Release Day Event: Let Love Be by Melissa Collins

What would bring you happiness in a world that was suddenly empty? For Lucy Crane, the answer is simple: her daughter. When her husband is killed in a tragic accident, Lucy loses her desire to live, but only one thing keeps her going – her unborn daughter. Focusing on being a mother helps Lucy cope with her loss, but kids grow up and they leave home, eventually. Eighteen years after losing her first and only love, Lucy is faced with the opportunity to find the happiness for which she’s always longed. Her own fears become her worst enemies as she learns how to embrace love once again. Evan Donovan is also facing his own struggles. Forced to retire from the FDNY because of lung damage caused by 9/11, Evan moves to upstate New York where he hopes to find a little peace and quiet. Old habits die hard, and Evan’s hero complex and survivor’s guilt constantly remind him of how difficult it is to be vulnerable. But for the first time in his life, he’s tired of being alone. Drawing strength from one another, Lucy and Evan discover how beautiful it is to let love be a part of their lives.

“Oh, I love this movie.” She settles on Forrest Gump as I grab my second slice. “So, you already know about my history. What about you? Have you ever been married?” Forrest’s proposal to Jenny plays in the background. “No. I mean, I’ve had a few relationships here and there, but work always got in the way. Staying single was somehow easier.” “Same here. I mean, when Melanie was a kid, it was much easier to just focus on that part of my life.” “Now?” I hazard a question that takes even me by surprise. She puts her plate down on the coffee table and swallows back a large sip of water. “Now, I’m not so sure.” Suddenly, my mind races with the possibilities of what her words mean. It’s crazy to think how just a few encounters with Lucy have made me re-evaluate my feelings. Obviously, she feels the same way. A calm and peaceful air falls on us as a small smile curls at my lips. A comfortable silence fills the space as we watch the movie, recalling some memories when certain scenes come up. Nothing prepares me for Lucy’s reaction when Jenny and Forrest get married and she tells him she’s sick. I try not to look at her, wanting to avoid making her feel like she’s in the spotlight or anything like that. I do notice a few stray tears streaking down her cheeks so I can only imagine what’s to come. As we watch Forrest sitting beside Jenny’s grave, reading a letter from their son, Lucy reaches for a napkin. Clutching it to her chest, I can see her breathing rapidly. What were just a few tears earlier is now a steady stream. She doesn’t say anything, won’t even look at me, but I can’t watch her cry like this. I shift on the small, overstuffed sofa and drape my arm around her. The top of her head fits perfectly into the crook of my shoulder. The scent of her hair takes over my senses; the sound of her softly sniffling through her tears tugs at my heart. I alternate between squeezing her arm and tracing my fingers up over her shoulder. When she seems to have gathered her emotions, calming down a bit, my instincts take over and I act seemingly without thinking. Or maybe I am thinking and I’m just afraid of what I’m thinking. Gently pressing my lips to the top of her soft, brown hair feels like second nature. She tenses momentarily, and I realize I may have just overstepped my boundaries. “Sorry about that.” I straighten in my seat and try to move my arm, but her fingers fall to my forearm. She looks up at me through long lashes with puffy, red eyes from crying. “Don’t be.” Her voice is soft, angel-like. “It’s nice to be held.” That piece of information prompts me to pull her even closer. “Well, I’m glad I could be of service.” She laughs softly and then takes a deep breath before she shifts to move away from me, which just makes me pull her close once again. “Don’t,” planting another quick kiss to her head, “it’s nice to have someone to hold.”

Amazing book! Review is going to be up soon!

 

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My Reviews
Let Love In
Let Love Stay

Let Love Heal
Let Love Shine

Melissa Collins has always been a book worm.  Studying Literature in college ensured that her nose was always stuck in a book.  She followed her passion for reading to the most logical career choice: English teacher.  Her hope was to share her passion for reading and the escapism of books to her students.  Having spent more than a decade in front of a classroom, she can easily say that it’s been a dream.
Her passion for writing didn’t start until more recently.  When she was home on maternity leave in early 2012, she read her first romance novel and her head filled with the passion, angst and laughter of the characters who she read about it.  It wasn’t long before characters of her own took shape in her mind. Their lives took over Melissa’s brain and The Love Series was born.

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Cover Reveal: The Winner Takes It All by Audrey Harte

Annie and Casey are both heading to New York City for the next round of auditions for The Next American Superstar. They're officially a couple now and seem to be happy as clams, but what will happen as they continue getting to know each other better? How will their relationship fare under extreme amounts of stress as they both compete to win the title and grand prize of a five million dollar contract for their own show in Las Vegas? Only one can win. Will their love survive this final test?

