Sara Daniel Romance Author: May 2015

Saturday, May 30, 2015

Sexy Delight - 1Night Stand with a movie star @MySexySaturday @DecadentPub

A Sexy Delight: 7 Paragraphs from One Night With the Bridesmaid

The façade had gone on too long, and Rob intended to end it. He slanted his lips across hers. In a moment, she would shove him away and announce she wanted Blake, not him, confirming everything he’d accused her of. The sooner, the better because he hadn’t predicted the wave of physical attraction making him itch to explore her lush body and claim her as his own.

She shivered beneath him but didn’t break the contact. Instead, she moaned, curling her hands around the back of his neck. Her sweet taste and eager touch threw him off his game. She disguised her calculations so well, he couldn’t anticipate her next move.

He backed her against the wall, not taking his lips off hers. If she tested him on how far he would take this, she would lose. The more he kissed her, the more he wanted to immerse himself in her amazing curves and powder fresh scent while dumping his grand plan to strip her down to her intentions.

He slid her dress strap from her left shoulder and rubbed his palm over her full breast. Her nipple tightened, and her breathing hitched with each stroke of his fingers. Hell, he was hard and throbbing, as if this was a real seduction.

He tore his lips away from hers before he forgot the reason he’d chosen to meet her. “How dare you break up my brother’s wedding, trick him into a one-night stand with you, and then kiss me like I’m the only man who matters to you right now.”

“You are. I came here to be with you, Rob, not Blake.” She pulled his hand off her breast and yanked her strap back up, crossing her arms over her chest.

“You came here to meet me?” The possibility hadn’t entered his mind. Now the fantasy bloomed to life. He wanted nothing more than to peel the yellow dress off her, run his hands over her light brown skin, and bury his face in her curves. But his only goal was to warn her away from his hurting, vulnerable brother.

Buy Links:

Thursday, May 28, 2015

What if You Fell in Love with an Alien? Top 10 Things to Prepare for @jsubject #scifiromance

What if you fell in love with an alien?
by Jessica E. Subject

Hello everyone! Thank you so much to Sara for having me back on the blog! For those who don’t know me, I write science fiction romance that is heavy on the romance, and just brushes across the science part. Last month, my eighth 1Night Stand story released with Decadent Publishing titled HER ALIEN HERO.

In the story, the heroine discovers that the neighbor she had a crush on as a teen is an alien. Imagine falling in love with one! Well, I’m here to share what might happen if you did....

1. Who knows what kind of torture the parents might put you through to see if you’re good enough to marry their precious child.

2. You’d have to learn how to eat interesting interstellar foods. Just hope it’s not still moving when you go to eat it.

3. Family reunions could be anywhere in the universe.

4. If you want children, you’d have to hope both your species were compatible.

5. You’d likely have to learn another language, but it would give your children an advantage over other children from Earth.

6. Jokes about alien probing would become common around people from this planet.

7. Alien conspiracy theorists would be camped out on your lawn unless you decided to live on another planet.

8. Your lover might have special powers. Imagine the possibilities!

9. Space travel would become as common as driving to the grocery store.

10. You’d be happy.

What do you think would be a positive or negative aspect to being in love with an alien? Can be any type of alien from sexy Superman to the insects from Starship Troopers.

Her Alien Hero
A 1Night Stand story
Erotic Sci-Fi Romance
Librarian by day, erotic romance author by night, Melinda Rose sets out for another exciting conference, this one in Canada’s capital city, Ottawa. But all her plans go up in smoke when the 1Night Stand she applies for is set to happen at the same time.

Cooper Tate heads to Ottawa to meet a friend. When he learns of her deception, he is ready to head back home and vows never to trust her again. That is, until he sees a picture of his stunning date.

With the help of Madame Eve, can these two former neighbors become lovers? Or will extraterrestrial secrets rip away the hero Melinda has always dreamed of?

Available from:
Amazon US | UK | Canada | Germany | Australia

About Jessica E. Subject:
Jessica E. Subject is the author of contemporary and science fiction romance, ranging from sweet to erotic. In her stories, you could meet clones, or a sexy alien or two. You may even be transported to another planet for a romantic rendezvous.

