Kaleidoscope by Kristen Ashley
Series: Colorado Mountain #6 (full reading order below)
(Paperback) Release Date: December 16th 2014
When old friends become new lovers…anything can happen.
Sexy, gifted, and loyal, PI Jacob Decker is a tall, cool drink of perfection who had Emmanuelle Holmes at “hello.” His relationship with Emme’s best friend kept them apart for years, but things have changed. Now that a case has brought him to Gnaw Bone, Colorado, the road is wide open for Emme and Deck to explore something hotter and deeper than Emme dreamed possible. So why is she sabotaging the best thing that’s ever happened to her?
It isn’t easy to catch Deck off guard, but Emme does just that when she walks back into his life after nine long years. The curvy brunette had her charms back in the day, but now she’s a bona fide knockout . . . and she wants to rekindle their friendship. Deck, however, wants more. Emme’s always been the one; she excites Deck’s body and mind like no other woman can. But a dark chapter from Emme’s past overshadows their future together. Now only Deck can help her turn the page-if she’ll let him . . .
I looked out my office window, down to the yard, my eyes to the bustling activity, and I did this tapping my phone on my desk.
I should be working but I wasn’t thinking about work.
I was thinking about Jacob.
More precisely, I was thinking about calling Jacob, had an overwhelming urge to do so.
I was also trying not to do so because I had a boyfriend, even though he was a boyfriend I wasn’t all that sure about. He was sweet, he was into me, but he was just… off.
Then again, I didn’t have a lot of experience so what did I know?
Additionally, after my dinner with Jacob last night, within an hour, I’d called him after ten at night and now it was only eleven thirty the next day.
I didn’t want him to think I was psycho, and calling him would imply psycho behavior. Further, when I called him last night, I’d asked him to dinner, which was dinner two nights in a row with a woman he hadn’t seen in nine years, a woman with a boyfriend, and that was semi-psycho.
Okay, maybe it was totally psycho.
I didn’t want Jacob to think I was psycho.
Ever.
But I wanted to hear his voice. I wanted to connect with him on the phone. I’d missed him and I liked having him back. I liked it a great deal.
I also missed him a great deal.
And I needed to ask him something. Further, he was the only one I could ask.
I looked from the yard to my phone. My mind telling my thumb not to do it, my thumb not listening, I found Jacob’s contact and hit go.
I put it to my ear.
“I’m a psycho,” I whispered and luckily finished whispering two seconds before Jacob’s voice sounded.
“You okay?” he answered.
He kept asking that mostly, I figured, because I kept calling when I didn’t need to so he probably thought something was wrong.
Or that I was a psycho.
“I need to know if you don’t eat anything,” I lied.
Actually, it wasn’t a lie. Although I remembered a lot about Jacob (most everything, in all honesty), I couldn’t recall if there was something specific he didn’t like to eat.
I could recall how beautiful he was, how tall he was, how strong he was. I could recall how smart he was and how funny he was. I could recall how cool he was with me. I could also recall how much I missed him. But I couldn’t recall if he didn’t like chicken.
But that wasn’t the only thing I needed to know. I needed to know something else too.
Much like last night, when he didn’t make me feel like a psycho, in fact, the opposite and sounded like he was happy to hear from me and would be willing to talk all night, he again sounded like me psychotically calling him yet again in a precursor to stalker way was no big deal.
“I don’t eat it, I’ll pick it off.”
“You can’t pick it off if I cook with it in it or if the mainstay of dinner on the whole is what you don’t eat,” I informed him.
“You makin’ Indian food?” he asked.
“No. Don’t you like Indian food?” I asked back.
“Love it,” he answered.
“Then why’d you ask if I was making Indian food?”
“ ’Cause I hoped you were.”
I burst out laughing.
No, Jacob definitely didn’t make me feel like I was being a psycho.
When I quit laughing, I told him, “Sorry, honey, I don’t know how to make Indian food.”
“Shame,” he muttered, a smile in his deep, attractive voice, and if I was on an infrared scanner, specific parts of me would have shown up hotter.
You have a boyfriend, Emme! I told myself.
For a while, I answered myself.
Jacob is also your ex–best friend’s ex-boyfriend, Emme! I reminded myself.
So? I asked myself.
I shoved those thought aside, thoughts that, if anyone knew I was talking to myself in my head might prove I was indeed a psycho, and pointed out to Jacob, “You haven’t actually answered the question.”
“I’ll eat what you cook, Emme. Cook what you like.”
He was such a nice guy.
He always was.
Nice. Tall (very tall). Handsome (unbelievably handsome). Smart (so damned smart). Funny. Interesting. Gentlemanly. And a repeat of nice because it was worth a repeat since he was just that nice.
I liked all that about him. I liked that he wore his dark hair way too long. I liked that sometimes a thick hank of it fell over his forehead and into his eye. I liked that he was who he was and didn’t wear designer jeans or put gel in his hair. I liked that, even considering he was extortionately intelligent, in fact, a genius, he never made anyone feel less than him because they weren’t as smart. I liked that he never acted superior or arrogant and with all that was him, looks, body, brains, he was one person who could. And I liked that he liked to do what he liked to do, he did what he liked to do and wouldn’t get pushed into doing something he didn’t want.