*The tentative release date is scheduled for September 16th, 2014.

     

A self-published author of romantic and erotic fiction, Audrey Harte released her first book, Love in All the Wrong Places, on April 10th, 2013 and the sequel, All the Right Things, on February 13th, 2014. The third and final book in the Love in L.A. series, The Winner Takes it All, is tentatively scheduled to be released on September 16th, 2014. She has also just announced a crossover series, the Love in N.Y.C. series (Say Anything, Say Something and Say Nothing), which she is already working on. 

Born and raised in Hawaii, Audrey Harte grew up an only child for the first eight years of her life, which forced her to use her imagination to keep herself entertained. In 1991, she moved to Nebraska where she attended junior high and high school and participated in several plays and musical productions at the local community college and West Nebraska Arts Center. In 1998, Audrey relocated to Los Angeles, California where she has lived ever since. She has been writing poetry and song lyrics since she was young, but only more recently has she joined the indie author community.

Release Day Blitz: Orange Blossom by Sarah Daltry

“I’ve never understood a year. A year was always a measurement of something bad for me. A year in my father’s prison sentence, a year since my mom’s death, a year left of school before I could get far, far away from here. Now, as I look down the end of my college career, with only a little more than a semester to go, a year seems like something magical. It has been a year since Lily chose me, since she sat with me on the old swing set and made a decision that I was worthy of her. And every minute of the entire year has been better than the last.”

You already know their stories: Lily, the perfect princess, always living someone else’s life. And Jack, the broken boy, who had stopped believing in hope. Somehow, though, they found each other and what was one night blossomed into a love story.

Now, a year later, Jack and Lily are dreaming of the future. Despite all of his promises to himself that he would never be indebted to anyone, Jack makes a new promise – this time to Lily – that he will be there for her forever. But when life unravels for them, he starts to pull away, and Lily worries he’s out of reach for good.

When Jack does the unthinkable, Lily is left destroyed. Is it possible to have a happily ever after? Does love ever really save anyone?

He’s smiling. Not that smirk he gets when he’s bitter but also pleased about something. It’s not the smile that says that he knows happiness is temporary. When he lines up his Skee-ball shot, there is a smile on his face that is pure. Genuine. It’s like taking a step back and seeing Jack in a photograph. One from years before his life went crazy. He is just a dorky kid playing Skee-ball and he’s so happy when he nails the shot. He does an awkward little dance and it’s the kind of thing about Jack that makes me love him. He’s gorgeous and sexy and aggressive yet sweet. He’s kind and considerate of me, both sexually and in general. But I don’t love Jack for that. I love him because there is light in the world in the space he takes up. I know he doesn’t see it, but he’s inside himself. From the outside, all I see is the absolute electricity and fire that fills the air around him.

“That’s how it’s done,” he tells me when he finishes his game, wrapping up his ridiculous stack of tickets. I’m so going to lose, but I don’t care. He’s happy. I just almost wish I were better at this, so we could stay here longer, so that Jack could be this part of himself for as long as he needs.

“I think you’re perfect,” I say.

“Because I’m good at Skee-ball? Shit, that’s all it takes?”

I shake my head. “No, but you tell me all the time. I don’t think I ever say it to you. I don’t like the idea of perfection. It’s too much of a standard to live up to, but I don’t think you even understand. It’s cheesy and probably cliché, but I just can’t imagine how I could breathe without you. How did I exist before this?”

He looks down, uncomfortable because it is one thing to tell Jack he’s hot or sexy; he can handle that and he gets arrogant and ridiculous when I tell him that. However, this part of him, this vulnerability, he buries it so deep that drawing attention to it makes him want to disappear. But I don’t want that. I want him to embrace it, because it’s beautiful.

“Don’t look down,” I say and I lift his face to look at me. His eyes explode with light, the way fireworks do on New Year’s when the sky is like ink and then it’s suddenly on fire. I lean in and kiss him, feeling his hands tighten on my arms and his lips opening against mine. He’s scared. I can feel it in the way he kisses me today; he feels himself falling and he is trying to hold on and I need to figure out how to be steady enough to hold him. “Trust me,” I plead. “Let me take some of what you’re feeling. I can handle it, Jack.”