When Jessica isn't reading, writing, or doing dreaded housework, she likes to get out and walk with her giant, hairy dog her family adopted from the local animal shelter.

Jessica lives in Ontario, Canada with her husband and two energetic children. And she loves to hear from her readers. You can find her at jessicasubject.com and on twitter @jsubject.


Tuesday, May 26, 2015

#FallinLove with Fairytales Word Search Hop #Kindle #giveaway @DecadentBFT


Welcome to the Fall in Love with Fairytales blog tour!

If you would like to win an enormous grand prize consisting of a Kindle, gift certificates, and author swag, visit each day’s post(s) and follow Rafflecopter instructions for prize entries. For more information, please visit the Fall in Love with Fairytales main page.

My favorite school assignment ever was modernizing and retelling a fairy tale, so when Decadent put out the call for a retelling of a Grimm’s Fairy Tale, my hand immediately shot in the air. But then I got my fairy tale assignment, and my excitement wilted. The Three Army Surgeons. Huh? I’d never heard of it.

Not only was it obscure, it was also a little gruesome and definitely not a romance. Basically, there are three guys who cut out their eye, hand and heart. They put them on a tray and give them to an innkeeper, intending to put them back in their bodies the next day. Instead, the parts are taken, so a soldier replaces them with the eye of a cat, the hand of a thief and the heart of a pig. The new parts then make the guys act like a cat, a thief and a pig. The guys discover they’ve been tricked and return to confront the innkeeper who gives them some money to pacify them. (You can read the full original story here.)

My charge was to turn this story into a romance. Um, yeah. I couldn’t even figure out who the hero and heroine would be.

So I started with what I did know. Although I enjoy a good ménage romance, I don’t write them, so having the body-part-plucking guys as heroes was out. Same for paranormal stories, which meant I needed a way for these people to walk around with missing parts that would be believable in a contemporary setting without magic or special powers.

This framework led me to have the men run a prosthetics company, but I was still stumped on the romance angle. The only woman in the original story stood around wringing her hands while others found a solution. Then she ran away and never returned when things went bad. I needed an active heroine, someone with a purpose, someone a reader would want to root for.

After dumping the sexist assumption that a solider automatically had to be a man, I made the soldier’s character my heroine. I named her “Armina,” which means soldier. In case that was too subtle, her uncles (the guys with the missing body parts) affectionately refer to her as “Soldier.”

The other person who played a critical role in the story conflict is the innkeeper. He would fit nicely as the hero. After playing with words for a bit, I dubbed him Ian Keer. Now I needed to make him into hero material, and I needed to create a romance (and conflict) between the innkeeper and the soldier. This wasn’t part of the original fairy tale, so my challenge was to write it within the framework of the fairy tale retelling. Finally, I’d arrived at the fun story retelling I’d expected when I raised my hand for this assignment.

I went from “You have got to be kidding me” at the beginning of the initial brainstorming of The Three Army Surgeons fairy tale to “This is so much fun” as I wrote Once Upon a Marriage, part of the Red Book of Grown-Up Fairytales.

Tomorrow, please look for a post from Tara Quan.

Red Book of Grown-Up Fairytales

Blue Book of Grown-Up Fairytales

Green Book of Grown-Up Fairytales
Goodreads



Gold Book of Grown-Up Fairytales
Amazon
ARe
B&N
Google Play
Bookstrand
Goodreads







:  




Sunday, May 24, 2015

Memorial Day - 3pm National Moment of Remembrance with veteran SS Hampton, Sr.

by SS Hampton, Sr.

Tomorrow is Memorial Day. It is a 3-day weekend for much of the country—a weekend of family get-togethers, BBQs, and great sales. That is fine.

But please do not forget the real meaning of Memorial Day. Though there had been several local observances, a national Decoration Day was created by “an organization of Union veterans” on 5 May 1868, to be observed on 30 May of that year by the nation in “decorating the graves of war dead with flowers.”


