Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Tread by Brandace Morrow & Justin Morrow

Book Title: Tread (Ronin MC, Book One)

Author: Brandace Morrow & Justin Morrow

Genre: Military Romance/Contemporary Romance

Release Date: November 17, 2015

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GRACE

For me, growing up did not imply independence. My whole life has been paved before me like a well-traveled road. My twenty-first birthday signaled the end of my father’s rule, and the beginning of my husband’s—where I am expected to churn out infinite children with a smile.

As I stare at the oversized Temple doors, weighed down by more than yards of heavy, white lace, I do what I have never done before.

I make a decision for myself.

I decide to run.

TREAD

Being in a motorcycle club is in my DNA, as is the military requirement to join. I served, I fought, and I survived the crucible of grueling training and intense combat. I returned to my club with newfound respect for right, wrong, and the shades of gray that connect them.

By day, I work at Ronin Auto, pulling things apart, fixing the problem, and putting them back together.

Grace and her nonfunctioning, little sedan prove to be a hiccup in a well-oiled machine.

Because by night, I smuggle soft felons into Mexico.

With things heating up at the border, and a missing MC family member, the last thing I need is an innocent to worry about.

But something about Grace makes me want to take apart all of her pieces to figure out how someone so beautiful has never even been kissed.

Against my better judgment, I strike a bargain with the little, blue-eyed beauty, and it changes everything I thought I knew. About women. About the club. About the man I’ve become.

ronin

[roh-nin]

noun, plural ronin, ronins. Japanese History

1. A samurai who no longer serves a daimyo, or feudal lord; a master-less Samurai.

My name is Tread, and I'm the lead mechanic for Ronin Auto. I'm also either one of the baddest motherfuckers you'll ever meet, or the answer to your prayers. Just depends on which way your compass is pointing. Literally.

Most motorcycle clubs give you a handle when you prospect. My MC is different. We were given our handles at birth.

Our fathers founded the club after coming home from Panama, having participated in Operation Just Cause, to one members inherited land on New Mexico's southern border.

After seeing what the cartels were capable of in Central America, the founding members saw the opportunity to help our country while helping themselves. They sent the mules back, but kept the drugs as their prize in a sometimes lethal game of hide and seek. They charged a king's ransom to get wanted felons safely out of the country. By the time these men started having children, there was a legacy and a duty driving them to plan ahead.

Once the next generation was old enough to enlist we were on a bus out of town. Defended our nation's freedom with pride. We went Airborne, Air Assault, and Special Forces, earning the pins and tabs that we would wear for the rest of our lives.

When our enlistments were up, we came back to our sleepy town with knowledge, honor, and righteous indignation. Arizona and Texas had walls, surveillance, and patrols, while the vast majority of New Mexico went unguarded still.

While we risked our lives and lost brothers to protect our people, illegals were walking onto U.S. soil with guns and drugs seemingly with the United States’ blessing. One hundred and eighty miles.Seven government run surveillance towers.

Ronin has controlled the border for over twenty years.

The second generation was born to this fight.

We became a dynasty.

Brandace and Justin Morrow have been through 10 years of the Army life, including three deployments and four children. They met in seventh grade, where they had scandalous hand-holding rendezvous in the gym before school. The courtship was brief however, only lasting a week, given his aversion to the telephone. Five years later he proposed to her on the steps of that middle school weeks before it would be demolished. Through the years, there have been laughter and tears, more time apart than together. Writing is an escape for them in an all too real world. Justin still hates the telephone.

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A Woman Of Courage by Marlow Kelly

A WOMAN OF COURAGE

Book 3 Honour, Love, and Courage Series

Author: Marlow Kelly

Editor: Anne Knol -Editor with The Wild Rose Press

Cover Designer: Debbie Taylor – DCA Graphics

Genre: Steamy Historical Romance

When an injured Fianna Byrne turns up at Connell O’Neill’s gate twelve years after their separation he knows this could be his last chance to find happiness with the woman he loves.

False accusations against Fianna had strained relations between their clans and forced Connell, under Irish law, to divorce her. Their disastrous three-month relationship left Fianna pregnant and heartbroken. She has avoided Duncarraig and her ex-husband ever since.

But with her home obliterated by the Vikings, Fianna must face her past in order to save her son, and prove once and for all she is a woman of courage.

Fianna Byrne scrambled up the steep embankment that circled the hillfort of Duncarraig. Scratches streaked her legs, her body ached, and no matter how much she tried to prevent it, blood seeped into her mouth from a gash at her temple. But these wounds were inconsequential compared to her grief. Her home was gone, destroyed by an attack that began at sundown and ended with the destruction of everything she loved.

She hammered on the wide wooden gates of the fort. Would she be welcomed or turned away? Were old feuds still guiding their decisions? Muffled voices floated down from the rampart, and footfalls echoed on the wooden palisade. They were aware of her presence. She almost prayed they would kill her where she stood. It was what she deserved. As the leader of Clan Byrne, she had failed to protect her people.