He nods. “Another day. Today, I just want to stay here, to be here with you, where it’s safe and comfortable and my entire world is this. Where strawberries and popcorn and Skee-ball and shitty plastic toys are the entirety of what exists.” He pauses. “I promise, Lily. I will. Soon. But let me hide from it. Just for a little longer?”

“Okay, but don’t hide from me, okay?” I ask.

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Sarah Daltry writes about the regular people who populate our lives. She’s written works in various genres – romance, erotica, fantasy, horror. Genre isn’t as important as telling a story about people and how their lives unfold. Sarah tends to focus on YA/NA characters but she’s been known to shake it up. Most of her stories are about relationships – romantic, familial, friendly – because love and empathy are the foundation of life. It doesn’t matter if the story is set in contemporary NY, historical Britain, or a fantasy world in the future – human beings are most interesting in the ways they interact with others. This is the principle behind all of Sarah’s stories.

Sarah has spent most of her life in school, from her BA and MA in English and writing to teaching both at the high school and college level. She also loves studying art history and really anything because learning is fun.

When Sarah isn’t writing, she tends to waste a lot of time checking Facebook for pictures of cats, shooting virtual zombies, and simply staring out the window.

The other titles in the Flowering series are Forget Me Not, Lily of the Valley, Blue Rose, and Star of Bethlehem. The final book, Ambrosia, will be out in June.

Sarah has also written Bitter Fruits, an urban fantasy romance, and Backward Compatible, a gamer geek romantic comedy.

  

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Release Day Blitz: It's In His Kiss (Six Authors, Six Vacation Romances)

Going on vacation never felt so good! Six steamy stories, six sexy men to take you away from it all and sweep you off your feet. Each sweet and spicy novella is approximately 10,000 words (35 pages) and is available exclusively in this collection. Your vacation getaways include:

Ashley Blake: In “Kisses on Fire” (Amazing Love #2.5), the last thing broken-hearted Abby Hunter is looking for is a vacation romance with sexy, mysterious Zane Andrews—until she finds the courage to stop running and start healing.

Ava Claire: In “Waiting for You,” Melissa Foster’s dream getaway to Santa Cruz becomes a solo trip after her boyfriend dumps her. Who would have guessed that wealthy entrepreneur Logan Mason would be part of her vacation package?

Rosalind James: In “Just for You” (Escape to New Zealand #0.5), rugby star Hemi Ranapia meets a beautiful—and very unimpressed­—blast from his past, and finds his fishing holiday taking a most unexpected turn.

Sabrina Lacey: In “The Fall” (Throbbing Hearts #0.5), Brendan Clark receives the gift of a weekend in Mendocino to lick some romantic wounds, and discovers an older woman with a broken heart of her own.

Kimball Lee: In “Curing Charlotte” (The Surrendering Charlotte Chronicles), publishing magnate Alexander Bly hopes that an exotic vacation will help Charlotte Christiansen regain her lost memories of their love. But the real cure may be in his kiss . . .

Ellie Meade: In “The Best Man,” Maid of Honor Kayley Frost finds herself in sunny Aruba, attending a wedding she should have never agreed to. After meeting the sinfully sexy Best Man, she discovers her long-lost confidence returning—and her world being set on fire.

Ashley Blake likes to combine a good romance with steamy love scenes. Her goal is to write stories that stimulate your heart and your senses!

Ava Claire is a sucker for Alpha males and happily ever afters. When not putting pen to paper or glued to her e-reader, Ava likes road tripping, karaoke, vintage fashion, and fantasizing about her favorite book boyfriends.

Rosalind James, the author of the Amazon-bestselling “Escape to New Zealand” series and “Kincaids” series, attributes her success to the suspicion that “lots of women would like to escape to New Zealand! I know I did!”

Sabrina Lacey's writing style blend of funny and sizzling has made her first series, “I Love My . . . Romance” an Amazon best-seller, hitting number one in both erotica and women's fiction. She writes from the heart, about the heart, and for the heart.

Kimball Lee is the author of the Amazon best-selling series “The Surrendering Charlotte Chronicles,” as well as the “Temptation Road” series and “LUC: In The Age Of Copies.” She writes romantic, funny, interesting, happy, sad, thrilling, often titillating, and always thought-provoking books that pack a lot of good reading into just the right number of pages, while leaving out the “boring parts”!

Ellie Meade is a wife and a mother of three rambunctious children. Her active imagination and passion for love stories inspire her to write sexy, edgy, and enthralling romance novels.

  

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