Like Elsbeth tried to do.
He’d lost her to that and he’d accepted it. I knew it killed. He’d loved her to distraction. But he refused to be the man she wanted him to be and instead was the man he was.
She should have seen she had it all even if he didn’t make bucketloads of money and thus couldn’t give her the life she was used to getting from her daddy. Country clubs, tennis lessons, vacations in villas in Italy and beaches in Thailand, fabulous homes kept by maids and fabulous meals cooked by cooks.
Kristen Ashley grew up in Brownsburg, Indiana, and has lived in Denver, Colorado, and the West Country of England. Thus she has been blessed to have friends and family around the globe. Her posse is loopy (to say the least) but loopy is good when you want to write.
Kristen was raised in a house with a large and multigenerational family. They lived on a very small farm in a small town in the heartland, and Kristen grew up listening to the strains of Glenn Miller, The Everly Brothers, REO Speedwagon, and Whitesnake. Needless to say, growing up in a house full of music and love was a good way to grow up. And as she keeps growing up, it keeps getting better.
Fire Inside by Kristen Ashley
Series: Chaos #2 (full reading order below)
Release Date: March 25th 2014
Lanie Heron isn’t looking for love-no surprise, considering her last serious relationship nearly got her killed. So when Lanie propositions Hop Kincaid, all she wants is one wild night with the hot-as-hell biker who patrols with the Chaos Motorcycle Club . . .
For Hop, Lanie has always been untouchable. She’s too polished and too classy for his taste. But when she gives Hop the once-over with her bedroom eyes and offers him a night in paradise, he can’t say no. And he doesn’t regret it when he finds that Lanie is the best thing that’s ever happened to him-in or out of bed. Now the trick will be to convince her of that.
Hop came out of the bathroom to see Lanie on her feet on the other side of the bed, panties on, hands twisted behind her back putting her bra on. Again.
He didn’t say a word. He prowled to her, reached out an arm the second he was close, yanked her to him and fell to his back in the bed, taking her down with him.
“Hop—” she started, pushing her weight against his arms, but he slid her off him then wasted no time rolling over her and pinning her to his bed.
“Sleep,” he ordered when he caught her eyes in the weak dawn. “After rest, I’ll get coffee, we’ll juice up, then round four.”
She blinked and breathed, “Four?”
“Got lots more I want to do to you,” he informed her and watched her eyes go soft, sexier, then her teeth came out to graze her lush lower lip, also fucking sexy, and her arms slid around him.
But she asked, “What about Tack and Ty-Ty?”
“I’ll make sure the coast is clear,” he told her.
“But they’ll see my car,” she told him.
“I’ll move it,” he offered.
Her hand slid up his back, around his shoulder, and then to his neck where her thumb moved to stroke him.
Her touch was light but, fuck, it felt good. He’d never had a woman touch him in an unconscious way like that, just a touch, a stroke, giving something that meant nothing at the same time doing it without thinking about it meant everything.
Shit.
Complicated.
“This is just supposed to be one night,” she reminded him quietly, but he saw it in her eyes. She didn’t even try to hide it. She’d bitten off more than she could chew.
He had too and he was nowhere near done eating.
She was cute. She was sweet. She was hot. She was better than he expected and he’d expected her to be pretty fucking good. All that wrapped in a package that gorgeous?
Yeah.
He was nowhere near done eating.
“Change of plans. A night and a morning and, maybe, an afternoon and, possibly, another night,” he amended, and her eyes got softer as her hand slid up to cup his jaw.
“I have to work,” she told him.
“Call off,” he told her.
“I can’t. I own the joint.” She explained something he knew, that she ran her own advertising agency. “And things are a bit crazy.”
Things were always crazy for Lanie. The woman lived crazy. She thrived on it. If there wasn’t crazy, she stirred it up because she couldn’t breathe without it.
“Babe,” he pressed his body into hers, “told you, got more I want to do to you.”
Kristen Ashley grew up in Brownsburg, Indiana, and has lived in Denver, Colorado, and the West Country of England. Thus she has been blessed to have friends and family around the globe. Her posse is loopy (to say the least) but loopy is good when you want to write.
Kristen was raised in a house with a large and multigenerational family. They lived on a very small farm in a small town in the heartland, and Kristen grew up listening to the strains of Glenn Miller, The Everly Brothers, REO Speedwagon, and Whitesnake. Needless to say, growing up in a house full of music and love was a good way to grow up. And as she keeps growing up, it keeps getting better.
Kaleidoscope by Kristen Ashley
Series: Colorado Mountain #6 (full reading order below)
Release Date: February 4th 2014
Sexy, gifted, and loyal, PI Jacob Decker is a tall, cool drink of perfection who had Emmanuelle Holmes at “hello.” His relationship with Emme’s best friend kept them apart for years, but things have changed. Now that a case has brought him to Gnaw Bone, Colorado, the road is wide open for Emme and Deck to explore something hotter and deeper than Emme dreamed possible. So why is she sabotaging the best thing that’s ever happened to her?