She turned to see the sun rising over the eastern horizon. Orange and gold rays danced over the fields, welcoming the dawn. It would be a glorious summer day. On any other morning she would have watched the sunrise, and prepared for the long working day that characterized the season. But all that was gone, obliterated in one hellish night.

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After being thrown out of England for refusing to drink tea, Marlow Kelly made her way to Canada where she found love, a home and a pug named Max. She also discovered her love of storytelling. Encouraged by her husband, children and let’s not forget Max, she started putting her ideas to paper. Her need to write about strong women in crisis drives her stories and her curiosity regarding the lives and loves of historical figures are the inspiration for her characters.

A Woman of Honour ~ A Woman of Love

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Monday, November 16, 2015

Things from Other Worlds by Anne E. Johnson

BOOK INFORMATION

TITLE – Things from Other Worlds
AUTHOR – Anne E. Johnson
GENRE – Children’s literature / science fiction
PUBLICATION DATE – October, 2015
LENGTH (Pages/# Words) - 84 pages
PUBLISHER – Anne E. Johnson
COVER ARTIST – James for GoOnWrite.com

BOOK SYNOPSIS

Many strange things wait inside these pages. There's a fuzzy ball of kindness, camped out on a grumpy man's porch. A chewed piece of gum with a mind of its own. A smart Alec who actually stands in line twice when they're handing out brains. A girl who isn't afraid when all the plants in her neighborhood come to life.

This collection of 15 science fiction and fantasy stories for kids by award-winning author Anne E. Johnson is perfect for ages 8-12, or anyone with a child's heart.

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EXCERPT

THE CRUSTY-HEARTED MAN

(Excerpt from Story No. 15 in Things from Other Worlds)

Outside our town, a few miles from where Jimbo’s gas station used to be, an old man lived all by himself. Everybody knew he was there, but nobody actually knew him. He’d show up a few times a year to buy canned goods at Ruth & Bobby’s, but that was it. Not a soul, not even the oldest soul in town, could remember a time when that man hadn’t been around. He must have been two hundred years old. Some said more like three hundred.

Truth was, he’d been out of touch with people for so long that nobody could remember his name.

He couldn’t even remember his own name. Folks said that a crust had grown over his heart.

The heart’s a funny organ, though. It’s tougher than you’d think, and can survive through pretty much anything. It’s like a tulip bulb. No matter how icy and long the winter is, that little bulb stays alive under the frozen ground until it’s time to shoot up a new sprout, green and full of life.

But for some especially frosty people, there’s rarely enough sunshine to wake up their hearts. It takes something spectacular, maybe even something from another world. I’ll tell you what happened to this old, old man, and you’ll see what I mean.

Nobody wanted to have anything to do with him. Flies and grubs and spiders occasionally tiptoed into the walls of his house, but most were never heard from again. The younger raccoons and rabbits only touched his front stoop on a dare because their parents warned them not to.

“Get away!” the old man would scream hoarsely while shaking a frying pan above his head.

Every living creature, from human on down to bedbug, knew enough to keep off the old man’s property. But that knowledge had not been broadcast across space. So, when an alien landed in a clearing in the woods one late winter afternoon, it didn’t realize what it was up against. It was scared and a little woozy after a rough landing, although it wasn’t afraid. It had been brought up to assume that all beings will do right by each other when given the chance. Poor little thing.

I bet you think an alien is a spindly sort that looks like it’s made of green plastic. Well, not this one. It was furry. Oh, so furry. Picture fur as thick as a polar bear’s and as soft as a mink’s. Now double how thick and soft it is. Now color it blue-green. This deep, soft, dark fur was all over its body, which was short and wide. The alien, standing, came up just past your knees, but was too wide to get your arms around.

It had two giant tangerine-orange toenails on each of its four feet. Its eyes, too, were the color of tangerines, but twice as big. They were very close together in its head, and surrounded by fur, giving it a very intense look. Your average human would probably describe this alien as “the cutest thing I’ve ever seen,” and make a sound that went something like “Awwww.”

Well, this little alien was in need of shelter and food. It didn’t know the plants and animals of our planet, so it shuffled right by some perfectly edible berries and nuts. But it recognized a building when it saw one. And so it approached the old man’s house in the middle of the woods, with hope in its heart but nothing in its belly.

“MMMnnnyonggg,” it called out from the yard. Nothing stirred in the house, but several woodchucks and foxes gathered to watch from a safe distance. The alien trundled up the front steps. Once it caught its fur on the rotting wood, but freed itself like a real trooper. Inside the house, the old man heard a nasal howl.

“MMMnnnyonggg!”

He assumed it was a wolf or an injured bear. “Durn thing’s up on the porch,” said the crusty-hearted man as he pulled his frying pan down from its nail. “I’ll teach ʼem whose house this is.”

The old man shoved the front door open so hard it smacked against the rotten siding. A few shingles crumbled and fell. The woodland creatures watching the show skittered deeper into the shadows, fearing what would come next.

But the alien didn’t move. It didn’t know it was supposed to be afraid of the sound of wood smacking wood, or the sight of a two-legged earthling holding a round metal object. It assumed this was either a way to say “hello,” or else a communication device telling the whole planet about its arrival. Those were the only options that made sense to the alien. Widening its eyes and puffing up its fur, it tried to look as friendly as possible.

