Spotlight on Harmony’s Embrace

I’m happy to welcome Wild Rose Press author Amber Daulton. Today, Amber shares her new release, Harmony’s Embrace.

Blurb

Reuniting with the man who broke her heart has never felt so right.

Divorced dad Birley Haynes is too busy raising his children and running his family’s music academy to start a relationship. Then Harmony Holdich, his high school sweetheart, returns home to Willow Springs, Vermont for Christmas and falls into his bed. She brings light and fun back into his life, but he can’t brush aside the threatening incidents around his workplace.

Harmony hadn’t expected a complication like Birley, especially so soon after the death of her unfaithful husband. With her life a mess, she plans to move across the country and start over. All she can offer him is a fling, but her heart yearns for more.

When the threats rise, how will Birley keep his children safe and convince Harmony to give love another chance?

Excerpt

He sighed heavily. Snapping at her wouldn’t convince her to stick around. “Have you thought about me over the years?”

Her bottom lip trembled, then she sucked it between her teeth. “Of course I have. High school was a long time ago, and our dreams clashed. You wanted a laidback life, even though you cut loose with Susannah in college. I wanted big-city living, and I got it. I like it.”

“So a rich-ass condo means that much to you? You want a new job slaving away five or six days a week for some major corporation until you’re exhausted?” He silently cursed. Not only did he slave away at his job, he was growing more tired of it by the day.

Good job, man. Way to control your temper.

In the back of his mind, he’d always believed he and Harmony would find one another again. Susannah and Claude didn’t compute. How crazy was that? Did he marry someone so different from himself because, subconsciously, he didn’t want the relationship to work?

A frown creased her brow. “I don’t need or want expensive things, but I like to work, to feel useful. My dream home is a little yellow bungalow with a big yard in a suburb.” She rocked in the chair as though she longed to jump up and run out the door. “I don’t want to argue. Let’s finish eating and hit the slopes.” She polished off her chips in a handful of loud crunches.

“What did you expect?” His throat constricted. “We’ve never hashed this stuff out since Susannah and Claude were always stuck up our asses. It’s time we deal with it.”

She scowled, then finished her grinder.

Birley gritted his teeth. Why had he been so stupid all those years ago? He’d wanted her to attend the University of Vermont with him, but she balked at another lengthy stint in school. He never should’ve walked off, leaving her crying on the porch of her parents’ house. She wanted time to think about her future—they’d only graduated from high school that morning—but her refusal didn’t mean she’d stopped loving him.

Too bad he hadn’t realized the truth at the time. She’d hurt his pride and broken his heart. Nothing mattered but hurting her in return. They avoided each other for the rest of the summer, then he headed off to the university.

God, how he’d missed her. She’d continued to work for her uncle while earning her accounting degree at a local community college and later moved to New Jersey for her job. Any chance of repairing their relationship had left with her, but by then, he was with Susannah.

Birley ate the rest of his sandwich, which slid down his gullet like cardboard. “No matter what you decide, I’m happy you’re home now.” The hope in his chest deflated. He stood and tugged on his gloves. “Let’s hit one of the blue squares. You okay with that?”

She nodded and followed him up. After they threw away their trash, they left the lodge.

Purchase Links

Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Apple/iBooks | Universal Link

Now Taking Sign Ups for my Newsletter, Amber Daulton Romance – Here

Easily read in one sitting, Harmony’s Embrace is a beautifully written second-chance romance set during a holiday season in small-town Vermont. From the start, I found myself rooting for the delightfully flawed protagonists—Harmony and Birley—as they struggle to overcome pasts fraught with heartache and abuse. I strongly recommend setting aside large blocks of uninterrupted reading time. You won’t be able to put this book down.

Well done, Ms. Daulton!

About the Author

Amber Daulton is the author of the romantic-suspense series Arresting Onyx and several standalone novellas. Her books are published through The Wild Rose Press, Books to Go Now, and Daulton Publishing, and are available in ebook, print on demand, audio, and foreign language formats.

She lives in North Carolina with her husband and demanding cats.

Website | Facebook Author Page | Twitter | Pinterest | Goodreads | Amazon Author Page | BookBub | Instagram

Spotlight on Life with Ollie

I’m happy to welcome author Donna G. Bourgeois. Today, Donna shares her new release, Life with Ollie.

Blurb

If you are of dating age or married, I wrote this book for you.

This is not a self-help or a how-to book. This is the story of the metamorphosis of a timid, fear filled child who finally blossomed into a warrior. I have many scars that no one can see, but they are healed now. Through these battles to become a warrior, I have helped the wounded souls that have come to me and seen them overcome their demons to stand tall and proud of who they are. It has brought me great joy.

Through the years, I have heard along the way that the ancient Chinese would fix their broken china cups or figurines with gold to make them whole again, and more valuable. I believe that humans can be repaired with love and a sense of self-worth. Each and every one of us are here for a purpose and we are given gifts to help fulfill our purpose.

I would love for you to come on this journey with me.