It isn’t easy to catch Deck off guard, but Emme does just that when she walks back into his life after nine long years. The curvy brunette had her charms back in the day, but now she’s a bona fide knockout . . . and she wants to rekindle their friendship. Deck, however, wants more. Emme’s always been the one; she excites Deck’s body and mind like no other woman can. But a dark chapter from Emme’s past overshadows their future together. Now only Deck can help her turn the page-if she’ll let him . . .
I dropped my leg so I was sitting cross-legged in the couch and leaned into him. “Honey, you remember everything so I don’t have to remind you I haven’t seen you in nine years. I dig it that we reconnected and I love having you back.” I again threw an arm out, this time toward him and back to me. “This is great. You and me spending time together, shooting the breeze. I missed that. And I get it that friends make gestures, but this is too much.”
His eyes warmed during this speech and he took his arms from the couch, bent his legs, leaned into them, and me, and put his elbows to his knees, never releasing my eyes.
“Baby, I want you warm and liquid. The first bein’ physically, the second bein’ financially. You stop payin’ so much for heat, you’ll have more money for the rest of the shit you gotta do.”
This made sense.
But he’d again called me “baby.”
And I needed to address that.
So I asked, “What is that?”
His head cocked and his eyebrows drew together. “What’s what?”
I drew in breath and on the exhale, stated, “You calling me baby.” Then I went on quickly, “Not that I don’t like it. It’s sweet. It’s just not…” I hesitated, “us.”
Something happened to his eyes, his face, his whole big body and that something made me brace at the same time it made my heartbeat escalate.
“You know what it is,” he said softly.
I didn’t.
“I don’t,” I shared.
His eyes stayed locked to mine and I knew him relatively well, or I used to. But even if we hadn’t been separated for years, I still would not have been forewarned to the fact he was about to blow my mind.
“Before, we had Elsbeth between us. My head was fucked about that, about her, and it took almost a decade to get it unfucked. Lookin’ back, havin’ you back, I now know and I reckon you know, that’s the way it was. She was between us. She knew it too. And she didn’t like it. But it didn’t matter. My head was fucked so I couldn’t see clear of her and not doin’ that, I didn’t see you.”
I knew my lips had parted. I also knew my eyes got big. And last, I had no clue what to say.
So I said nothing.
“Now she isn’t between us,” he finished.
It was then I knew what the “baby” business was.
I just had no idea how to react to it because I never considered it. He was beautiful. He was kind. He was smart. He was funny and interesting and affectionate.
But he was my best friend’s boyfriend.
That didn’t mean my mind didn’t go there in vague ways, not stupid enough to wish for something I could never have, just silently covetous of what Elsbeth had. And, because of all that he was and that Elsbeth had it, in the end, infuriated she threw it away. Angry enough to end an important friendship because of it.
Sitting there, all that was Jacob, and all that being spectacular sitting across from me, holding my eyes, I finally understood that the reason I was angry at my friend was because, in throwing Jacob away, she took him away from me.
And now I had him back, but also, he was saying I’d always had him a different way, we just didn’t go there and he was going to take us there.
Yes. I had no clue what to say but my body had a clue how to feel. Warm and there were a lot more tingles.
“Jacob—” I started on a whisper.
But he interrupted again.
“You saw me, asked me out to dinner that same night, no fuckin’ around. Since then, you’ve called twice for no reason except to connect, and, baby, before you freak that I noticed that and what it said, I’ll tell you, I’m fuckin’ glad you did and I’m also fuckin’ glad about what it said. The boyfriend you were on the fence about, you got off the fence in less than twenty-four hours after seein’ me again and decided to get shot of his ass. And you didn’t waste any time gettin’ me right where I am tonight. That is not friends reconnecting. You know it. So do I.”
Kristen Ashley grew up in Brownsburg, Indiana, and has lived in Denver, Colorado, and the West Country of England. Thus she has been blessed to have friends and family around the globe. Her posse is loopy (to say the least) but loopy is good when you want to write.
Kristen was raised in a house with a large and multigenerational family. They lived on a very small farm in a small town in the heartland, and Kristen grew up listening to the strains of Glenn Miller, The Everly Brothers, REO Speedwagon, and Whitesnake. Needless to say, growing up in a house full of music and love was a good way to grow up. And as she keeps growing up, it keeps getting better.
City of Heavenly Fire (The Mortal Instruments #6) by Cassandra Clare
Release Date: May 27th 2014
Preorder: Amazon
ΕRCHOMAI, SEBASTIAN HAD SAID.
I am coming.
Darkness returns to the Shadowhunter world. As their society falls apart around them, Clary, Jace, Simon and their friends must band together to fight the greatest evil the Nephilim have ever faced: Clary’s own brother. Nothing in the world can defeat him — must they journey to another world to find the chance? Lives will be lost, love sacrificed, and the whole world changed in the sixth and last installment of the Mortal Instruments series!
