Blog Tour: Heart of Stone by @DakotaWillink #review

Contemporary Romance

Date Published: December 27, 2015

Krystina Cole was a girl on a mission.  She had big dreams and aspirations, none of which included a man by her side.  She knew better than that – at least until she met Alexander Stone, the New York billionaire real estate tycoon.  She saw the way that he looked at her, and the dark promises in his eyes.  She was curious about his world and all that it entailed. But the shadows of her past haunted her, making her afraid to explore possibilities that she could never before have imagined…

Alexander Stone was a man who knew how to get what he wanted.  He understood the value of finesse, and the importance of patience and diligence to achieve the desired result. He was successful and wealthy, relying on his naturally sharp instincts to guide him through life.  But a chance run in with Krystina Cole quickly turned his world upside down. Her quick wit and firecracker attitude was the complete opposite of what he wanted in a woman, and his instincts failed him at every turn…

However, both Krystina and Alexander are clinging to the secrets of their past, and neither of them are willing to compromise.  Krystina’s hardened heart makes emotional surrender a hard limit.  But for Alexander, revealing his past could have devastating results.

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Review 

I truly enjoy reading about a female lead that completely knocks the male off of his game and his usual way of going about things. I think that is the one thing about this novel that really hooked me. Krys throws Alexander for a major loop and it is so fun to read about.

The steam factor is WAY up there. There is a lot of sexual content including the BDSM scene which Krys is new to. 

I am definitely hooked by this story and its characters and am anxiously awaiting book #2.

Dakota Willink is a self employed writer and editor, and the author of Heart of Stone, a contemporary romance novel.   

She has always had a passion for reading and writing. From the time she was an adolescent, she enjoyed curling up with a good paperback, reading genres that ranged from thriller and fantasy, to mystery and romance.  She always dreamed of one day writing her own book, but had put her aspirations on hold to focus on her family and a career that would pay the bills. 

Although she earned a degree in business and had built a solid reputation in retail sales, her heart continued to be with fictional characters – whether they belonged to a favorite author or if they were just stories that she made up in her own head.   

In 2013, Dakota gathered enough courage to turn her dreams into a reality. In between playing chauffeur to two very busy children and working her job during the day, Dakota began to put words on paper.  Eventually, she began to describe her life as a book.  Everything she saw or heard throughout the day, intertwined with her imagination for the creation of future writings.  By 2014, with the support of her husband and two children, she gave up the security of a steady paycheck and began working on her first novel full time.

Dakota Willink is a lover of music, and appreciates the power and stimulating effect it can have on the brain.  She often uses lyrics and melodies to help her through bouts of writers block.  At the end of her novel, you can find an authors note that recognizes and thanks the artists that gave her inspiration.

Dakota resides in the Western New York area, where she enjoys spending time with family, her two Labrador Retrievers, and her spoiled rotten cat.  During the summer months, she can often be found on a boat, soaking up the sun on the Great Lakes with her family. 

Heart of Stone is available in paperback and for Kindle eReaders.

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Blog Tour: WAKE by @SherryRossman #review

Young Adult Christian - Science Fiction - Fantasy

Date Published: February 1, 2016

Serve the community. Obey the laws. Exist on anxiety pills. This is all Monet, a ward of her city, can hope for until she and her friend, Luke, find an old book that shows the history of mankind—a past that’s been hidden from them and all the citizens of Titus. As their curiosity takes them down a dangerous path, extraordinary events begin to occur, showing them God may exist and is reaching out to them through illegal art and a realm of paranormal activity. Monet and Luke find themselves at a crossroads: live within the safe, logical confines of Titus, or embrace the wild truth and risk death.

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There are a lot of moving parts to this novel. As always, starting a new series is a bit tough when trying to understand the world the author has created. This one was no different. It took a bit for me to grasp things but once I did, I was hooked. 

There are a lot of minor characters to filter through in this novel. Some of the secondary characters were fun and really helped the novel, but some of those minor ones really bogged it down in my opinion.

I loved the female lead and how confused yet powerful Monet was. Luke was very well crafted as a character as well and really seemed to balance Monet.

There is more to come, and I can't wait to see what's next. 