Excerpt

My stepdad was a newspaper man, then the editor of Truck Transportation magazine. He then went on to work in the public relations department at Bell Canada. He received many awards for his films and articles about Bell.

There were still fights and I got to know when they would arrive home from the press club. I would always wake a half hour before they arrived, no matter what the time was, and I would start to sweat in fear of what was coming. By now, I was getting hauled out of bed to take sides. God, what a mess. I told them if the fighting didn’t stop, I was leaving. That helped for a while.

I met a man named John and we began dating. He was tall and handsome, but what I liked the most was that he was stable. His “yes” was yes, and his “no” was no. He would be my pillar and I could count on him to take a stand with me against my mother. Or so I thought.

He had asked me if he could borrow my car for a week. Even though I was twenty years old, I still felt I had to ask my mother. She said yes. I told my boyfriend that he could have my car for the week. Then, a few days before he came to pick it up, Mom decided he could not have the car. I reminded her that she had said yes and I told him yes, and that I was not going back on my word. Mom would do this all the time, say yes and then say no. It kept me off balance. I, on the other hand, believed you should always keep your word. We had a big fight over this. I told her I was twenty years old and I thought it was about time I had a say over my own life. It didn’t matter how much she argued with me, I stood firm. My boyfriend had the car for the week. His car was in the shop and I was not going to leave him high and dry.

It probably scared her that she was losing control over me. Then—poof!—she told me my father wanted to see me. I am not always the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree, because it didn’t hit me until later that she had phoned him and asked him to back her up—that I should still do as I was told. I couldn’t believe that, all along, she’d known where he was and she had purposely kept me away from him. I could have had my father for most of my growing-up years. He was back home from England and had been in Ottawa for years. Still, she’d kept me from him. I would often ask her what he was like; she never badmouthed him, but she made the idea of him sound so final that I wouldn’t ask after him again for a long time.

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Author Bio and Links

Donna G. Bourgeois enjoys writing and painting, both excellent activities to soothe the soul. She went to university at 65-years-old and earned an associate degree in theology, just to keep the grey matter healthy. She considers her greatest quality to be the ability to love greatly and be kind to those who life have put on her path. Life with Ollie is her first book, although she has many more story ideas waiting in the wings. She believes if you listen to your inner voice, you will find your bliss.

Website | Goodreads

Giveaway

Donna Bourgeois will be awarding a $20 Amazon or Barnes & Noble gift card to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour. Find out more here.

Follow Donna on the rest of her Goddess Fish tour here.

Cover Reveal: Baked with Love

I’m thrilled to reveal the cover of Peggy Jaeger’s next novel…

Blurb

Innkeeper Maureen O’Dowd lives to cook and bake, spoils her family and friends, and is an expert at keeping secrets, especially about the man who’s held her heart for years.

Police Chief Lucas Alexander is dealing with an aging father and a moody teenage son, and he’s in love with a woman who only wants to be friends.
How can these two fiercely private people reveal their feelings for one another without destroying the friendship they already have? And if they’re successful, will another secret, if revealed, drive a wedge between Maureen and Lucas that can never be repaired?

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On Tour with Goddess Fish – Day 5

It’s my fifth Monday on tour with Goddess Fish.

I’m visiting two blogs today:

Chatting about the protagonist’s daughters of the heart on Viviana MacKade’s blog.

A review on the Hurn Publications blog.

Stop by and visit for a while. Remember to scroll down and enter the Rafflecopter giveaway. You could win a $20 Amazon gift card.

Book Blast: The Sinister Superyacht

I’m happy to welcome author Ana T. Drew. Today, Ana shares her upcoming release, The Sinister Superyacht.

Blurb

French tycoon Jean-Louis Ponsard is having a bad year.
Unwise investments, canceled orders, deals falling through…
In the thick of it, his yacht becomes the scene of a suspicious death, and his year of misfortune hits the bed of the Mediterranean Sea.
To make matters worse, the victim isn’t just anybody.
She’s his much-hated mother-in-law.

Onboard, caterer Julie Cavallo and her quirky grandma Rose do some poking around.
But every luxury cabin hides a secret.
Every passenger has an alibi or no reason to want the victim dead.
Discretion rules.
The crew keeps mum.
So do the marble countertops, gem-incrusted walls, and gold sinks.
When the cops take charge, things go to pieces, and not only for the Ponsard family.

Can Julie dive to the murky bottom of the sea, unravel the case, and come back up still breathing?

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Author Bio and Links

Ana T. Drew is the evil mastermind behind the recent series of murders in the fictional French town of Beldoc. When she is not writing cozy mysteries or doing mom-and-wife things, she can be found watching “The Rookie” to help her get over “Castle”. She lives in Paris but her heart is in Provence.

>>> Visit ana-drew.com for a free cookbook and a game!

Website | Amazon | Facebook | Bookbub | Goodreads | Pinterest

Giveaway

Ana T. Drew will award a $20 Amazon/Barnes & Noble giftcard to a randomly drawn winner on Rafflecopter. Enter here.