To Fix You by Samantha Towle
Release Date: Fall 2014
I’m a gigolo. Male escort. Hustler… whatever you like to call us. And in the past seven years, I’ve had sex with… well, I stopped counting after I hit five hundred… basically, I’ve screwed a lot of women.
I know what you’re thinking… I must have had a terrible childhood, something horrendous happened in my life that drove me to this career.
Wrong.
The best thing to ever happen to me is why I work this job.
My daughter.
I’m a single dad. And I have sex with women for money, to feed, clothe and put a roof over my eight year old daughters head.
Not ideal, I know, but now I need the money more than ever…
Four weeks ago my worst nightmare happened… my baby girl was diagnosed with Cancer. Now, I have to earn, and earn big, to pay the mounting medical bills.
I have never felt more terrified, and more alone, in my life.
My name is Lizzie Connelly.
Beautiful, twenty-two . . . I have it all, including a new internship most girls would rip out their own souls for. I work for Margaret Manning-Emerson, vice president at Emerson & Taylor—one of the biggest fashion powerhouses this country has ever seen.
I’m ambitious.
I want success.
Since we’re friends, maybe I should start from the beginning.
My real name is Elizabeth Emerson.
Alone, twenty-two . . . I have nothing but broken promises and a string of shit luck, and it’s all because of the woman who took it all ten years ago after my father died. My stepmother–Margaret Manning-Emerson, the woman who, before two months ago, had never laid eyes on me.
I’m ambitious.
I need the truth.
Things are complicated, though.
My plans are flawed from the beginning, and the biggest obstacle comes in the form of Landon. Sexy, too smart for his own damn good, and infuriating, he’s the one person who could blow my plans to uncover that bitch Margaret and expose her for what she really is. She’s his mother, and in another life, I guess that would have made him my stepbrother.
I’m ambitious.
I need to know what happened ten years ago.
But I want . . . him.
*This is a standalone title
**Release date to be announced closer to date
Ever since Lily died two years ago, Evie has been lost. She exists but doesn’t live. And she copes the only way she knows how: by wrecking things.
She exposes her dad’s affairs, ends things with her longtime boyfriend, and just last semester, she destroyed her music scholarship. Desperate to break away from all the destruction she’s caused and start over, Evie reinvents herself at her new university.
But then Rhys, her new voice instructor, happens. He’s gorgeous, insanely talented and apart of the dark past she’s trying to overcome. Rhys’s brother is the reason why Evie’s life is such a mess right now, the reason why Lily, Evie’s sister, is dead. And even though Rhys is the last person Evie should ever want, for the first time in two years, wrecking things seems…right.
Dark Skye (Immortals After Dark #14) by Kresley Cole
Release Date: August 5th 2014
Preorder: Amazon
Eternal Obsession
As a boy, Thronos, Lord of Skye Hall, loved Lanthe, a mischievous Sorceri girl who made him question everything about his Vrekener clan. But when the two got caught in the middle of their families’ war, tragedy struck, leaving Thronos and Lanthe bitter enemies. Though centuries have passed, nothing can cool his seething need for the beautiful enchantress who scarred his body—and left an even deeper impression on his soul.
Endless Yearning
Lanthe, a once-formidable sorceress struggling to reclaim her gifts, searches for love and acceptance with all the wrong immortal suitors. But she’s never forgotten Thronos, the magnificent silver-eyed boy who protected her until she was ripped from the shelter of his arms. One harrowing night changed everything between them. Now he’s a notorious warlord with a blood vendetta against Lanthe, hunting her relentlessly.
Can the heat of desire burn brighter than vengeance?
With their families locked in conflict and battles raging all around them, will Thronos and Lanthe succumb to the brutal chaos that threatens everything they cherish? Or will the fragile bond they formed so long ago spark a passion strong enough to withstand even the darkest doubts?
Tame Me (Stark International #1) by J. Kenner
Release Date: March 11th 2014
Preorder: Amazon
Aspiring actress Jamie Archer is on the run. From herself. From her wild child ways. From the screwed up life that she left behind in Los Angeles. And, most of all, from Ryan Hunter—the first man who has the potential to break through her defenses to see the dark fears and secrets she hides.
Stark International Security Chief Ryan Hunter knows only one thing for sure—he wants Jamie. Wants to hold her, make love to her, possess her, and claim her. Wants to do whatever it takes to make her his.
But after one night of bliss, Jamie bolts. And now it’s up to Ryan to not only bring her back, but to convince her that she’s running away from the best thing that ever happened to her–him.
He’s everything I admire plus things I can’t even put into words.
I crush on Jericho Barrons violently.
My brain almost shuts down every time I see him and that’s a lot of gray matter to stupefy.
Used to be, if I couldn’t fall asleep I’d fantasize all kinds of ways I’d impress Barrons by killing monsters or saying something really smart or saving the world, and he’d see me as a grown up woman and I’d glow just from the look on his face.
