Spotlight Tour: Stormy Surrender by Nicole Andrews Moore

 

Synopsis

 

Sometimes the life you planned isn’t the one you get to live. Sometimes the pain of the past overshadows the future. And sometimes to start over you have to go back to where it all began. That’s how it was for Joe Masters. That’s how he ended up back in New Hope. And that’s why he was in his thirties and had nothing to show for his life. He needed a complete overhaul, just like his father’s old house. Instead of a fast track, he had slowed down and was on a ten year plan. These days that was more his speed. And as much as he tried to fight the inevitable, he was learning to accept and surrender.

Martha had weathered her fair share of storms in Vermont, was accustomed to the cold, both the chill in the air and the cold shoulder in her marriage, but after the miscarriage she felt like she would never get warm again. So she did the research from the laptop while sitting in front of the fireplace. She knew what she needed when she Googled ‘hope,’ she just never imagined that it would bring her to New Hope, South Carolina. She never imagined that her husband would trick her into leaving and never follow. She never imagined that a southern storm with all its force and fury could be so destructive. But after the storm, the land is washed clean. It’s perfect for a fresh start, a clean slate, and a new love.

 

 

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Excerpt

 

Marti glanced at the hammer, then the tile, shrugged, and started swinging.  The tile made a lovely high pitched sound as it shattered.  The shards flew about the room, ricocheting off the walls and door before landing on the floor.  And because that first swing felt so good, she just kept swinging.  Each time the sledge hammer connected with the tiles, she would think of what her marriage had been like.  She would recall an incident, or a conversation, or any one of a thousand reasons that she should have dumped him, should have ended the marriage years ago.  It felt good.  Maybe even great.  And then she looked down and saw red.  Literally.  There were blood droplets all over.  Before she could even ponder why the room was looking like a crime scene, the wooden handle was ripped from her hands.

 

“What are you doing?”  He sounded incredulous.  And annoyed.

 

“You’re a contractor?  What does it look like I’m doing?”  She was upset that he had interrupted her impromptu therapy session.

 

Shaking his head, Joe grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the room.  “I know demo and that wasn’t it.” 

 

She growled.  “I wasn’t done yet!”

 

“You, babe?  You are finished.”  She opened her mouth to argue, but he covered it.  With his mouth. 

 

Shocked, she stood there with her eyes wide open.  His mouth was pressed against hers.  And it didn’t feel wrong at all.  Without thinking, she melted into him, wrapped an arm around his neck, and allowed her eyes to slowly flutter shut.  Joe bent slightly and scooped her up and held her against his muscular chest.  His lips pulled back, but his forehead was pressed against hers.  She opened her eyes to find him staring at her.

 

“Crazy woman,” he muttered to himself as he carried her out the back door of the house.  She couldn’t be certain, but it seems like she would have been carried farther if he hadn’t heard the sound of others talking in the front yard.

 

Slowly he lowered her to the ground and made sure she had her footing before releasing her.  She wanted to smile up at him, but she hadn’t decided what to make of that moment.  All she could do was look at him and murmur…”Why?”

 

“I needed to distract you,” he responded with a shrug.  And with that he turned and walked away. 

 

About the Author

 

 

Nicole lives in Charlotte, North Carolina with her husband, a teenage son and daughter, and Kenna. Every day is new and sparkly...which is why she chronicles them on her blog, Suddenly *Not So* Single Journey. It is a way for her to spread her brand of hope, happiness, and love.

 

Previously, Nicole has been published by McClatchy News in their syndicated papers. In 2010, she joined the Yahoo! Mother Board, became a Shine Parenting Guru, and has become an award winning dating and relationships expert for Shine.

 

After a few bad sailing experiences, the Moores decided they were safer on land. Their boating adventures will be limited to cruise ships. And those cruises are centered around their travel goal of visiting ever Margaritaville. Two down, eleven to go!
 

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In addition to writing on Suddenly Single Journey, Nicki is a contributor for Project Underblog. Her writing can also be found on Shine, where she is a Shine Parenting Guru and an award winning Yahoo! Contributor on YourWisdom as the relationship and dating expert. And she has been published by McClatchy News in their syndicated papers.

 

 

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Promo Event and Giveaway: Wide Awake by Shelly Crane

Synopsis

 

A girl.

