back then. Elva could have chosen between Chase, the obese pig farmer, and Wyatt, the plumber with wandering hands. But Elva yearned for something more, and found it that fateful summer, with electrician, Mitch McCall.

It was magical. Mitch wasn't turned off by Elva's name or fan fiction writing, and Elva didn't lose interest in Mitch after he cut off his nose at work.

Trials and triumphs followed including a friendship implosion, world-wide fanfic humiliation, and goat salvation. It would go down as the most memorable summer of high school.

But as these things sometimes do, the summer romance fizzled and Elva moved on to life after high school. And while she's ready to reminisce, she is unnerved when she runs into Mitch at the reunion. Can they give it another go after so much time has passed, or are they too different now to even try?

About the Author

Molly Blaisdell is a dash of fun, mixed in with some smart cookie and a splash of capable. She was born in Houston, Texas, the second daughter of Jack Cook Barlow, a plumber, and Lera Lee Kelly Barlow, a horitculturist, artist, and writer. Molly spent her childhood playing makebelieve with her two sisters, growing Louisana irises, and taking many car trips to visit family in Mississippi and California.

Molly is an avid Trekkie and started her first fan fiction group in junior high way before there were interwebs. She spent her teen years in Waller, Texas and became involved in drama, speech and Greenpeace. She also worked as a plumber's helper and made frequent trips to New Orleans, enjoying the French Quarter jazz and Cajun cooking. She graduated from Texas A&M with a degree in Chemistry.

She's a native Texan, mom of four children, and currently lives under the wide open skies of College Station with her husband Tim.

Links:

http://www.mollyblaisdell.com/

https://www.facebook.com/MollyBlaisdellPage

https://twitter.com/MollyBlaisdell

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1240703.Molly_Blaisdell http://www.pinterest.com/mollyblaissell/

Cover Reveal: Love and Cupcakes by Susan Bishop Crispell

Love and Cupcakes by Susan Bishop Crispell
Genre: Adult Romance
Expected Publication: January 21, 2014
Publisher: Swoon Romance
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Synopsis:

For Jaclyn “Jack” Pace, sensing what sweets people crave is as easy as breathing. But it’s not enough to keep her cupcake bakery in the black.

So, when her estranged sister Harper comes back to town with an affinity for making art out of icing—and a past full of secrets—she reluctantly gives Harper a job and a place to crash.

As their sisterly relationship begins to thaw, the one with her business partner Graham starts to heat up. Given the legend that says Hollingsworth men will recognize their soul mates at first touch, Jack’s always been resigned to the fact that she’s not his.

But when she starts sensing desires that are decidedly not dessert-related, it’ll take all of her magic to set things right with customers and make her own desires come true. Love and Cupcakes is a delightfully sweet and sensual romance from Susan Bishop Crispell.

About the Author

Susan Bishop Crispell is not one of those writers who's been scribbling down stories since she could hold a pencil. She didn't read constantly growing up (blasphemy!), and she can still be found in public without a book tucked into her purse (again with the blasphemy!).

She is, however, the kind of writer who lives for the imaginative spark that introduces her to a new character or story idea that pushes her to turn everyday life into something magical. She lives and writes near Wilmington, NC.

Author Links:

Publisher: www.myswoonromance.com

Website: www.susanbishopcrispell.com

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/SBCrispell

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorSusanBishopCrispell

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/sbcrispell/

Tumblr: http://sbcrispell.tumblr.com/