But then Ryodan began popping into my fantasies like he had some kind of business being there, and he’d look all, well…like…Ryodan and he’d laugh and do that husky groan thing he did on level four, so I terminated that happy little exercise in somnolence.
Now I count sheep.
Lately even those buggers look like Ryodan with clear, cold eyes and some weird kind of hypnotic hold on me.
Fecker.
I’m beginning to think I’m going to have to figure out a way to kill him, permanent-like just to get him out of my head.
My fists clench and teeth grind at the last words—words that feed off the worst of my fears—the urge to break something returning. To drown the pain that’s back with a vengeance. I know he’s pushed me to the breaking point. I can hear his quiet sigh through the screaming of every ounce of my being.
He stands slowly and I tell myself to look at him. To show him somehow I’ve heard him, but I can’t make myself do it. I feel his hand on the top of my head, like I’m a little boy again, and his uncertain voice whispers, “I love you Colton.”
The words fill my fucking head but I can get them past the fear lodged in my throat. Past the memories of the chant I used to say that was followed by the brutality and unspeakable pain. As much as I want to tell him—feel the need to tell him—I still can’t.
Series order:
★ (#1) Driven
★ (#2) Fueled
★ Preorder (#3) Crashed (out March 3rd 2014)
★ A teaser from Saving Quinton (Nova #2) by Jessica Sorensen!
I’m pretty sure I’m dreaming. Or maybe I’m dead. I’m hoping for the latter, but I don’t it’s the correct assumption because this feels different than the first time I died. If I’m dreaming, it’s a beautiful dream, one where I’m with Nova and we’re happy. I’m surprised I’m seeing myself with her and normally I’d stop my thoughts from going there, but I’m not awake enough to care. Plus I feel really good, better than I have in a while. Everything feels light. Breathless. Hazy and weightless. My memories of my past are fading. I can no longer feel the blood on my hands or the weight of guilt on my shoulders. Something wonderful is taking over. I’m not in the darkness, locked within myself. I’ve been swept up by light and I feel like I could do anything at the moment as I lie on my back, gazing up at the sky. Nova hovers over me, cupping my cheek, and her skin is so damn warm and she smells amazing. And her eyes… bright blue with specks of green, her skin dotted with freckles, and her full lips that look so delicious I want to taste them… and I’m going to, because nothing matters at the moment. It’s not real, which makes it easier to take what I want—admit what I want.
I lean up, not even thinking about what I’m doing, and press my lips to hers. It hurts my mouth but the pain is worth it—it’s worth everything just to taste her again. I could do it forever, and I want to, but when I slip my tongue deep inside her mouth, she pulls away, her eyes widening and swarming with confusion. I open my mouth to tell her to come back to me, because I want her—need to kiss her again—but then her lips start moving and the haze from my brain gradually starts to lift.
“Quinton, can you hear me?” she asks, her voice soft, distant. Or maybe I’m the one who’s distant.
“I…” It hurts to talk, my throat too dry, and the brightness of the sun is stinging at my eyes.
“Are you okay?” she says and the sunlight dims as the blue sky changes into my shitty bedroom ceiling stained with water and cracks. That stupid drip comes into focus, haunting me again.
I suddenly realize that I’m in my room. Awake. And Nova’s here. With me.
★ Teaser from Thoughtful (Kellan’s POV of Thoughtless) by S.C. Stephens:
When the coffee was done, I prepared our cups, and set Kiera’s down in front of her. I leaned back in my chair, perfectly content as I drank mine. Kiera hunched over her mug like she was freezing and it was the only source of warmth in the room. I knew her reaction wasn’t from the cold though, and knowing that made my smile even wider. Jealousy is a bitch, isn’t it, Kiera?
★ Special announcement and sneak peek from K.A. Linde!
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT
I’ve been working on a super secret project for a little while now. I wasn’t sure if it was going to turn into anything, but I can’t seem to stop writing it. I’m madly in love with this book! Now that I’m at a comfortable distance, I can tell you about it!!!
Yeah, that might sound cocky or maybe a bit disgusting even, but I’ve never given two fucks. I wasn’t about to start now.
And whoever was lying beside me right now needed to get the fuck out before I started remembering her name. Did I remember her name? Lany. Lacy. Lucy? No. Fuck. I didn’t give a shit. She just needed to leave so that I could get back to sleep.
“Babe,” I grumbled, nudging the chick in the ribs. “Darlin’.”
“Mmm,” she groaned. “I love when you call me darlin’.”
I already knew she liked it. She had lost her clothes quickly enough to the sound of it last night. Now, I was pretty sure I’d never say it again if it meant that she would get out quicker.
“Time to go home.”
The girl turned on her side and tucked the comforter over her tits. Well, there went her best quality. She gave me a come-and-get-me look and pouted her lips as if that was going to change my mind.
“Oh come on, Grant,” she whispered throatily.
Her hand slid down my chest and then farther south. Yeah, not happening. I wasn’t interested in another mediocre performance on her part. Maybe a blowjob, but even then probably not.
She stroked my cock and I was reconsidering that blowjob. She had to be better at sucking dick then fucking. It was some unwritten rule. Either they sucked or they fucked.