It was after World War I that Memorial Day came to recognize all of those who fought and died in America’s wars. From the American Revolution (1775-1783) to Desert Shield/Desert Storm (1990-1991), the total American combat deaths number 651,031; the greatest number of war dead was 291,557 suffered by the Greatest Generation during World War II (1941-1945) .

As for the Global War On Terrorism (2001-), or the Long War as some may call it, according to the Defense Casualty Analysis System, 5,363 men and women have died in combat.

Unfortunately, the world is not a safe and secure place. Yet, we know that in our nation there will never be a shortage of uniformed volunteers willing to stand between unarmed men, women, and innocent children, and the senseless evil in the world.

On Memorial Day this year remember the “National Moment of Remembrance”—at 3:00 PM local time across the country, everyone is encouraged to take a moment to reflect on those who have given their lives for our country. Whatever war they fought in, all of those who made the ultimate sacrifice have names, whether those names loom large in history books or are known only to their families.

And some of us know the names of comrades who made that sacrifice during the GWOT.

Finally, if you have never heard Taps, the final farewell to fallen comrades, take a moment to listen. Take a moment to remember, and to whisper, “Good bye. And thank you.”


~Stan


SS Hampton, Sr. is a full-blood Choctaw of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, a divorced grandfather to 13 wonderful grandchildren, and a published photographer and photojournalist. He retired on 1 July 2013 from the Army National Guard with the rank of Sergeant First Class; he previously served in the active duty Army (1974-1985), the Army Individual Ready Reserve (1985-1995) (mobilized for the Persian Gulf War), and enlisted in the Nevada Army National Guard in October 2004, after which he was mobilized for Federal active duty for almost three years. Hampton is a veteran of Operations Noble Eagle (2004-2006) and Iraqi Freedom (2006-2007) with deployment to northern Kuwait and several convoy security missions into Iraq.

He has had two solo photographic exhibitions and curated a third. His writings have appeared as stand-alone stories and in anthologies from Dark Opus Press, Edge Science Fiction & Fantasy, Melange Books, Musa Publishing, MuseItUp Publishing, Ravenous Romance, and as stand-alone stories in Horror Bound Magazine, The Harrow, and River Walk Journal, among others.

In May 2014 he graduated from the College of Southern Nevada with an Associate of Applied Science Degree in Photography – Commercial Photography Emphasis. A future goal is to study for a degree in archaeology—hopefully to someday work in and photograph underwater archaeology (and also learning to paint). He is currently enrolled as an art student at University of Nevada-Las Vegas.

As of April 2014, after being in a 2-year Veterans Administration program for Homeless Veterans, Hampton is officially no longer a homeless Iraq War veteran.

Hampton can be found at:
Dark Opus Press - Edge Science Fiction & Fantasy Publishing - Melange Books -
Musa Publishing - MuseItUp Publishing - Goodreads Author Page
Amazon Author Page - Amazon UK

Saturday, May 23, 2015

My Sexy Fairytale Love #FallinLove @MySexySaturday @DecadentBFT #boxset

7 Sentences from Once Upon a Marriage, part of the Red Book of Grown-up Fairytales box set:

“Ian.” The warning in her tone didn’t match the longing in her eyes.
“What do you want?” He glided his thumbs over her navel.
“To kiss you.”

His heart soared at the unexpected admission, but he resisted the urge to jump to his feet and claim her mouth. “So do it.”

Buy Links:
Amazon
All Romance eBooks
Coffee Time Romance
Google Play
Barnes & Noble
iBooks
Kobo

Thursday, May 21, 2015

Mavim #NewRelease from @samcheever #paranormalromance


SanguiBook2

She called out to him through time and space…an impossible dream…a hopeful imagining. Having heard her plea, he would not stop until he’d claimed her.

Mavim aches for the woman he left behind on Sanguinoss. She was a princess, a member of the royal family of elite vamps. His Amante…his love. Though he dreams of her every night, and pines for her every single day, he knows he cannot have her. He believes her dead.