A coma.

A life she can't remember.

When Emma Walker wakes up in the hospital with no knowledge of how she got there, she learns that she's been in a coma for six months. Strangers show up and claim to be her parents, but she can't remember them. She can't remember anyone. Not her friends, not even her boyfriend. Even though she can't remember, everyone wants her to just pick up where she left off, but what she learns about the 'old her' makes her start to wish she'd never woken up. Her boyfriend breaks up with the new girl he's dating to be with her, her parents want her to start planning for college, her friends want their leader back, and her physical therapist with the hazel eyes keeps his distance to save his position at the hospital.

 

Will she ever feel like she recognizes the girl in the mirror?

 

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Excerpt

  

The next couple of weeks brought plenty of action and events. I focused harder on the therapy and tried to focus less on Mason. He seemed to be doing the same. I had renewed vigor, which led to stamina, which led to more workouts, which led to exhaustion, which led to tons of sleep, which led to healing, which led to me walking.

   

All.

   

By.

   

Myself.
 

This simple task, this simple thing that we all take for granted, that's so cute and monumental when a baby takes his first steps, but these first steps were so much more than that. Though I cried like a baby, I wasn't one. And though my mother cooed and fawned over me (because I had invited them that day to come because I just knew that day was going to be the day) I wasn't a toddler. I was me. I was finally getting a little piece of myself back. And though I tried so hard not to, my eyes drifted to the one person in the room that I knew would understand all this better than anyone else.
 

Mason's eyes were already on me from across the parallel walking bars. This time, I didn't shy away from his gaze. I knew that our terms were shaky, but so was I, and I needed the stability of my lifeline. As our gazes collided, I expected a smile and happiness, but I didn't expect the level of pride and utter joy to be so prominent. The man was bursting at the seams with it. It filled his face and the smile he wore was the beautiful one that made me feel like everything was going to be OK.

 

His lips parted and even in the loud room, I could still hear his breath. He said quietly, "You did it, Em." He moved forward and touched my arm. It was the first time he had touched me in weeks that had nothing to do with therapy. "I'm so proud of you."

 

As his fingers circled my elbow, and I tried not to shiver in his grasp, I asked softly, knowing the answer, "You didn't believe that I was going to walk again some day?"
 

"Of course I did." He smiled wider. "But today was the first time that you've ever believed it."
 

He was right. Having faith and having hope were not the same thing, and I was just now understanding that.

About The Author

  

YA author from a small town in Georgia and loves everything about the south. She is wife to a fantastical husband and stay at home mom to two boisterous and mischievous boys who keep her on her toes. They currently reside in everywhere USA as they happily travel all over with her husband's job. She loves to spend time with her family, binge on candy corn, go out to eat at new restaurants, buy paperbacks at little bookstores, site see in the new areas they travel to, listen to music everywhere and also LOVES to read.

Her own books happen by accident and she revels in the writing and imagination process. She doesn't go anywhere without her notepad for fear of an idea creeping up and not being able to write it down immediately, even in the middle of the night, where her best ideas are born.

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Cover Reveal: Beauty From Surrender (Beauty, #2) by Georgia Cates

Title: Beauty from Surrender (Beauty #2)

Author: Georgia Cates

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Age Group: Adult

Cover Designer: Georgia Cates

Expected release date: May 30, 2013

The story of Jack Henry and Laurelyn continues...

How do you move on when he’s every song you sing?

After Laurelyn Prescott walks away from the love of her life, she returns to Nashville to pursue the only dream she has left. Determined to find a distraction from the pain of losing Jack Henry, she immerses herself in her music. But with her old life comes old acquaintances and new expectations. When Laurelyn refuses her record producer’s outrageous demands, she finds herself without a career—until an unforeseen opportunity presents itself. From there it’s a rocket ride straight to the top where Laurelyn finds the success she’s always dreamed of. Will it be enough to bring her the happiness she so deserves, or will the absence of Jack Henry leave her wanting more?

