"Just a Name" by Becky Monson

EXCERPT and GIVEAWAY

Just a Name

by Becky Monson

This book blast and giveaway for Just a Name by Becky Monson is hosted by I Am A Reader.

More books by this author: Speak Now: or Forever Hold Your Peace (read my blog post), Thirty-Two Going on Spinster (read my blog post), Thirty-Three Going on Girlfriend (read my blog post), and Thirty-Four Going on Bride (read my blog post).

Description

Holly has a plan for everything. But she never could have planned for this.

If there’s one thing Holly Murphy loves, it’s a solid plan. She has her entire life figured out - or so she thinks. But when life pulls the rug out from under her, she’s left to deal with a canceled wedding - hers, to be precise. And the promotion she’s worked toward for years is now in jeopardy because the team she supervises doesn’t like her management style.

Thinking that Holly is too tightly wound and needs a break from everything, her boss demands she take a vacation. But how can she take a vacation when her promotion is on the line? Trying to help out, her best friend, Quinn, suggests she still go on her honeymoon and conduct a nationwide search to find a man with the same name as her ex-fiancé to use his plane ticket. Leaving Holly to wonder if she’s the only sane person left on the planet.

Yet when her boss gets wind of the idea and loves it, Holly finds herself in a corner she can’t get out of. And when handsome Nate Jones from Newport Beach gets picked to go with her, she wonders if this whole thing won’t be so bad after all.

Can Holly learn to let go? Or will this crazy adventure send her running right back to her safety net?

Excerpt

“Holly?” a deep voice says from behind me as I wait for my order at the Lava Java, a quaint coffee shop across the street from my office building.

Oh, please not now. Not now. Not. Now.

What’s next? A rainstorm? Actually, that’s highly likely with the smell of rain in the air, the rumble of thunder in the distance, and the ominous clouds I saw as I walked over here. Typical springtime in Orlando.

I turn around and find Logan Palmer standing there in dark jeans, a fitted black T-shirt, and flip-flops. Or, in other words, his standard outfit. The T-shirt color can vary from day to day, but that’s about it. His light-brown hair is disheveled, and the beginnings of stubble appear around his jaw.

“Logan,” I say, feeling like a big chunk of ice just landed in my belly.

So far this morning, I’ve found out my team hates me—and I could miss out on one of the biggest opportunities of my career because of it—and my boss wants me to run away on some crazy trip before I can even fix it.

And now? Now I run into Nathan’s best friend, roommate, and business partner, who has never liked me, and I’m quite sure is one of the reasons things ended like they did. The way Nathan broke it off wreaked of Logan, actually.

“How ... are you?” he asks, his fingers extending and then clenching into fists at his sides. Even with my average height and three-inch heels he has to peer down at me, his sea-blue eyes searching my face as he does. He looks ... nervous.

[Want more? Click below to read a longer excerpt.]

Praise for the Book

“Just a Name is a delicious escape! I devoured every character, every moment, and every quirk and couldn’t get enough. This book is Becky Monson at her finest!” ~ Author Whitney Dineen

“Becky Monson has outdone herself with Just a Name. It’s FANTASTIC! I’m still swooning.” ~ Author Jennifer Peel

“Fans of romantic comedies should grab a copy of Just a Name; it has the perfect balance between sweet and sassy.” ~ Readers’ Favorite

“Full of fun, swoon, and humor, all topped with unexpected twists. I thoroughly enjoyed my time in these pages!” ~ Katie’s Clean Book Collection

“I loved it. Becky Monson is so good at writing humor into her books. Sarcasm and wit reign supreme right along with a slow growing romance.” ~ Aimee Brown from Getting Your Read On

About the Author

By day, Becky Monson is a mother to three young children, and a wife. By night, she escapes with reading books and writing. An award-winning author, Becky uses humor and true-life experiences to bring her characters to life. She loves all things chick-lit (movies, books, etc.), and wishes she had a British accent. She has recently given up Diet Coke for the fiftieth time and is hopeful this time will last … but it probably won’t.

Giveaway

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"Back Stabbers" by Julie Mulhern

EXCERPT and GIVEAWAY

Back Stabbers
(The Country Club Murders Book 8)

by Julie Mulhern

Back Stabbers is the eighth book in Julie Mulhern's Country Club Murders series set in the 1970s. Also available: The Deep End (read my blog post), Guaranteed to Bleed, Clouds in My Coffee, Send in the Clowns, Watching the Detectives (read my blog post), Cold as Ice (read my blog post), and Shadow Dancing (read my blog post).

Back Stabbers is currently on tour with Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours. The tour stops here today for an excerpt and a giveaway. Please be sure to visit the other tour stops as well.

Description

All Ellison Russell wanted was an update on her stock portfolio. Instead, she found her broker dead.