But when Mavim intercepts the ghost of a communication from his lovely Fania, a communication which was probably engaged weeks or months earlier, he realizes she might still live!

Can Mavim find the only woman he’s ever loved and save her from an evil nemesis who covets her for his own and will stop at nothing to have her? Or will he finally look into his lover’s eyes…touch her satin skin…only to feel her slip from his grasp all over again?

flame

Mavim AgDurness closed his eyes and set his jaw against the ravening blood lust. His stomach growled its need, the muscles around it tightening as it twisted hungrily. He’d gone longer and longer without taking sustenance of late, so the debilitating hunger had become a nearly constant companion over his months on the primitive planet. Though the surface of the thriving alien planet called Earth was covered in walking, talking edibles, snacking from them was like eating nothing but mealfollows. All empty calories and no real sustenance.

Mavim snacked only when his body absolutely demanded it. And then only quickly, in the dark, with such a sense of revulsion he could barely keep the blood from boiling back up and spewing out on his shoes.

Always when he fed, he would see her face. So pale, so perfect. It was his undoing. For Mavim, no other female would do. None could take her place.

So he suspected he would simply fade away over time, as was the Sangui way of dying. And be launched into the sky for his final journey to Maja, protector of souls. Then his pain would finally end.

The comm unit spat sparks and sound flared briefly from it. Mavim’s head snapped up in surprise and crashed against the underside of the console. He swore in several intergalactic languages and pushed out from under the console, grabbing his tools as he moved into the open.

The ship’s communications had been fried when they crossed the atmospheric barriers to Earth, and he’d been trying to get them working again for months, scavenging resources from other parts of the ship and trying to repurpose things he’d managed to locate on Earth.

It had been long since the Sangui had heard from others of their kind. Though only a relative few had managed to escape the dying planet Sanguinoss, the small band of elite vampires living on Earth were keenly aware of the existence of others who’d escaped before the infection took them down.

And even more keenly aware of those who hadn’t managed to escape.

The lights on the comm flared to life and a blurry figure appeared briefly before snapping into blackness again.

It had spun too quickly through the visual cogs within the unit to be recognizable, but Mavim had been able to tell it was a woman.

Lights flared again. The same shape, slightly clearer this time, exploded onto the screen. “Mav...” Renegade star spikes ate the rest of the transmission, turning the words she spoke to a garbled mash. But Mavim had heard enough to make his pulse jump. He dropped his tools and slammed a hand over the comm, quickly adjusting levers until the image he’d seen flashed past again and then snapping a lock on the transmission before it could fitz away.

The pale oval staring back at him was marred by filth. The rich mahogany brown of her curls lank with oil. But the lush, cranberry lips were unmistakable.

The soft lilt of her bedroom voice distinctive.

Mavim had heard it every night in his dreams since he’d risked life and future to place her mangled form inside a burial capsule and send her on her final passage to Maja.

“Mav… Help… Gleschutions have tak…”

And there the transmission faded away, leaving behind only the terrified gaze of the woman he loved above all else. And the horrifying realization that she was in danger. And that she’d risked everything to try to get word to him.

Mavim touched the screen, tracing it with a shaky finger as tears slipped hot and unnoticed down his cheeks.

Blood tears.

Tears of deep, unending agony.

Then the comm blinked out again and her visage was ripped from his sight. Mavim threw back his head and roared, mad with the agony of her loss. Yet again.



BUY LINKS:

Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00X51A8IK/?tag=wwwsamcheever-20

Amazon.ca: http://www.amazon.ca/Mavim-Sci-Fi-Paranormal-Romance-Sangui-ebook/dp/B00X51A8IK/?tag=wwwsamcheev0d-20

Amazon.uk: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mavim-Sci-Fi-Paranormal-Romance-Sangui-ebook/dp/B00X51A8IK/?tag=wwwsamcheever-21

Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/mavim-sam-cheever/1121794510?ean=2940151646529

All Romance eBooks: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-mavim-1797023-343.html

Kobo Books: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/mavim

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/537175


ABOUT THE AUTHOR


USA Today Bestselling Author Sam Cheever writes romantic paranormal/fantasy and mystery/suspense, creating stories that celebrate the joy of love in all its forms. Known for writing great characters, snappy dialogue, and unique and exhilarating stories, Sam is the award-winning author of 50+ books and has been writing for over a decade under several noms de plume.