Sherry wrote children’s books before digging into genres for older audiences. Her short stories have been published in The Relevant Christian Magazine and Wordsmith Journal Magazine. Recently, she became the author of the bestselling YA novel Faith Seekers, and is also the project leader for Roots Writers and Social Media Critique Group. She is bold when she feels there has been too much silence, and quiet when there is too much noise. She lives in Northern Arizona with her husband and children.

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Blog Tour: The Gun by @Daithik3 #review

Crime Fiction

Date Published: September 30, 2014

Garda Detective Tadhg Sullivan leads a special unit that investigates politically motivated crime. A man known only as The Deerstalker is a cancer who has infected

the Irish political system.

Sullivan teams up with journalist Helen Carty, and together they try tracking down the mysterious killer. Carty adds to Sullivan’s problems, when he finds himself falling in love with her. And further complicating things, he starts losing trust in his partner, Detective Pat Carter, who appears to be on the side of the Garda Commissioner, who Sullivan is rapidly falling out with.

Sullivan’s case is further thrown into confusion when a copycat killer, Tommy Walsh, is shot dead by the CIA. When the CIA discovers that they've killed the wrong person, the two agents involved--Simon, who has become disillusioned by his time stationed in the Middle East, and Joey, a psychopath who confuses zealotry with patriotism--are also in pursuit of The Deerstalker.

Sullivan finds himself in a race against time, if he is to arrest The Deerstalker before the CIA take him out, and use his death as a pawn in a political game of chess.

Who will win out in the end?

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Review 

Detective Tadhg is back and I was still blown away with how connected I feel to him as a character. 

I enjoyed the writing style and the pacing. There were parts that moved very fast and then other parts that slowed down, just enough to let us catch our breaths.

Kavanagh is able to unfold the plot believably while stringing readers along. The characters are both different yet the same in ways and I enjoyed the balance of having both sides of the story to read about. 

Daithi Kavanagh is 57 years old and lives with his wife and two teenage children in Trinity, Wexford, Ireland. Up to 2012 when the recession hit Ireland he was making a living as a musician. He then went back to adult education and completed his Leaving Certificate in 2014. He is now studying for a degree in Irish Culture and Heritage Studies at Wexford Campus.

While he was studying he began writing ‘The Gun’ which is the first book in The Tadhg Sullivan Series.  His second book in the series called The Brotherhood was released in May 2015. He is currently working on the third book in the series.

He plays guitar and sings in many of the pubs in his hometown of Wexford where he is often joined by his two children Ella and Rory who play fiddle and flute.

In his spare time he likes to walk his two dogs with his wife Caroline.

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PROMO Blitz: Accidental Droning from author @pliebengood click to read an #excerpt

Contemporary Adventure Thriller

Date Published: February 2015

Accidental Drowning has been optioned for a possible movie adaption by a Hollywood producer.

Bo Granger loses his job as the manager of a country club golf shop and turns to flying his private drone as a pastime.

Accidentally he captures video with his drone of a woman being murdered by drowning. Bo is torn over whether or not to turn his video over to authorities. He is afraid of reprisal by the person who owns the mansion where the drowning took place, and he worries that his invasion of privacy will derail his wife’s campaign to become governor of California as she is defined as a state legislator by her privacy platform.

Bo endures a series of misadventures as he wrestles with doing the right thing. He is nearly shot to death by a goon hired by the dead woman’s husband, he’s falsely charged with sexual assault by his wife’s housekeeper in a dirty politics scheme, and he gets involved in a torrid romance with a female newspaper reporter who is determined to get the story of a lifetime

Excerpt

The line of club members was out the door. Sequoia Country Club’s pro shop was under siege from filthy-rich golfers—club initiation fees had recently topped three hundred thousand dollars—wanting the newly arrived, multicolored umbrellas. Part of the reason for the unusual customer demand was a steady rain that had swept across the peninsula in the early morning hours. Another was the genius of shop manager Bo Granger, who’d paid a meteorologist out of his own pocket for a long-range forecast the week before. Even though April was still considered the rainy season in the Bay Area, he’d gambled on a big storm hitting precisely on the morning of the club invitational, which boasted a field of 150 golfers. He’d ordered three-dozen of the splashy Leroy Neiman–like designer umbrellas that featured a well in the shaft suitable for housing airplane-sized bottles of booze. He’d been smart, too, in sending e-mail notices to all members announcing his upcoming rainy-day special. Bo figured the huge run on club merchandise was going to be a hit with his new general manager.