“No, honey. It’s time for you to go home.” I rolled onto my back and reached for a joint on my nightstand.
“That’s not what you were saying last night.”
I flicked the zippo to life and took a drag on the joint. “That’s what I’m saying now. You knew how this was going to go when you came back with me. So save me the headache and just leave.”
“Whore,” she snapped. She hopped out of bed, snatched up her clothes, and then stormed toward the door. I waited until it slammed shut behind her before blowing out the smoke.
Wasn’t the first time I’d heard that either. I preferred the term man whore. I’d earned that title and I was fucking proud of it.
★ Toxic (Ruin #2) by Rachel Van Dyken has a blurb!
Everyone has a secret…
Gabe Hyde is on borrowed time. He’s been hiding his identity for over four years-hidden from the world that used to adore him–obsess over him–driven to the edge of insanity by one poor choice.
But that one choice, altered the course of his life forever.
Pretending isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, especially when pretending means hiding your real self from the people that care about you the most. But if anyone ever discovered the truth it wouldn’t just be his life at risk–but hers.
Saylor doesn’t hate men.
Just Gabe.
Only Gabe.
He’s a reckless, happy-go-lucky, silver spoon fed pain in her ass. Everything about him makes her more and more confused. Unfortunately they both donate time at the same Group Home. If she wasn’t afraid of flunking, she’d be long gone. She hates that she’s attracted to him almost as much as he hates that he’s attracted to her–and she can tell, especially since their first encounter ended up making her knees so weak she couldn’t form coherent sentences for weeks afterwards. But the closer she gets to him, the more confused she becomes. He isn’t who he says he is, and he’s hiding something big.
What happen when two worlds collide? Two worlds that never should have met in the first place? Some secrets are too big to be hidden forever–the only question? Will his destroy everyone he loves? Or finally bring about the redemption he’s been craving for the past four years?
★ This is Sylvia Day’s live Q&A! And she’s writing a new series called Blacklist!
★ The Swan & the Jackal (In the Company of Killers #3) by J.A. Redmerski has a blurb!
Fredrik Gustavsson never considered the possibility of love, or that anyone could ever understand or accept his dark and bloody lifestyle—until he met Seraphina, a woman as vicious and blood-thirsty as Fredrik himself. They spent two short but unforgettable years together, full of lust and killing and the darkest kind of love that two people can share.
And then Seraphina was gone.
It’s been six years since Fredrik’s lover and sadistic partner in crime turned his world upside-down. Seraphina went into hiding and has eluded him ever since. Now, he’s getting closer to finding her, and an innocent woman named Cassia is the key to drawing Seraphina from the shadows. But Cassia—after sustaining injuries from a fire that Seraphina ignited—suffers from amnesia and can’t give Fredrik the information he desperately seeks. Having no other choice, Fredrik has been keeping Cassia locked in his basement as he not only tries to get her to recall her past—because she and Seraphina share it—but also to protect her from Seraphina, who clearly wants her dead.
But Cassia is a light in the darkness that Fredrik never believed existed. After a year subjected to her kindness and compassion, he finds himself struggling with his love for Seraphina, and his growing feelings for Cassia—because he knows that to love one, the other must die.
Will light win out over darkness, or will something more powerful than either further destroy an already tortured soul?
(Note: THE SWAN & THE JACKAL is NOT a New Adult title. It, and all other books in the series are categorized as Suspense/Crime/Thriller/Romantic Suspense and Adult.)
The release date for Apolonia has been changed to November 2014. But the good news is that Trent’s book’s release date has been moved up, and you’ll be getting it sooner than fall 2014!
In this sequel to Wallbanger, the second book in the Cocktail series, fan favorites Caroline and Simon negotiate the rollercoaster of their new relationship while house-sitting in San Francisco.
Playing house was never so much fun—or so confusing. With her boss on her honeymoon, Caroline’s working crazy long hours to keep the interior design company running—especially since she’s also the lead designer for the renovation of a gorgeous old hotel on Sausalito. So with her hotshot photographer boyfriend gallivanting all over the world for his job, she and Simon are heavy-duty into “absence makes the heart grow fonder” mode. Neither has any complaints about the great reunion sex, though! Then Simon decides he’s tired of so much travelling, and he’s suddenly home more. A lot more. And wanting Caroline home more, too. Though their friends’ romantic lives provide plenty of welcome distraction, eventually Caroline and Simon have to sort their relationship out. Neither wants “out of sight, out of mind,” but can they create their own happy mid-ground cliché?
USA TODAY bestselling author Alice Clayton delivers another delicious, frothy cocktail of a book, shaking up her characters, stirring in laugh-out-loud humor, and serving sizzling romance straight up!
In the third book in the bestselling Cocktail series, a romantic at heart decides that she will not ever, under any circumstances, fall for the engineer next door.
