"Year of Living Blonde" by Andrea Simonne

EXCERPT and GIVEAWAY

Year of Living Blonde
(Sweet Life in Seattle Book 1)

by Andrea Simonne

Year of Living Blonde, the first book in Andrea Simonne's new Sweet Life in Seattle series, has just been released and is ON SALE for $0.99 (save $3.00) for a limited time. This book blast and giveaway is brought to you by Goddess Fish Promotions. Please be sure to visit the other participating blogs as well.

Description

A funny and sizzling romp about discovering your inner pin-up girl ...

Plain-Jane bakery owner Natalie Anderson has always followed the recipe for a safe life. When her husband dumps her for a seductive older woman, it’s time to throw out that recipe and start from scratch. She cooks up a plan to transform herself from mousy brown to sexy blonde. Meanwhile, she’s trying to expand her Seattle bakery, La Dolce Vita, but runs into an obstacle in the form of her irritatingly handsome landlord.

Astronomer Anthony Novello’s good looks and charm usually guarantees him a free pass with women, though that’s not the case with his new tenant, Natalie. Plain, plump, and persnickety - he’s never met a woman more annoying. But when Anthony returns from a telescope observing run, he makes a discovery of the non-celestial kind. Natalie has changed. He’s amazed to find himself attracted to her. Sparks fly as he tries to convince her there’s more to him than meets the eye.

However, when Natalie’s ex-husband decides to win her back, she’s forced to choose. Is her year of living blonde over? Or is this the start of a new and much sweeter life ...

Excerpt

Natalie grins. “And what is this I hear about my cookies in Hawaii?”

Anthony rolls his eyes in mock exasperation. “All right, I admit it. I took a dozen with to Mauna Kea.”

“I’m honored.”

“You should be. It was right after you called me an asshole and I didn’t want go back into the bakery, so I had to ask Maya to buy them for me.”

Natalie shifts uncomfortably. “I apologized for that. Should I apologize again?”

“It can’t hurt.”

“I’m sorry.”

He doesn’t say anything, just puts new coordinates into his telescope’s keypad.

“Can I ask you something?” she asks.

“Sure.”

She bites her lip. “Why do you like me?”

Anthony continues what he’s doing, a smile playing around the edges of his mouth. “What makes you think I like you?”

“Because you invited me here tonight. What is it you see in me, exactly?”

“I don’t know.” He attaches the keypad back to the telescope. “In truth, I’ve wondered about it myself.”

“What kind of answer is that?”

Anthony chuckles. “I’m just being honest. You’re not exactly easy to get along with.”

“I’m not sure why I’m always giving you such a hard time.”

“I am.”

“Why is that?”

“It’s because you’re into me.”

Natalie’s face grows warm. “No, I’m not.”

His hand is still on the telescope. He gazes over at her. “Yeah, you are.”

“I’m not.”

Anthony lets go and moves closer. She can smell him again, his woodsy soap. He’s taller than her and she has to look up at him.

“I’m not into you,” she insists, though her pulse quickens.

Their eyes meet. He’s so near now, she can see the dark fringe of his lashes. The stubble of his beard. She shivers with anticipation.

“Yeah, you are, but it’s okay,” he says softly, leaning close, “because I’m into you, too.”

And then he kisses her. Natalie is dizzy with shock.

Anthony is kissing me!

Praise for the Book

"This was my first book by this author. I read it as a beta read for hot tree editing and I was so shocked at how much I loved it. I've been waiting for someone to tell an amazing story and it was. From beginning to end I was laughing and crying. She turned my worst nightmare around and I loved every minute of it. I couldn't put it down. I suggest this book to anyone who loves a good story. I can't wait to read her other books." ~ Jessica on Goodreads

About the Author

Andrea Simonne grew up as an army brat and discovered she had a talent for creating personas at each new school. The most memorable was a surfer chick named "Ace" who never touched a surf board in her life, but had an impressive collection of puka shell necklaces. Eventually she turned her imagination towards writing. Andrea still enjoys creating personas, though these days they occupy her books. She currently makes her home in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and two sons.

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"Enchanter's Echo" by Anise Rae

EXCERPT and GIVEAWAY

Enchanter's Echo
(Mayflower Mages Book 2)

by Anise Rae

Enchanter's Echo is the second book in Anise Rae's Mayflower Mages series. Also available: Syphon's Song (read my blog post).