With an unexpected out-of-town guest at her house, Ellison is too busy for a murder investigation. Only this time, Detective Anarchy Jones wants her help, and she can’t deny the handsome detective. Can Mr. Coffee supply her with enough caffeine to keep her brain sharp and everyone else happy?

Juggling bodies (one, two, three, four), two-faced friends, her social calendar, and a cat (yes, a cat) is taxing but Mother might be the biggest challenge of all.

With a killer drawing closer, can Ellison put together the pieces or will she be the one getting stabbed in the back?

Excerpt

ONE

March, 1975
Kansas City, Missouri

The woman in the chair opposite me was hacking up a lung.

If the sick woman died, Mother would have a conniption fit.

Not because the poor woman was dead. No, Mother would be upset I’d been present at her passing. Mother took a dim view of death. She took a dimmer view of my unfortunate habit of stumbling over bodies.

I glanced at my watch. My broker, Winthrop Marshall, had kept me waiting for nearly thirty minutes.

The woman’s eyes streamed. Her nose ran like a faucet. Overwhelmed by her cold, she didn’t cover her mouth when she coughed.

Cough, cough.

I sympathized. I did. But the woman should have stayed home. In bed. With chicken soup, a bottle of 7UP, a box of Kleenex, and a gross of cold pills.

I abandoned the leather club chair (where I sat) and the most recent copy of Barron’s (where I’d found nothing of interest—the magazine had no fashion stories and probably didn’t even block the woman’s germs) and approached the receptionist’s desk.

“I’d like to wait someplace else.” I said.

The receptionist, an exceedingly pretty woman with very white teeth, donned a I-know-you’ve-been-waiting-with-the-plague-but-there’s-nothing-I-can-do smile. “I’m sorry. We don’t have another waiting area but—” her smile grew brighter “—Mr. Marshall should arrive momentarily.”

Winthrop wasn’t even here? That meant his office was empty.

Cough, cough. COUGH!

“Either I wait in Winthrop’s office, or I’m leaving.”

The receptionist eyed the germ (masquerading as a woman) who was busily infecting the brokerage’s elegant waiting room. A wrinkle marred her pretty brow. “I can check with his assistant.”

“Please do.” I stood at the front desk (as far from the sick woman as possible) and waited.

I did not tap my fingers against the high polish of the receptionist’s desk as Mother would have. I did not dig in my purse for a travel pack of tissues as my housekeeper, Aggie DeLucci, would have (then she’d have given them to the sick woman). I did not roll my eyes as Grace, my daughter, would have. I simply fixed a polite but firm smile on my face.

The receptionist pushed a button on what looked like a very complicated switchboard. “Debbie, Mrs. Russell would like to wait in Mr. Marshall’s office.” She glanced (more of a glare) at the coughing woman and lowered her voice to a whisper. “There’s a sick woman up front.”

Cough, cough.

She listened, glanced at me, and manufactured a small smile of her own. “She insists. If she can’t wait in his office, she’ll reschedule.”

She listened again. “Debbie will be right out.”

Winthrop Marshall’s assistant appeared a moment later. Debbie, another exceedingly pretty young woman, had bouncy blonde hair, bright blue eyes, and vivid red lipstick. She wore a dress so short that I hoped, for her sake, she never dropped anything—bending over would give anyone watching a view of everything God gave her.

In her shoes, working for Winthrop as she did, I would have worn a nun’s habit. As it was, I wore pants and a turtleneck sweater in the most serious shade of gray I could find.

[Want more? Click below to read a longer excerpt.]

Praise for the Book

“Fast paced and with wonderfully descriptive details of the era, the multiple plotlines weave together smoothly and in such an enjoyable way.” ~ Laura’s Interests

“I love the series. Ellison is a precious personality; although born into wealth and married into wealth and raised by a very ‘upper-class disdainful’ mother, she is very much an ‘at-home’, loving, compassionate and generous individual, an artist, and a devoted mother and dog lover.” ~ Mallory Heart’s Cozies

“Back Stabbers is well-written, well-paced, and includes an occasional touch of humor.” ~ Christa Reads and Writes

“With life getting crazy outside of the mystery hunting, Ellison reminds me of why I love moms that are strong and smart in novels. This latest mystery brings out the best thus far in Ellison and I wouldn’t miss reading this one for the world.” ~ Bibliophile Reviews

“Narrated from Ellison’s first person perspective, the novel is quick-paced and enjoyable, with lots of sleuthing and jumping around.” ~ Nadaness In Motion

“I love going back to this time frame where people talked and not texted it was such fun!” ~ Community Bookstop

About the Author

Julie Mulhern is the USA Today bestselling author of The Country Club Murders. She is a Kansas City native who grew up on a steady diet of Agatha Christie. She spends her spare time whipping up gourmet meals for her family, working out at the gym, and finding new ways to keep her house spotlessly clean - and she's got an active imagination. Truth is - she's an expert at calling for take-out, she grumbles about walking the dog, and the dust bunnies under the bed have grown into dust lions.