Jack Henry McLachlan never expected to fall in love with Laurelyn Prescott—but he did. After he foolishly let her slip through his fingers, he spends three months searching for her, but their reunion doesn’t come easy. The woman he finds isn’t the same one who drifted away without a goodbye. No longer an insecure girl on an Australian adventure, this Laurelyn is a successful musician with a promising career. Her dreams are becoming a reality, and Jack is terrified his American girl won’t have a place for him in her new life. With only a month to convince her otherwise, will it be enough time to make her visualize a life beyond the glitz and glamour, a life that includes him?

About the Author


Georgia resides in rural Mississippi with her wonderful husband, Jeff, and their two beautiful daughters. She spent fourteen years as a labor and delivery nurse before deciding to pursue her dream of becoming an author. Despite the struggle, she has no regrets in her decision to try this crazy life. She can honestly say that she’s living the dream.

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Review: On Dublin Street by Samantha Young

4.5 Star Review by Annie



Synopsis

 

Jocelyn Butler has been hiding from her past for years. But all her secrets are about to be laid bare…

Four years ago, Jocelyn left her tragic past behind in the States and started over in Scotland, burying her grief, ignoring her demons, and forging ahead without attachments. Her solitary life is working well—until she moves into a new apartment on Dublin Street where she meets a man who shakes her carefully guarded world to its core.

Braden Carmichael is used to getting what he wants, and he’s determined to get Jocelyn into his bed. Knowing how skittish she is about entering a relationship, Braden proposes an arrangement that will satisfy their intense attraction without any strings attached.

But after an intrigued Jocelyn accepts, she realizes that Braden won’t be satisfied with just mind-blowing passion. The stubborn Scotsman is intent on truly knowing her… down to the very soul.

Our Review

“Sometimes words aren’t needed for you to know a change has come upon you.”

Wowzer! This book was deliciously amazing! Samantha Young did an incredible job writing this smoking hot love story that had just the perfect amount of twist and turns to keep you on your toes.

“In truth it’s difficult to describe a broken heart.”

One minute Jocelyn Butler is just a regular fourteen year old girl and the next minute her life as she knew it came crashing down around her. Four years later, instead of emotionally dealing with her past Jocelyn tries to escape it by moving thousands of miles away to Scotland. She puts up walls to prevent anyone from ever getting too close to her, and to help her from ever feeling that kind of pain again. That is until she met him.

“He made me care and that pissed me off.”

Braden Carmichael is a walking sex bomb; with his Scottish accent, smoking hot looks, and his charismatic personality, no women could resist him! Braden could have any women he wanted, but he desired the one girl who wanted nothing to do with him. So Braden made a proposal, no relationship no strings attached just sex. At least that was the plan.

“Babe, nice lingerie is for seducing a man. I’m already fucking seduced.”

There a just so many things to love about this book. Jocelyn’s mental dialog with herself was beyond funny! This book had the perfect amount of trumoil and just enough sexy time to get me breathing a little bit heavier.

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Review: Clash (Crash #2) by Nicole Williams

5 Star Review by Dawn

 

Synopsis
 

On again, off again. Together. Apart. The only thing Jude and Lucy agree on is their all-consuming love. That, and fighting all the time . . .

Especially when it comes to reining in Jude's trigger-touch temper and overcoming the tragedy that connects Jude's and Lucy's pasts. Also not helping? Lucy's raging jealousy of the cheerleader who's attached herself to Jude in almost every way possible. With the stress of trying to hang on to her quintessential bad boy while training to be the top dancer in her class, Lucy knows something's going to give . . . soon.

How can she live without the boy she loves? How can she live with herself if she gives up on her dreams? If Lucy doesn't make the right choice, she could lose everything.

 

Our Review

This has been the best ride ever. Lucy's roommate, India, says it best when she says Jude Ryder is no carousel ride, but a loop de loop roller coaster at Six Flags!
 

In Crash, we meet Lucy and Jude their senior year in high school. In Clash, Luce and Jude are in college. They are still two broken soul mates trying to be together despite their demons. Nicole Williams really turns up the heat in Clash. I was constantly rooting for Jude and Luce, despite all the garbage that is thrown in their way. Sometimes, they just cannot get out of their own way and it gets so angsty. The larger than life Jude Ryder explodes onto the football scene at Syracuse and this makes him even more of a superhero. There is something about Jude Ryder that is right up there with Travis Maddox (from Beautiful Disaster) and Jack Carter (from The Perfect Game). Lucy describes it when she says, "I inhaled the boy who, even in scent, exuded a hint of trouble just barely masked by a reluctant sweetness."
 