If you haven't already connected, Sam would love it if you Liked/Followed her wherever you enjoy hanging out online. Here are her online haunts:

Newsletter: http://www.samcheever.com/newsletter.html
Website: www.SamCheever.com
Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/author/samcheever
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SamCheeverAuthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/samcheever
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/samcheever1/
Tsu: https://www.tsu.co/Samcheever

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

"Sometimes the ghosts from your past…are real." Voices Blog Tour @ClarissaJohal @Saphs_Books

"Sometimes the ghosts from your
past…are real."

Welcome to the Release Day Extravaganza

for VOICES by Clarissa Johal

Book Details:


Title: VOICES

Genre: Paranormal Psychological Suspense

Author: Clarissa Johal

Editor: Bobbie Metevier

Published by Permuted Press May 2015

ISBN: 9781618685698

ASIN: B00WAH55JW

Pages: 264



About VOICES:

Sometimes the ghosts
from your past…are real.    
    
Moira Flynn is arrested for attacking a door-to-door
solicitor with a knife. She claims a voice told her the man was intent on
assaulting her. The trouble is, she was the only one that heard that voice.
Moira strikes a plea bargain and is sent to a psychiatric hospital for
voluntary treatment. Dr. Richard Cassano is hesitant to treat her as
schizophrenic, as she does not show the standard symptoms. As their sessions
progress, Moira confesses there are two voices—and they aren’t voices in her
head, but the voices of ghosts. Are they imaginary? Or are they actual spirits,
attached to her for reasons of their own? As Moira’s doctor uncovers more of
her past, he begins to realize that her ghosts are real. And one of them is
determined to drag Moira into the afterlife with him.


Excerpt from VOICES:

     Moira choked down a congealed glob of oatmeal. Bland, like all the food here. She picked up her plastic knife and smeared margarine onto a piece of dry toast. Patients were only given plastic utensils. She washed the toast down with a gulp of tepid decaf coffee and sat back, miserable. “I hate this place, I want out.”

“At least your session was cancelled for tomorrow,” Jack said. “One less thing I’ll have to sit through.” 

Dr. Cassano didn’t say why, either, Moira worried. He seemed nervous about cancelling too.

“We’ll get out.”

“Not we, Jack, me. I want out.” She stared mournfully at the food on her tray. “I don’t care what happens to you.”

“That’s not nice,” Isabella said. 

“I don’t care what happens to you, either.”

“You’re mean!” She retreated to the corner of the room to pout.

“Don’t be mean, Moira,” Jack reprimanded. “Isabella’s just a child.”

She let out a sound of frustration. They both knew Jack didn’t care the slightest about Isabella. “I wonder why Dr. Cassano cancelled it.”

“Why do you care?” 

Moira turned away pointedly and undid her braid, hoping to dissuade the headache coming on.

“Don’t ignore me,” Jack said, his voice hardening. “I didn’t like the way he looked at you this morning.” He grabbed her arm.” I don’t like the way you look at him either. I see the way you look at him.”

She shook him off. “You’re paranoid, Jack.”

“You know what I’m talking about, don’t play dumb.” He sat back, his eyes watchful. “Don’t trust him, Moira. Who knows what he’s planning?”

“If you do anything, Jack, I mean anything. They’ll lock the door and throw away the key.” She moved away from his presence. “And don’t think they wouldn’t medicate me with a dozen different pills, all guaranteed to make you go away forever.”

“You know pills won’t make me go away, Moira,” Jack bit out. “They might make you sleep, but they won’t make me go away.”

Silence filled the room. Moira picked up her brush and started brushing out her hair.

“It would be his word against yours, if he ever tried anything.”

“Just drop it, Jack,” Moira said.