Viv Franklin is a retired Army captain who now designs software programs. She’s also a romance junkie who longs for a knight in shining armor or a cowboy on a wild stallion or a strapping firefighter to sweep her off her feet. Knowing she’s never going to meet her hero by spending all her time behind her keyboard, she uproots her life to move to California, where she meets an actual cowboy. And—sigh—an engineer. But which man is truly Clark Kent and which is her Superman?
A madcap romantic comedy with unforgettable characters and the promise of true love, Screwdrivered has just what you need.
There are two kinds of people in the world. The ones who look first, and the ones who leap. I’ve always been more of a looker. Cautious. A planner. That changed after I met Drew Evans. He was so persistent. So sure of himself – and of me.
But not all love stories end happily ever after. Did you think Drew and I were going to ride off into the sunset? Join the club. Now I have to make a choice, the most important of my life. Drew already made his –in fact, he tried to decide for the both of us. But you know that’s just not my style. So I came back to Greenville. Alone. Well, sort of alone….
What I’ve come to realize is that old habits die hard and sometimes you have to go back to where you began, before you can move ahead.
TWISTED picks up two years after Tangled’s end, and is told from Kate’s POV.
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: girl meets player, they fall in love, player changes his ways.
It’s a good story. But it’s not our story. Ours is a lot more colorful.
When I met Dee I knew right away that she was special. When she met me, she thought I was anything but special–I was exactly like every other guy who’d screwed her over and let her down. It took some time to convince her otherwise, but turns out I can make a convincing argument when sex is at stake.
You might know where this story’s headed. But the best part isn’t where we ended up.
It’s how we got there.
TAMED goes back in time to the Tangled days. But this time around, it’s not Drew dishing out the advice and opinions – it’s his best friend Matthew, who of course is dealing with Dee Dee.
Eighteen-year-old Annie Winters can barely run a mile without wheezing. Still, she’s training to run the Music City Marathon in seven short months. Running is so not her thing, but she has to finish what her boyfriend started… before he died.
Annie feels guilt that she’s still alive and blames herself for his death; she has to do this to honor him – running a marathon was his dream. Plus training gives her something to do, it’s a distraction. So is Jeremiah Brown.
He’s an adrenaline junkie who runs marathons backwards. He flirts with Annie on the trails and it makes her feel alive and happy and guilty all at the same time. She wants to both race into his arms and sprint in the opposite direction – because loving is a risk she’s not sure she’s ready to take again…
A sexy smile. Intense blue eyes. A goodness that makes him want to save me from these rumors when no one else would care. I didn’t ask for a hero. William Bailey was never supposed to be anything more than a wish, a dream, an unrequited crush. Not for a girl like me–a girl whose fractured family has stolen her chance at a decent life.
William…
Since the death of my parents, I’ve always done what’s expected of me, what’s “best” for me. Until Cally. The moment her haunted eyes meet mine, the fractured pieces of my heart feel whole again. I don’t just want to save her. I need her to save me.
Stolen chances. Unbroken wishes. Two lonely souls grasping for hope in the darkness.
“After battling through hell, I brought my esclave back from the brink of ruin. I sacrificed everything—my heart, my mind, my very desires to bring her back to life. And for a while, I thought it broke me, that I’d never be the same. But slowly the beast is growing bolder, and it’s finally time to show Tess how beautiful the dark can be.”
Q gave everything to bring Tess back. In return, he expects nothing less. Tess may have leashed and tamed him, but he’s still a monster inside.
BEHIND HIS EYES – CONSEQUENCES is a reading companion, by New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Aleatha Romig, recommended to be read aftercompleting all of the CONSEQUENCES SERIES: Consequences, Truth, and Convicted. It is not a standalone book and should not be read as such.
This companion was written to explore the thoughts and motivations of Anthony Rawlings, the man behind the consequences. It was not intended as a total rewrite of Consequences, but meant to enhance the reader’s understanding. BHE-Consequences contains significant scenes from the novel Consequences, as experienced from Anthony’s point of view. It also contains never before read, behind the scenes information, as well as, a glossary of the characters and a timeline devoted to the events within Consequences.
BEHIND HIS EYES CONSEQUENCES is a dark journey into the mind of the man who believes that he controls everything and controls nothing. Because there is more to learn about a man who:
Once upon a time, signed a napkin that he knew was a contract. As an esteemed businessman, he forgot one very important rule—he forgot to read the fine print. It wasn’t an acquisition to own another person as he’d previously assumed. It was an agreement to acquire a soul.
—Aleatha Romig CONVICTED
It was a long and painful acquisition—especially from Behind His Eyes!
In the second book in the Love Under the Big Sky series from this USA TODAY bestselling author of the With Me in Seattle series, life in Montana gets spicy when a woman and her divorce lawyer sign off the papers—and sign on to love.
Now that his best friend, Josh, has happily settled down with his true love on a Montana ranch, small-town lawyer Ty Sullivan starts thinking that maybe single life isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. And when Lauren Cunningham’s no-good ex-husband comes after her for an unexpected trust fund, Ty steps in to protect her. But soon he can’t help but think of her as more than a client. Lauren’s in no mood to jump into another relationship, so how can Ty convince her that her mistake wasn’t getting married, but marrying the wrong guy?