Bo had been with the club a little over four years. He’d felt secure enough in his position to warrant this bravado with the umbrellas. Even at a discounted seventy-five dollars a pop, he stood to rake in sales of $2,700 if he could unload three dozen. It was not yet nine thirty in the morning, and he’d sold twenty-four.

Bo was well regarded by the majority of the club’s 550 members, most of them Silicon Valley millionaires. In addition to being a shrewd buyer and mover of golf merchandise, he was very likeable. He had a way of making every club member who came into his shop feel special—especially the good-looking women. He’d almost married one of the better-looking ones, Sally Anne Perkins. She was the daughter of a venture capitalist and had graduated a few years back from the prestigious Stevenson College in New Hampshire with a degree in “green anything.” During the time Bo dated her, she didn’t work; in fact she’d never had a job—didn’t need one with Daddy’s money. She mostly stayed at home and watched game shows. Despite her abundant free time, she didn’t volunteer much—the annual beach cleanup along the San Martin County coastline being the exception. After dating for a year and a half, they broke up. Sally Anne had caught Bo tossing recyclable materials into the garbage yet again. She took a picture of him in the act and posted it on Instagram with the tag, “Should I marry a man who’s this insensitive to our carbon footprint?” She received 547 responses saying no.

Bo got his name from his younger sister. She couldn’t say Robert—it came out Bobo—so his parents went with the abbreviation. Bo’s personality was pleasing. He’d been brought up to be liked by Elaine, a housewife, and Steven Granger, a Walgreen’s pharmacist. “Pleasing people will get you further in life than any degree,” his father had preached. Life with Elaine and Steven was vanilla. Steven made him join the Boy Scouts; Elaine made him play the piano. The most childhood excitement Bo could remember was a road trip to LA where he and his sister, Bobbie, were treated to entire days at Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm.

Bo attended Lowell High School in San Francisco, where he failed to distinguish himself as either an exceptional student or athlete—although he did play number three on the golf team—but as a senior was voted Best Personality over a guy who went on to be a nationally recognized comedian.

Bo attended San Francisco State and got his BA in business in four years. It wasn’t until his junior year that he figured out what he wanted to do with his life. He played for State’s golf team and set his mind to becoming a PGA instructor after he graduated. He figured he could make a good living at it and be exposed to beautiful women who were eager for him to teach them the game. Part of that reasoning was fostered by his good looks. His dark, wavy hair, movie-star-like strong jawline, and penetrating hazel eyes had served him well with college co-eds. He’d left a trail of brokenhearted young girls behind him at State. One of his rejections was good-looking enough to land spots in two different national TV commercials. “I dated the Chick-fil-A girl,” he was proud of saying.

Unfortunately, Bo never reached his goal of being a PGA-sanctioned teaching pro—three times he’d failed at putting together the requisite successive rounds of eighty-two or better. That was the golf world’s equivalent of “three strikes and you’re out.” His last opportunity to qualify was at the California Club in South San Francisco. Bo had carded an eighty and an eighty-two on his first two rounds. He was confident that he could post one more round under eighty-two—too confident. His premature celebration the night before his final round did him in. He wasn’t normally a cocktail drinker—he mostly stuck with beer—but the vodka gimlets he was offered by a fellow competitor’s caddy in the club’s bar went down way too easily and too often. By eight o’clock that evening, he had to be carried into the men’s locker room, where club members constructed a bed out of bench pads and left him there to sleep it off. It didn’t help that Bo had an eight o’clock tee time in the morning. It was the par-three, two-hundred-yard twelfth hole that killed him. Sitting at seven over par through eleven holes, he was just three strokes under the dreaded eighty-two-stroke maximum.

About the Author

Pete Liebengood is a retired TV sportscaster (KRON-TV San Francisco and a past play-by-play contributor to ESPN. He's authored two other novels, "Class of '62" and "Honeyball."