Giveaway

Enter the giveaway for a chance to win a signed print copy of Back Stabbers by Julie Mulhern (US only).

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"Shadow Dancing" by Julie Mulhern

EXCERPT and GIVEAWAY

Shadow Dancing
(The Country Club Murders Book 7)

by Julie Mulhern

Shadow Dancing is the seventh book in Julie Mulhern's Country Club Murders series set in the 1970s. Also available: The Deep End (read my blog post), Guaranteed to Bleed, Clouds in My Coffee, Send in the Clowns, Watching the Detectives (read my blog post), and Cold as Ice (read my blog post).

Shadow Dancing is currently on tour with Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours. The tour stops here today for an excerpt and a giveaway. Please be sure to visit the other tour stops as well.

Description

Visiting a psychic is outside the norm for Ellison Russell. Finding bodies is not. Unfortunately, the psychic’s crystal ball says she’ll soon be surrounded by death. Again.

Drat.

Now there’s a corpse in the front drive, a witchy neighbor ready to turn Ellison and her (not so) little dog into toadstools, and a stripper named Starry Knight occupying the guest room.

How did 1975 go so wrong so quickly?

Ellison must handle Mother (who’s found a body of her own), make up with a certain handsome detective, and catch a killer, or the death surrounding her might be her own.

Excerpt

“Ellison!” Mother’s voice was a mix of relief and exasperation. “Where have you been?”

Tell Mother I’d visited a medium? I’d rather hammer shims under my fingernails or wander around outside without my coat. “Out.”

“I need you.”

Time stopped. Mother never needed me. “What’s wrong?”

“I need you.” Apparently that was the only explanation I was getting. “Can you come over? Please?”

Please? What had happened? “Of course, I’ll come. Are you okay?”

“Hurry.” She hung up.

Aggie appeared in the doorway, a steaming mug of all-things-good in her hand.

“Would you please put that in a travel mug?” I asked.

“Of course. Problem?”

“She won’t tell me what’s wrong.” Mother was not given to crying wolf. Whatever the issue was, it was big. A trickle of dread chilled my blood. “The ambiance committee is meeting here at three. I’ll be back before then.”

“I’ll have everything ready.” Aggie was indispensable. How we’d ever gotten along without her was a mystery. With her sproingy red hair, vivid kaftans, and outspoken ways, Aggie was not Mother’s idea of a perfect housekeeper. Mother’s opinion didn’t matter. I thought Aggie was the best thing since sliced bread.

A moment later I was back in the car, snug in a fox jacket with matching hat. I settled the plastic travel mug filled with coffee between my thighs and wished I hadn’t. The plastic was hot. I turned the key and ELO’s “Can’t Get It Out of My Head” nearly deafened me. I sympathized. Even with hitting a pedestrian and Mother’s crisis, there was a man I couldn’t get out of my head. I turned off the radio and motored down the drive.

Mother’s door opened as soon as I pulled up in front of her house.

I took a quick gulp of coffee then hurried up the front walk. “What’s wrong?”

Mother looked from left to right as if her neighbors were hanging around in the cold, waiting to eavesdrop. “Come in.”

With the door safely closed behind me, Mother sighed.

“What? What’s happened?”

The color had leeched from her skin and the perfect helmet of her hair was mussed. “I found a body.”

Mother? A body? It was about time someone in this family besides me found a body.

[Want more? Click below to read a longer excerpt.]

Praise for the Book

“Although almost all the characters in this series are “a cut above,” actually several socioeconomic levels above me, the author’s wry humor, use of irony, and judicious eliciting of empathy, make the series endearing, despite the cultural disparity.” ~ Mallory Heart’s Cozies

“I love the characters in this series. They are expertly written and feel like old friends. Their dialogues are fantastic.” ~ Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book

“I started this book one night and I didn’t go to sleep till I finished, really, it was addictive!” ~ Varietats

“I love, love, love Ellison. Each time I get to read her latest adventure, I find myself adoring her more.” ~ Bibliophile Reviews

About the Author

Julie Mulhern is the USA Today bestselling author of The Country Club Murders. She is a Kansas City native who grew up on a steady diet of Agatha Christie. She spends her spare time whipping up gourmet meals for her family, working out at the gym, and finding new ways to keep her house spotlessly clean - and she's got an active imagination. Truth is - she's an expert at calling for take-out, she grumbles about walking the dog, and the dust bunnies under the bed have grown into dust lions.

Giveaway

Enter the giveaway for a chance to win a signed print copy of Shadow Dancing by Julie Mulhern (US only).

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Links

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