Enchanter's Echo is currently on tour with Bewitching 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

Aurora Firenze lives a quiet life hiding in a junkyard. Her repair shop is the last hope for gadgets and gizmos before they get tossed onto the trash towers. Fortunately, Aurora can fix almost anything, including mages, though repairing people with metal enchantments is highly illegal.

Edmund Rallis, heir to the Rallis senate seat, has spent months hunting down his errant enchantress. He’ll play every game he knows to win her back and entice her to share the secrets she hides. But he’s inadvertently put her on the frontlines of a new game, one with an opponent who’s determined to destroy Rallis Territory and drive the Republic toward war. If the new enemy isn’t stopped in time, Edmund will lose his enchantress again - and this time there won’t be another chance.

Excerpt

The keep-out spell awoke at her approach. The enchanted mesh of vines and branches that blocked the entrance to Rallis Territory’s forbidden forest vibrated in welcome as its creator returned. Aurora Firenze cast her vibes along the perimeter of her spell, testing and prodding. Its strength resonated back. It was as strong as it had been six months ago when she’d created it and hid her secrets within the forest’s depths. She let go of a relieved breath, but it didn’t cure her tension.

Her nerves were strung tight, as if she’d spent hours placating customers in her repair shop. But the day had been quiet. She’d even made decent progress—fixing a curling iron with a too-hot heating spell and a stapler that had a bad habit of chasing the boss around the conference table. Yet a restlessness itched at her skin with an unpleasant persistence. She’d closed up early and headed out for the short walk to the forest. Within its heart, she’d find the peace to wash away this unease.

She sent another stream of vibes into the keep-out spell. A discreet doorway formed. With a quick glance around the barren field and the junkyard behind her, she stepped beneath her illegal spell.

As she brushed against the branches, a faint thump sounded at her feet—the soft crash of a pinecone or a weak branch falling to the ground. A normal forest noise. She flinched anyway. Her glitter puffed around her in an anxious cloud as her mage energy escaped her control. It was the fifth time today. Enchantresses did not make good criminals. She should probably let the other three in existence know, in case they were considering lives of crime. Those blasted sparkly clouds would blow their covers wide open.

She lifted her foot to continue into the small forest that was tucked inside the territory’s capital city, but stopped. A proper lawbreaker should investigate mysterious noises outside her lair. She turned and scanned the ground for the culprit. A gold coin glinted in the crisp weeds. That wasn’t normal. She reached to pick it up, scanning the field and the junkyard beyond with a twitchy gaze. Empty. She was alone.

Behind her, the forest shuttered closed, nearly catching her in its fortress wall. She jumped forward with a surprised lurch at the swat of vines and twigs. A basic rule of illegal enchantments: get out of the way or risk being incorporated into the spell.

Ignoring the sting of the swat, she stared at the coin. It was tarnished at the edges, a used-up charm. See-me-not was embossed on its golden surface. She jerked her head up. A man stood ten paces away. He was tall, broad...beyond familiar.

“Edmund,” she whispered. A shiver tiptoed across her shoulders like kisses, soft lips that hid a sharp bite. Her nerves stretched thinner yet, trapped in a battle between memories of lovers’ frolics and the promise of a dark fate that had just materialized from thin air.

Behind her, the forest’s trees rustled with the wind, a warning to retreat, one she dare not heed. Not until she knew why he’d finally come searching for her. She hadn’t thought he’d ever come back.

He prowled forward. “Hello, princess.” Though his words might have held some affection, nothing of the lover she’d once known appeared in his countenance. He lifted his left hand to reveal a glowing ball of mage vibes in his palm. His blue eyes reflected the tiny flashes of energy, and his power snapped in the air like a miniature electrical storm. The heir to the most powerful territory in the Republic had quite a steam of anger built up.

Dark hair waved across his forehead, and little curls peeked out at the edges of his neck. Though the wind buffeted and pushed at Aurora, winter’s boldness didn’t dare touch Edmund, not his hair, nor his dark gray suit or scarlet tie.

The hard slope of his nose matched the sharp lines of his jaw and cheekbones. When he smiled, he was deadly handsome. At the moment, he was simply deadly.

“Aurora.” He cast her name through the air and a piece of her soul tumbled away, as if it might dash toward him and cling like a forlorn, discarded lover. But he hadn’t discarded her....

“You stand accused of melding earthen metals to human flesh with an enchantment.”

Her heart thumped once, hard and loud, and then took off with a sprint, drenching her veins from head to toe with lightning sharp fright.