Jack narrowed his eyes. “He’d medicate you so you’d never remember it, either.”

She shook her head in disgust.

“Maybe you could bust out of here!” Isabella jumped up. “I’ll bet you could open the window with that knife.” She ran over to the window and pushed against it.

“It’s completely sealed, Isabella.” Moira watched her, feeling helpless to the noise from her efforts. “Stop banging on it! You’re going to get me into trouble.”

“You could cut through the walls!”

“Hello? Plastic knife, it can’t cut anything.”  

“It can’t?” Jack asked. “Have you tried?”

She caught his look and quickly turned her attention to Isabella, who was still thumping on the window. “I’m not breaking out of here, Isabella. Do you want me to go to jail?”

“But what if they keep you in here forever?” Isabella asked.

“They’re not going to.” 

“But what if they do?” Isabella jumped up and down. “What if they keep you here until you’re old and grey and all your teeth fall out?”

“It would be awful to be stuck here forever,” Jack said quietly. “Wouldn’t it, Moira? Just awful.”

“They’re not going to keep me here forever!” Moira said. “Isabella, stop it!”

The door opened. “Problem?” the nurse asked.

She glanced over at Jack. A slice of a smile crept across his lips. “No. No problem. Just…thinking aloud.”

“Finish up your breakfast, then,” she said briskly. She shut the door again.

Moira picked up her carton of juice and took a sip.

Jack pushed her hand upwards, sloshing juice into Moira’s face and down her T-shirt.

Whoops!” Isabella giggled.

“Asshole,” she muttered. She went into the bathroom with Jack trailing her. Their eyes connected in the mirror.

“Looks like you’ll need another shower,” he murmured.

She pressed her mouth in a straight line and turned her back to him.


VOICES Pre-Order Links:


Amazon: Voices
Barnes and Noble: Voices
KOBO: Voices
Smashwords: Voices

About the Author:

Clarissa Johal has worked as a veterinary assistant, zoo-keeper aide and vegetarian chef. Writing has always been her passion. When she’s not listening to the ghosts in her head, she’s dancing or taking photographs of gargoyles. She shares her life with her husband, two daughters and every stray animal that darkens the doorstep. One day, she expects that a wayward troll will wander into her yard, but that hasn’t happened yet.

*Member of the Author's Guild

VOICES
(May 2015) Permuted Press

STRUCK
(January
2014) 1st Edition Musa Publishing, LLC

(March 2015) 2nd Edition Clarissa Johal
*Second
place in the Preditors and Editors Readers Poll 2014

*Winner of the Indie Book of the Day Award
BETWEEN

(December 2012) 1st Edition Musa Publishing, LLC

(March 2015) 2nd Edition Clarissa Johal

*Second place in the Preditors and Editors Readers Poll 2012

*Paranormal Reads gives BETWEEN 4 out of 5 Bats

PRADEE

(2010) Clarissa Johal

*Second round finalist in Amazon's Breakthrough
Novel Award Contest 2012 

Short stories: 

PIGEONS
Susurrus
Literary Journal


THE ROPE
Susurrus Literary Journal

Non-Fiction: 
A WAY OF LIFE
The Sacramento Bee newspaper 

Find Clarissa Online:

Author Website: http://clarissajohal.com/
Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Clarissa-Johal/e/B003KVTMPK/

Tour Hosted by Sapphyria's Book Promotions:




http://saphsbookpromos.blogspot.com/

Click this Link to See All of the Blogs Celebrating Clarissa Johal's Newest Book Release:

Forbidden #BlogTour #LGBT by Matthew Freake @Saphs_Books



“The only man I ever loved is dead. This is our story…”

About Forbidden:



It’s the summer of 1957 and Nathan is ready to get away from home to start working for his future. And what better way than to join the rail yard in Lakefield, Ontario? Hoping for some new experiences and a change of scenery, Nathan gets more than he bargains for. His cabin mate and co-worker, Alex, is helpful in showing Nathan around, but there’s something unique about him that keeps Nathan captivated. Stolen glances and close encounters soon lead to unfamiliar feelings between the two of them. But as they sort out their emotions, Nathan must confront painful scars that resurface from the past. Forbidden is an insightful tale of true love found and of ultimate tragedy. It explores the complexity of life’s obstacles for two young men discovering not only themselves, but each other, in a time where anything out of the ordinary is dangerous.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Title: Forbidden
Author Name:  Matthew Freake
Genre(s): LGBT, Gay Fiction, Romance
Tags: #LGBT, #GayFiction, #Romance, #CanadianHistory, #Drama, #Railways, #Tragedy‬
Length: Approx. 128 pages
ISBN (Print Copy): 978-0-9920490-6-5
ISBN (eBook):  978-0-9920490-7-2
ASIN: B00W8HZ0F8
Release Date: May 17, 2015
Amazon Purchase Link: Forbidden
Publisher:  Mirror World Publishing
More Information:  https://mirrorworldpublishing.wordpress.com/2015/04/17/cover-reveal-forbidden-by-matthew-freake/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Read the Excerpt:

His eyes hurt from staring at the computer screen all day. He was so close to finishing that he ignored the pain in his eyes and the pain in his heart. He had to finish the book. His home office was small and the glow from the monitor caused the walls to glow blue; the same colour that reflected on his face as he typed. The one window in the room showed the large oak tree that encased most of his small backyard.

He stopped typing. He was finished, finally. Pausing a moment to read what he had just written, he moved the cursor up to the top of the screen, clicked on save, and then turned the monitor off. He sat back and felt accomplished. It had hurt, reliving all of those memories, both the good as well as the bad, but he was glad he had gone through with it.

He wiped away the single tear falling down his cheek and smiled. He was happy. He knew in his heart that Alex would have been happy as well.

“I miss you, Alex,” he said, standing up. He moved his office chair, turned away from the computer and left the room, leaving all of the memories contained within it.

The only man I ever loved is dead. This is our story...


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meet the Author:


Matthew Freake is an avid lover of books and storytelling in all forms, including theatre. He has won awards for set and costume design with the dramatic presentations of “A Gap in Generations” by Jerry Blunt and “A Bird of Prey” by Jim Grimsley. For the latter, he was also awarded for exceptional directing. He is also the author of the ‘A Fairy Tale Murder’ short story series.

Learn more about Matthew Freake on his WEBSITE or at Mirror World Publishing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Saturday, May 16, 2015

Sexy Forever @MySexySaturday - Estranged Spouses - 7 Years Later - 1Night w/her Husband

7 Paragraphs from One Night with her Husband

Dear God, with all the stress, she’d lost her mind. She couldn’t have found a worse time to start hallucinating about her past-relationship mistakes.
Her laptop slipped from her hands and clattered onto the table.
Her husband lifted his head from his iPad, and his fathomless brown eyes met hers. “Might want to be more careful with that.”
Okay, so she hadn’t lost her mind. Yet. Not the least bit comforted, Marcia stared at him, the faint Hispanic lilt in his tone coiling tendrils of heat through her middle. What was he doing here? Why now?
If only she’d been more careful with her marriage. But she hadn’t, and she couldn’t deal with the past and couldn’t change the reality. The reality of him in her conference room amidst her colleagues, though, made no sense. The only thing she knew for sure was the most handsome man she’d ever met had become more gorgeous than ever.
Meanwhile, she— Oh shit.
Her appearance had definitely changed, too, and not for the better.
a Rafflecopter giveaway


Friday, May 15, 2015

#ReunitedLovers + #giveaway for One Night with her Husband #NewRelease @DecadentPub

One Night With Her Husband is the newest release and the fifth of six books in the One Night with the Bridal Party series. Like Marcia and Adrian, my husband and I fell in love and married while in college. Unlike Marcia and Adrian, our post-college paths thankfully never diverged, but it was easy to imagine how two people could get caught up in their personal career plans and assume their partner would simply follow...and then be too stubborn to backtrack on their chosen path.