For his part, the old man was so puzzled that he forgot to swing the pan. “You’re not a bear,” he accused the blue-green furry thing. “You’re sure not a wolf. What are you? Gorilla?”

The alien didn’t know what the word “gorilla” meant, but it enjoyed the sound, so it waddled a little closer to the cool-talking human.

“GGgggrrrrill,” said the alien, trying to fit in.

The old man just snorted and slammed the door, leaving the alien alone on the porch.

AUTHOR BIO

As the author of dozens of published short stories, Anne E. Johnson has won writing prizes for both children's and adults' short fiction. Her short fiction for kids has appeared in FrostFire Worlds, Wee Tales, Jack & Jill, Young Explorer’s Adventure Guide, Rainbow Rumpus, and elsewhere. Her stories for adults can be found in Alternate Hilarities, The Future Fire, Liquid Imagination, and SpeckLit. For a complete list of her published stories, please visit AnneEJohnson.com. She also writes science fiction novels, including the humorous Webrid Chronicles series.

To give back to the writing and children’s lit community, Anne is a volunteer story judge at RateYourStory and writes a weekly column called Kid Lit Insider for EatSleepWrite.net.

Anne grew up in Wisconsin but moved to New York City over 20 years ago. She now lives in Brooklyn with her husband, playwright Ken Munch.

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Petty Little Lives by Alice Reeds

Petty Little Lives

by Alice Reeds

Release Date: 08/18/15

Limitless Publishing

316 pages

The only thing cousins Sapphire Hope and Roxanna Revolution have in common is they don’t want to spend the summer at their aunt’s Iowa farm.

Sapphire is an entitled L.A. rich-girl…

Spoiled by her Oscar-winning mother and a CEO father, Sapphire thrives on the lifestyle of a jet-setting socialite and aspiring model. She has no interest in rural life, or the strange cousin who seems to want to be her friend. About the only thing even remotely interesting about the farm is the good-looking intern at her aunt’s veterinary clinic, Dawn Matthews. He might do as a summer distraction.

Roxanna is a sensitive loner…

She spends her time playing guitar and posting videos for her YouTube subscribers, but at least at her aunt’s, nobody knows what she’s hiding. Since her secret drove her boyfriend away, she could use a few friends, but Sapphire clearly isn't interested—and even less so when Dawn prefers Roxanna's company over hers.

When Roxanna's secret comes out, Sapphire, Roxanna, and their friends are forced to view their lives from a new perspective and face choices they never thought they’d have to make.

Can friendship and new love help them overcome physical and emotional challenges and learn what’s really important? Or will old habits and attitudes refuse to die?

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Sapphire

Finally I spot Dawn surrounded by three dogs. They jump around him and then, as he seems to throw something, they run off like mad dogs. I step onto the grass, which only makes walking even more of an awful thing, and go toward him.

The dogs come running back toward Dawn, after they found whatever he threw them, but one of them speeds past him and shoots right toward me. Before I can go out of the way or react in any sort of way, the dog jumps at me and sends me tumbling down backward into the grass. Heels, bad balance, grass, and dogs are definitely not a good mixture.

“You all right there?” Dawn asks after he turns around and sees me flat on my back. “Donna, get down!”

The dog, Donna, climbs down from me and I sit up. Grass and dry earth covers me which I try to swipe away with my hands, which only works so well.

“Nothing broken,” I say and stretch my hands out toward him so he’ll help me up. After a moment of thinking he bends down and takes my hands, which seem incredibly tiny compared to his, and pulls me back up on my legs. “So this is what you do on your free day, you play with the pack?”

“Today, yes.” He takes the ball which one of the dogs placed in front of him. I watch the muscles on his arms move as he throws it. Impressive for a farm boy.

“So,” I start saying as means of getting back his attention. “You’re Valesca’s intern for the summer, huh?”

“Yap,” he confirms without looking at me.

“Why would a University boy want to hang out at a farm in the middle of Iowa instead of hanging out with his friends?”

“Because being an intern like this, especially at your aunt’s, gives you a lot of extra points which are always good, you know?” I still don’t get why working for or with my aunt would be such a big deal. She’s just a vet, nothing that special. “What about you, what major are you taking in college?”

“I’m not going to college,” I say and chuckle lightly. “I don’t need that for the job I want to do.”

Dawn turns his head toward me and finally, actually, looks at me. One of his brows is raised in surprise, I suppose. “You’re not going to college? What else are planning on doing?”

“I’m a model.” I proudly strike a pose, one that I know most boys appreciate.

Dawn doesn’t seem impressed. Not even a tiny bit. Seems like farm boy will be a hard nut. Good— it’ll give me more of a challenge I can work on during my stay here. At least I’ll have something to entertain myself.

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Alice Reeds was born in a small town in Germany but spent her first eight years in Florida, USA. Later on, she moved back to Europe, where her family moved around a lot. Alice is a soon-to-be freshman at University where she studies Political Science. In her free time Alice mostly writes, reads, or watches countless Let's plays.

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