Goddess, he’d found out. How?

Even as she thought it, he revealed the answer. The glow faded from his ball of energy to reveal a small metal sphere. Her racing heart shriveled at the sight, pulling the rest of her organs with it, as if they thought to hide, seeking a chance to slip past this disaster unnoticed and, perhaps, survive. She shifted her feet on the ground, unable to resist the fear pumping through her core. Run, her gut whispered. She couldn’t afford to listen... not with the evidence sitting in his hand.

The sphere was heavier than it looked. She knew that. After all, she’d made it...and thought it long gone. He closed his fingers around it, capturing her fate within his fist.

“How’d you get that?” Her fast words shot out, hustling forward before fear, creeping up her legs with tingles and pricks, stole her voice.

“You ought to be down on your knees thanking me for confiscating it.” His voice was sharp and cutting. He sounded like a stranger, his jokes and teasing wit long gone.

“What did you do? Sneak into the junkyard and pluck his eye from his skull? Has it been hiding under your pillow for six months?” Not at all where she’d thought it was. Betrayal jolted through her. “Hardly actions befitting the heir of the mighty Rallis realm.” Her voice wavered.

“You have no idea what I’ve done.”

Praise for the Book

"I had read the first book in this series and had pre-ordered this a few months ago so I was happy to see it had arrived! This book follows Aurora, a character from the first book in the series. I do recommend reading them in order to best appreciate it. This isn't my typical genre, but I really liked the first one and this one is just as good! An easy, creative read - will order the next one when it comes out!" ~ Julie

"Wholly engaging with plenty of imaginative elements put together in new and different ways, with a romance that is wonderfully built and not overly angsty despite the characters being more different than alike at first, I couldn’t stop reading and now have to get the first in this series." ~ Gaele

"Fantastic follow up to Syphon's Song. I was fascinated with Edmund and couldn't wait to find out his story. We get more information on this intriguing world of mages. Looking forward to book 3!" ~ Amazon Customer

"Rae handles all these plot twists with ease and a subtle sense of humor. The tension between Edmund and Aurora adds to the fun, and a twist at the end reveals a villain I never saw coming. Combine all this with a fairy-tale atmosphere and you have an enchanted adventure that’ll leave you itching to read more of the Mayflower Mages series." ~ Erin Fanning

About the Author

Anise Rae has been reading romance novels since she first discovered her grandmother’s stash of books hidden away in a cabinet. Learning that she wasn’t the only one dreaming about love and magic was a turning point in her life. She started her own stash of books and wrote a few too.

A native of Ohio, Anise long ago moved south, armed with boxes of romance novels and degrees in chemistry and library science. Creating chemistry on the page between two lovers proved to be a lot more fun than working with test tubes in a lab or searching patent databases. She refocused on writing.

Her stories revolve around heroines who dare to stand up to society’s expectations and be true to themselves and heroes with plenty of savvy to fall in love with such brave women.

Anise lives in Atlanta with her two children and a fluffy dog that has an amazing ability to find dirty socks.

Giveaway

Enter the tour-wide giveaway for a chance to win a $25 Amazon gift card (international) or a paperback set of Syphon's Song and Enchanter's Echo (US only).

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"Lighter" by Gia Riley

EXCERPT and GIVEAWAY

Lighter
(Begin Again Book 1)

by Gia Riley

Lighter, the first book in Gia Riley's new Begin Again series, has just been released. This book blitz and giveaway is brought to you by Xpresso Book Tours.

Description

What do you do when you can't save the one you love?

Sophie can’t survive without control. Growing up with an alcoholic father, she craves the discipline of gymnastics. Feeling lost on a brand new college campus, she lets loose for the first time in her life. But with freedom comes consequences. Is one night everything she hopes? Or will she become her own worst nightmare?

Kipton's one year away from graduation. He's never thought beyond a one night stand until meeting his sister’s new roommate. Finally setting his sights on the girl he can't resist, he's more determined than ever when she won't give in to his persuasions. He's always gotten the girl, and he's not about to give up without a fight.

Will Sophie be able to salvage her dreams and wage a war against her own vices? Can she finally let love in? Or will history repeat itself causing her to self-destruct?

Lighter isn't your typical college romance. Darkness suffocates, dreams are dashed, and battles are lost. Love takes on a whole new meaning.

Excerpt

Prologue

Two Years Ago

“Sophie, wait! I’m sorry. I’m just worried about you,” Megan yells from the double doors leading from the locker room into the hallway.