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New Release: Phantom Riders MC: Hawk by @ToryRichards read and #excerpt #giveaway

Erotic Biker Romance

Date Published: 3/15/2016

Ultimate betrayal leaves Hawk, the president of an outlaw motorcycle club, distrustful and hating women. He only wants them for one thing now, and once he’s satisfied his animal urges he casts them aside without a second thought. But then Audra shows up, a curvaceous redhead on the run he can’t seem to resist.  When a threat to his club and his way of life involves her, Hawk has to make a decision to turn the sexy, pint-sized package of trouble loose, or claim her for his own.

EXCERPT

I quickly scooted out of the booth, realizing that Hawk was right behind me. Before I could question him, he grabbed my arm and proceeded to jerk me in the direction leading to the back of the bar. I glanced around the bar wildly, but I didn’t see Dane’s men anywhere.

“They left, but they’ll be back.” We entered a dark hallway, and halfway down he stopped us at a door. I expected him to knock, but instead he lifted his leg and kicked the door in, causing the occupants in the room to scream out in fear. “Out!” he snarled.

I barely had time to acknowledge the naked couple before they snatched up their strewn about clothes and rushed past us. As the man passed me I recognized him as one of Hawk’s men. We made eye contact long enough for him to wink at me. Once they cleared the threshold, Hawk pulled me inside and slammed the door behind him.

“Take your clothes off.”

“What?” He had to be kidding.

“Take your clothes off.”

I know that my jaw dropped at his demand. When I realized that he meant it I began to back up, slowly shaking my head. “You’re crazy!” I whispered sharply. Okay, maybe I had removed my shirt in the restroom, but that had been of my own accord, and he’d said “clothes,” as if he meant everything.

“Take your damn clothes off.” So far he hadn’t moved from his spot, yet I’d backed up until my back was against the wall. “Those men knew how to find you, which means there’s a bug on you somewhere.”

I tried to decipher what he was saying, but my brain wouldn’t wrap around the idea that he thought I had a bug on me. He took a menacing step toward me, and that was all I needed to do what he wanted. Strangely, I wasn’t afraid of Hawk, only of what having his hands on me would make me feel. I was attracted to him in a strange way that left me confused. Maybe it was because I knew that he wasn’t attracted to me, and I looked at it as a challenge.

I quickly removed my hoodie and handed it to him, kicking off my shoes at the same time. As Hawk began going over it I unzipped and rolled down my jeans. I quickly began to unbutton my shirt when a memory reminded me of something.

“Just a minute.” I waited for him to look at me. “There’s no way there can be a bug in these clothes because they aren’t mine. I took them from a laundromat.”

He hesitated for only a second. “I want everything.”

Deciding not to argue with him, I finished with the buttons, removed my shirt, and threw it at him. He caught it to his chest and I swear I saw the tiniest curve of his mouth that revealed that he was amused at my irritation. He examined my clothes thoroughly, finding nothing, as I expected. Then he turned those dark eyes on me, running his gaze up and down my body and missing nothing.

Leaving me hot.

“Everything,” he demanded. “Or did you borrow your underwear, too?”

No, the underwear I had on was mine, a thong Dane had purchased from Victoria’s Secret, and the only thing that he liked me to wear under my clothes. The way Hawk’s gaze moved over me turned me on when it shouldn’t have. I was no stick figure, my short height gave me curves I’d spent half my adult life hiding, until I’d realized that some men liked meat on their women. The coffee eyes on me now revealed that Hawk was no exception.

I swung around, wondering if I would be able to remove my thong, which was silly when I thought about it, because my backside was completely naked to him right then. I pulled it down, catching Hawk’s hiss when I bent slightly to work it over my knees and down my legs. I tossed it over my shoulder in his direction. Completely nude, I reached for the top sheet on the bed before facing him again.

“Satisfied?” I nearly swallowed my tongue when I saw that he still had my thong in his hands. There was no way a bug could be hidden in that tiny, see-through thing.

Hawk’s expression was savage. Something strong and basic had come over him. He reminded me of a bronze statue, solid and strong, powerfully intimidating. I was a prisoner, held captive by the intensity in his eyes. Slowly hand moved upward to his face, pausing right beneath his nose. His nostrils flared, and his eyes closed, as he crushed the bunched thong and inhaled deeply.