This book is just the kind of sweet torture that I enjoy in a book. Lucy is every bit as feisty as Jude and this makes for quite a bit of "Clashing." The intensity of the relationship and the life lessons these two learn about love and trust are why I love reading Young Adult. It is all so raw, and life or death. I did not think it was possible, but I loved the writing, the characters (especially their back story), and the plot even better than Crash! Again, Jude Ryder does it for me every time. Lucy says it best: "For a certified bad-boy jock, you've got one hell of a way with words."

 

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Review: Crash by Nicole Williams

5 Star Review by Dawn

 

Synopsis

 

Southpointe High is the last place Lucy wanted to wind up her senior year of school. Right up until she stumbles into Jude Ryder, a guy whose name has become its own verb, and synonymous with trouble. He's got a rap sheet that runs longer than a senior thesis, has had his name sighed, shouted, and cursed by more women than Lucy dares to ask, and lives at the local boys home where disturbed seems to be the status quo for the residents. Lucy had a stable at best, quirky at worst, upbringing. She lives for wearing the satin down on her ballet shoes, has her sights set on Juilliard, and has been careful to keep trouble out of her life. Up until now.

Jude's everything she needs to stay away from if she wants to separate her past from her future. Staying away, she's about to find out, is the only thing she's incapable of.

For Lucy Larson and Jude Ryder, love's about to become the thing that tears them apart.

 

Our Review

 

I have not been so excited about a Young Adult book since Hopeless. I went crazy over Crash by Nicole Williams. The character Lucy and Jude were so real, I alternated between wanting to hold them and shake some sense into them.

The story was completely captivating and just when I was adjusting to the first twist, then came the next and the next!! I was practically reading with my jaw dropped to the floor! The surprises just kept coming and coming and the writing is so well done. Nicole captures the complete and total angst that is reserved for being a new girl in high school your senior year. The journeys that these characters take are so epic, I felt like I was holding my breath for half the book, the other half, I was completely mooning over bad boy Jude Ryder. Trust me, Jude Ryder is not to be missed. I am now reading book 2 in the series, Clash, and the stakes have just been raised tenfold (if that is even possible)!

 

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Cover Reveal: Until I Break by M. Leighton

Title: Until I Break (A Twisted Novel)

Author: M. Leighton

Publisher: M. Leighton

Release date: May 14, 2013

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Age Group: Adult

Cover reveal organized by: AToMR Tours

Laura Drake is an author. She writes bestselling paranormal romances that continue to top the charts. She is sharp. She is confident. She is in control.

And she doesn’t exist.

Samantha Jansen is the woman behind the wig, the woman most of the world doesn’t know exists. She is shy. She is insecure. She is nothing like her main character or her alter ego. She is scarred—deeply scarred—by a past she can’t let go of and a present she can’t make peace with.

Samantha’s dreams are consumed by one man, the broken hero from her books. Mason Strait is both her wildest fantasy and her most terrifying nightmare.

When Samantha meets Alec Brand, a corporate consultant, it is as though Mason has come to life. Alec is handsome to a fault, as elegant as he is arrogant, and more intense than any man has a right to be.

Samantha is soon sucked into a world that mirrors the fiction she writes. Just like her main character, Daire Kirby, Samantha finds herself unable to resist the forbidden lure of Alec. And just like Daire, she also finds that she is faced with taking a chance on a man who could either set her free or destroy her.

The scale tilts toward destruction when Samantha finds out that Alec is as much a work of fiction as Mason. And he has scars of his own, scars that could ruin them both.



About the Author

New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author, M. Leighton, is a native of Ohio. She relocated to the warmer climates of the South, where she can be near the water all summer and miss the snow all winter. Possessed of an overactive imagination from early in her childhood, Michelle finally found an acceptable outlet for her fantastical visions: literary fiction. Having written over a dozen novels, these days Michelle enjoys letting her mind wander to more romantic settings with sexy Southern guys, much like the one she married and the ones you'll find in her latest books. When her thoughts aren't roaming in that direction, she'll be riding wild horses, skiing the slopes of Aspen or scuba diving with a hot rock star, all without leaving the cozy comfort of her office.

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