To celebrate the release of the final two books in the One Night with the Bridal Party series, I'm giving away a $20 Amazon gift card, so be sure to enter the Rafflecopter below

She walked away from her marriage seven years ago...
Marcia Johnson always assumed her husband would follow her eventually. She’d achieve success while she waited and prove her decision the right one. But when he finally turns up, she’s not ready. Her career hangs in the balance, and her weight has skyrocketed. How can she face the man she loves and show him she made the right choice? Especially when he’s matured from a decent-looking college student into the sexiest man she’s ever seen.

He’s waited seven years for his wife to finally need him…
If Adrian Torres can save her business, maybe he’ll have a shot at saving their marriage. But the woman he finds is too competent and independent to ask him for help. She even shrugs off his touch instead of reacting with the desire he hoped to ignite. Have the embers of their marriage finally died? Is it time to end their relationship and move forward?

He wants a divorce…
Her world ripped apart, Marcia turns to 1Night Stand to give her one more night before she lets Adrian go. She dares not hope for more. Even Madame Eve couldn’t have the magic to save their neglected disaster of a relationship…could she?

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Thursday, May 14, 2015

#BeyondFairytales Blog Hop @DecadentPub @babsbookbistro Get your grown-up fairy tales now!



Before Armina Keer can have the baby she dreams of, she needs her estranged husband Ian to sign their divorce papers. Putting everything on the line for a second chance, Ian must convince her their love is worth saving, and Armina must decide if love is worth sacrificing her dreams.

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My favorite school assignment ever was modernizing and retelling a fairy tale, so when Decadent put out the call for a retelling of a Grimm’s Fairy Tale, my hand immediately shot in the air. But then I got my fairy tale assignment, and my excitement wilted. The Three Army Surgeons. Huh? I’d never heard of it.

Not only was it obscure, it was also a little gruesome and definitely not a romance. Basically, there are three guys who cut out their eye, hand and heart. They put them on a tray and give them to an innkeeper, intending to put them back in their bodies the next day. Instead, the parts are taken, so a soldier replaces them with the eye of a cat, the hand of a thief and the heart of a pig. The new parts then make the guys act like a cat, a thief and a pig. The guys discover they’ve been tricked and return to confront the innkeeper who gives them some money to pacify them. (You can read the full original story here.)

My charge was to turn this story into a romance. Um, yeah. I couldn’t even figure out who the hero and heroine would be.

So I started with what I did know. Although I enjoy a good ménage romance, I don’t write them, so having the body-part-plucking guys as heroes was out. Same for paranormal stories, which meant I needed a way for these people to walk around with missing parts that would be believable in a contemporary setting without magic or special powers.

This framework led me to have the men run a prosthetics company, but I was still stumped on the romance angle. The only woman in the original story stood around wringing her hands while others found a solution. Then she ran away and never returned when things went bad. I needed an active heroine, someone with a purpose, someone a reader would want to root for.

After dumping the sexist assumption that a solider automatically had to be a man, I made the soldier’s character my heroine. I named her “Armina,” which means soldier. In case that was too subtle, her uncles (the guys with the missing body parts) affectionately refer to her as “Soldier.”

The other person who played a critical role in the story conflict is the innkeeper. He would fit nicely as the hero. After playing with words for a bit, I dubbed him Ian Keer. Now I needed to make him into hero material, and I needed to create a romance (and conflict) between the innkeeper and the soldier. This wasn’t part of the original fairy tale, so my challenge was to write it within the framework of the fairy tale retelling. Finally, I’d arrived at the fun story retelling I’d expected when I raised my hand for this assignment.

I went from “You have got to be kidding me” at the beginning of the initial brainstorming of The Three Army Surgeons fairy tale to “This is so much fun” as I wrote Once Upon a MarriageOnce Upon a Marriage is now part of the Red Book of Grown-Up Fairytales Boxed Set. In addition to the publisher sponsored giveaway, I will also gift one copy of this boxed set to someone who leaves a comment with their favorite grown-up fairy tale, either from Decadent Publishing or elsewhere.

Red Book of Grown-Up Fairytales on Amazon  ARE