Follow Ana on the rest of her Goddess Fish tour here.

Release Day: November 20

10 Quotable Quotes from No More Secrets

Whenever I pick up a new book—fiction or nonfiction—I like to pause and note any passages that trigger aha moments.

In earlier times (pre-computer), I would copy those pearls of wisdom into an “Inspirational Quotations” file. I still have that file but now post digitally.

When I started writing my own novels, I was happy to receive emails from readers who were touched and inspired by certain passages.

Here are ten quotations from No More Secrets that have resonated with early readers:

“Keeping secrets is wrong, especially if those secrets are toxic. If they’re not shared, those secrets will implode.”

Continue reading on the Soul Mate Authors blog.

Designing Crafty Ways to Kill People

I’m happy to welcome back USA Today bestselling and award-winning author Lois Winston. Today, Lois shares her writing journey and new release, A Sew Deadly Cruise.

Here’s Lois

Life’s journey is rarely a straight line. It certainly hasn’t been for me. Way back when I was working toward my BFA in graphic design and illustration, I never would have imagined that someday I’d be writing novels. Since graduating from college {{cough! cough!}} years ago, I’ve worked as a layout artist for two advertising agencies as well as the world’s oldest department store, an illustrator for the publications and alumni departments of two major universities, a freelance designer of needlework kits, a designer and design coordinator for a major manufacturer, a craft book editor, and a magazine freelancer. And that was all before I got the crazy idea to write my first novel.

Even then, my career didn’t proceed along a straight line. I started out writing romance, and now I’m killing people for a living—but only in my novels! I also spent twelve years as a literary agent, working for the agency that represented me. Is your head spinning yet? Mine is, just thinking about my rollercoaster of a professional life!

I’m now a retired designer, a retired literary agent, and a retired romance writer. Truthfully, I find killing people (on paper) far more fun than writing sex scenes. I spend my days getting my reluctant amateur sleuth, Anastasia Pollack, into trouble while sitting at my computer recording her antics as she attempts to thwart my efforts.

I don’t think Anastasia likes me very much, but I can hardly blame her. Before I came along, she was leading a typical middle-class life in the suburbs with her husband and two teenage sons. About the only not-so-typical part of her life was her communist mother-in-law and the Shakespeare-quoting parrot she’d inherited from her great-aunt.

That all changed when I decided to kill off Anastasia’s husband prior to the opening pages of the first book. Unbeknownst to her, the two-timing louse was having an affair with Lady Luck. He gambled away all their money, leaving her to deal with staggering debt, his communist mother, and a demanding loan shark. You can read all about it in Assault With a Deadly Glue Gun, the first book in the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery Series.

I’ve had so much fun tormenting Anastasia that I’m now up to Book 9 in the series that bears her name, and there are also three connecting novellas.

Books in the series include:

Assault With a Deadly Glue Gun
Death by Killer Mop Doll
Revenge of the Crafty Corpse
Decoupage Can Be Deadly
A Stitch to Die For
Scrapbook of Murder
Drop Dead Ornaments
Handmade Ho-Ho Homicide
A Sew Deadly Cruise

Novellas include:

Crewel Intentions
Mosaic Mayhem
Patchwork Peril

Blurb for A Sew Deadly Cruise

Life is looking up for magazine crafts editor Anastasia Pollack. Newly engaged, she and photojournalist fiancé Zack Barnes are on a winter cruise with her family, compliments of a Christmas gift from her half-brother-in-law. Son Alex’s girlfriend and her father have also joined them. Shortly after boarding the ship, Anastasia is approached by a man with an unusual interest in her engagement ring. When she tells Zack of her encounter, he suggests the man might be a jewel thief scouting for his next mark. But before Anastasia can point the man out to Zack, the would-be thief approaches him, revealing his true motivation. Long-buried secrets now threaten the well-being of everyone Anastasia holds dear. And that’s before the first dead body turns up.

Craft projects included.

Buy Links

Amazon | Kobo | Nook | Apple iBooks

Bio and Links

USA Today bestselling and award-winning author Lois Winston writes mystery, romance, romantic suspense, chick lit, women’s fiction, children’s chapter books, and nonfiction under her own name and her Emma Carlyle pen name. Kirkus Reviews dubbed her critically acclaimed Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series, “North Jersey’s more mature answer to Stephanie Plum.” In addition, Lois is a former literary agent and an award-winning craft and needlework designer who often draws much of her source material for both her characters and plots from her experiences in the crafts industry.

Website | Newsletter Sign-up | Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers Blog | Pinterest | Twitter | Goodreads | Bookbub

On Tour with Goddess Fish – Day 3

It’s my third Monday on tour with Goddess Fish.

I’m visiting the “Fabulous and Brunette” blog and sharing tips on dealing with rejection. I’m also including a blurb, excerpt, and buy links for No More Secrets.

Stop by and visit for a while. Remember to scroll down and enter the Rafflecopter giveaway. You could win a $20 Amazon gift card.

Find out more here.