Schizoaffective disorder: a mental illness in which a person experiences a combination of mood disorder and schizophrenia symptoms.
I know about this illness—very well—because I suffer from it. It’s been four years since my diagnosis, and ever since, I’ve been living in a dark hole. Voices constantly invading my thoughts. Hallucinations. All of which force me to question if what I’m experiencing is even reality.
But here I am, still hanging on, still breathing and living through it.
That is, until he stumbled into my life. Logan Reed. I don’t want any part of him. I’ve pushed him away, but he isn’t easily deterred. I’ve told him I’m different, but he doesn’t care. He’s trying to slowly break me down. I’m trying just as hard not to let him. He doesn’t know how truly damaged I am; what will happen when he does?
I know the truth—he’ll never be able to look at me the same way again. Just like everybody else.
Forever Ours is the highly anticipated prequel to the New York Times and USA Todaybestselling Shattered Hearts Series. This can be read as a stand alone or beforeRelentless.
Sometimes, it takes more than love to mend a shattered heart.
After eight years of being tossed around from one home to another, never forming any meaningful friendships or bonds with her foster families, Claire’s caseworker gives her an ultimatum: Behave or your next home will be a halfway house.
When fifteen-year-old Claire arrives at the home of Jackie Knight and meets Jackie’s fifteen-year-old son, tattooed guitarist Chris, she fears she’ll be seeing the inside of that halfway house soon. But Chris isn’t like any other guy Claire has ever encountered and he soon gains her trust through his music and unwavering patience.
Claire has finally found her forever home and she and Chris soon find themselves falling in love.
But Chris’s dreams of musical stardom and Claire’s need for a stable home soon put their love in jeopardy. Chris struggles deeply with his plans for the future, entirely reluctant to leave Claire behind; until Claire does something that may break their love — and the only home she’s comes to know — forever.
Twenty-three year-old Maddie Asherford is haunted by a past she can’t remember. When she was fifteen years old, there was a tragic accident and she was left with amnesia.
In the aftermath, Maddie’s left struggling with who she is—the forgotten girl she was eight years ago or the Maddie she is now. Sometimes it even feels like she might be two different people completely—the good Maddie and the bad one.
Good Maddie goes to therapy, spends time with her family, and works on healing herself. Bad Maddie rebels and has dark thoughts of hurting people and sometimes even killing them.
Maddie manages to keep her twisted thoughts hidden for the most part. That is until she starts having blackouts. Each time she wakes up from one, she’s near a murder scene with no recollection of what happened the night before and this helpless feeling like she’s losing control of her life. Maddie doesn’t want to believe she’s a killer, but she begins to question who she really was in her past. If she was bad Maddie all along and that maybe she was a killer.
“Yes, Miles. You’re right. I am. Because I like you and I know you like me and when we’re together, it’s phenomenal, so that’s what normal people do. When they find someone they’re compatible with, they open up to them. They let them in. They want to be with them. They don’t f*@k them against their kitchen table, then walk away and make them feel like complete shit.”
★ Nalini Singh, one of my favorite authors ever, has deleted scenes from Heart of Obsidian (one of my favorite books of 2013)! You can read them here.
★ EEP!! Darynda Jones has written a Charley Davidson Christmas story called Shimmer! You can read it here, but there will be spoilers for those who haven’t read Fifth Grave Past the Light!
★ Ilona Andrews has a wonderful gift for their readers here!
★ Wendy Higgins has a bonus scene of parts of chapters 17-20 of Sweet Peril in Kai’s POV! Read it here.
★ In the print version of Be with Me (Wait for You #2) by J. Lynn there will be an exclusive never-before-seen scene between Teresa and Jase that won’t exist in the e-book version!
★ You can read the prologue of Ofelia by Pepper Winters here!
★ Kristen Ashley news!
The Will, the start of a three-part series called the Magdalene Series, will be released in April 2014. I got to fulfill two bucket list items with this one. One, writing a hero who is a boxer and two, giving into the request of a number of readers and writing a couple that are just a wee bit older. You may think one and two don’t go together but wait until you meet Jake and Josephine. Jake is the…absolute…bomb and Josephine is so damned funny, I haven’t laughed that hard writing a book since Rock Chick Revolution. Can’t wait for you to meet them!
Here’s what else you can look forward to in 2014.
Untitled, the continuation of The ‘Burg Series (Frankie and Benny’s story).
Another Untitled, the finale of The Three Series will be written after I leave The ‘Burg.
I’m hoping to get at least one more book in by the end of 2014 and I’ll update you what that/those might be when I know what they might be!
Kristen Ashley grew up in Brownsburg, Indiana, and has lived in Denver, Colorado, and the West Country of England. Thus she has been blessed to have friends and family around the globe. Her posse is loopy (to say the least) but loopy is good when you want to write.
![Pageflex Persona [document: PRS0000038_00071]](https://bookloversforlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/mischief-in-miami-by-nicole-williams.jpg?w=100&h=150)
Booklovers For Life 