Ohmygod, I’d never seen anything so compelling, so erotic. Lust slammed through me, flushing heat over my whole body. I held my breath and watched his eyes open slowly, lazily, revealing the truth. He was aroused. No, scratch that. He was ravenous!

“Toss me your shoes.”

What? Was I reading him all wrong? Seeing something that I only wanted to see? But then, everything I’d learned during my short acquaintance with Hawk came back to the surface, reminding me that he ignored his emotions, and his body’s cravings. I didn’t think that he was afraid of letting go, he didn’t strike me as a weak man, but as someone who thrived on absolute, total control. That made him very dangerous.

I grabbed my Valentino sneakers and tossed them to him. He caught them with one hand. He examined them thoroughly, frowning when he came to the pyramid studs decorating the side. One of them appeared to be loose and with little effort he was able to remove it. He held it up for me to see, but I had no idea what he wanted me to acknowledge.

“It’s decoration.”

He shook his head. “It’s GPS.”

About the Author

I’m a grandma who writes smut. I'm also a mother, daughter, aunt, friend, and sister who discovered my passion for writing at the ripe old age of ten. Before I received my first manual typewriter, with pencil in hand, I would jot my stories down on notebook paper. Later, after receiving that desired typewriter at the age of thirteen I spent hours in my bedroom, where my parents thought I was doing homework.

I was born in Maine, where most of my family still lives today. However, most of my life I've lived in Florida where I attended school, married and raised my daughter.

Writing is a hobby for me, and even though I've retired from Disney it remains a hobby. I'm happy to be just making enough "mad money" from it to be able to keep my cats fed, travel a little, and spoil my grandchildren.

For a while (many years actually) life got in the way of my dreams. A few years ago, with the encouragement of my family, I decided to get serious and I haven't looked back!

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PROMO Blitz: Dirty Bad Boys #giveaway

Contemporary Romance

Date Published: March 1, 2016

Meet the bad boys and billionaires who know how to get their steam on. They’re wild, they’re dirty and they’re hard to tame. This is a sizzling-hot bundle of complete stories, no cliffhangers, with a special bonus and the kindle-melting happy ever afters you love.

This bundle includes:

The Billionaire’s Temptation Complete Series – JS Wilder – a billionaire bad boy 'on-the-job' romance.

Chase Complete Series – Chloe Grey – college romance has never been this steamy, or so dangerous.

Seized Complete Series – JC Coulton – bad boy romance with a good cop twist.

Hard Luck Series – Chloe Grey – coming into wealth and luck is that much harder when lust is involved.

Owned by the Billionaire Cowboy – Bella Wild – a rough and tumble erotic romance with a happy ever after that will leave you swooning.

Rocked Complete Series – Bella Love-Wins – a billionaire bad boy romance with a rock star-MMA twist.

Bonus - Gone 0.5 (The Prequel) - Kendra Wild - a bad boy MC romance.

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Release Blitz: Wicked Bad Boys with a #giveaway from @BellaLoveWins

Contemporary Romance

Date Published: March 1, 2016

These bad boys are wicked, sexy and oh so misunderstood...

Meet the dark and dangerous bad boy book boyfriends who are alpha to the core with secretive pasts. This is a super-hot bundle of complete romantic suspense stories, with no cliffhangers and the kindle-melting happy ever afters you love.

Over TWENTY-FIVE DOLLARS worth of books for only 99 cents and available only for a limited time.

Guaranteed to leave you breathless and begging for more!

This bundle includes:

The Billionaire's Empire Complete Series by Bella Love-Wins

Wild Flames Series (Burnt, Torched and Blaze) by Bella Love-Wins

Bonus just for you - Rocked Complete Series by  Bella Love-Wins & Bella Wild

About the Author

Bella loves writing steamy, high-action romance stories about firefighters, billionaires, shifters, and alpha males who know what they want and aren't afraid of laying claim to the women who catch their interest. She loves a happy ever after ending. Bella enjoys reading, hiking the countryside, and traveling to destinations unspoiled by commercial tourism, like Las Vegas. :)

Like so many characters in her novels, she gets a kick out of action, romance and unexpected love connections that take your breath away. For the next while, you'll find her plotting and writing about her latest stories on her Macbook.

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Kindle Fire ($49 value plus US shipping, or $75 Gift card if winner is international )

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