She saw the bruises on my body.

I knew better than to change in front of everyone after gym class, yet I did it anyway because I was running late to meet my boyfriend. Blaine doesn’t like it when I keep him waiting. Tossing my book bag over my shoulder, I round the corner and smack right into him – and he doesn’t look happy.

“What did you say to her?” He questions with a deadly stare.

“Nothing. I didn’t say a word.” I didn’t but I still avert my eyes, choosing to stare at the tile on the floor instead of him. Without warning, he grabs my arm and pulls me into the bathroom. It’s empty.

“Please, Blaine.” I’m begging him to stop. He hears me, but he doesn’t listen.

“I told you what I would do, didn’t I?”

I swallow, my hands shaking. “Yes.”

He pins my arms against the wall, hovering over me. “And yet you still couldn’t keep your damn mouth shut.”

I try to yank my arms from his grasp, but his grip is too tight. His fingertips dig painfully into my arms, his nails breaking through the skin. “I swear I didn’t tell her anything.”

He inches closer to my face, the warmth of his breath hits my cheek. “Don’t fucking lie to me, Sophie. What happened the last time you lied to me?”

“I’m not lying. Please, Blaine. I wouldn’t.”

“What happened, Sophie?”

He’s going to make me say it – as if I’d ever need a reminder. It’s impossible to forget. “You had to teach me a lesson.”

“But you never learn. No matter how hard I try to protect you.”

“I’m sorry,” I plead. Regardless of the fact that I’m innocent, he morphs my apology into an admission of guilt.

“Damn right you are,” he spits through gritted teeth. His calmness now completely gone and replaced with anger. “Don’t you ever lie to me again, you hear me?”

“Yes,” I whisper.

He grabs my chin, roughly scraping his calloused thumb over my lips. His dilated pupils pierce straight through me sending chills down my spine. “Tell me you love me.” My words get lodged in my throat and I make the mistake of pausing a second too long. “Say it!” he warns as his fist pounds against the wall next to my head.

“I love you, Blaine.” And maybe there was a time I actually did. He wasn’t always like this, but neither was I. If I could go back in time, I’d tell him no. I’d push him away from me and keep my distance. But I’m just like my mother - unable to get away and desperate enough to stay. “Please let go of me. You’re hurting me.”

Finally he releases me, replacing his harsh words with sweet promises – his rough touches with gentle caresses. With a flip of a switch, he’s back to the Blaine I fell for, masking any signs of the evil he’s become.

“You make me so crazy, Sophie.” He runs his fingers through my long blond hair, leaving a trail of light kisses on my neck. “I only get mad because I love you so much.”

“I know.” Painfully well. My scattered bruises a daily reminder of his temper.

His hand falls from my hair as he latches onto my hip, pulling me flush against his body. “Baby, I need you. You’re everything to me.”

Everything I don’t want to be. Not anymore.

Beneath the surface, I’m scarred and broken; a much darker version of the girl I once was. There was a time I believed I was worthy of true love. But now, living in a hell littered with reminders of broken promises, I know what we have is anything but love.

It’s in this moment that I know I’m not strong enough to fight another day unless I get away from him. But I don’t know how. I need a plan – something to get me away from this town and its memories.

Closing my eyes, I say a silent prayer that my luck will change – that someone will save me from the hell my life has become.

Praise for the Book

"This story was beautifully written and it will touch your heart in many different places. Although it is heartbreaking at times it is also an amazing story about the power of love and how it can heal. Lighter will having you wanting to reach in it and hug the characters. It will having you feeling so much sympathy for them and you will think how much more can one person take but then it will start to mend your heart and put it back together and when this happens it is truly a beautiful feeling." ~ Read and Share Book Reviews

"You will enjoy this love story. It will make you laugh, tear up, love and swoon. You may want to kick some butt too lol. Highly recommend this read and cannot wait to see what Gia has up her sleeve next!!" ~ Jilly

"Gia Riley's work just keeps getting better and better. While there is a lot of heavy and dark material covered in this book there is also a lightness and gentleness. The intense situations were handled with the delicacy they so desperately needed. I will say that I did want a little more of Sophie's struggle (as if she didn't struggle enough) to pull herself from the bottom of the pit. Lighter was heartbreakingly beautiful. It touched me in a way I didn't expect and is a tale that will stick with me for quite some time." ~ ANJasper

"I was totally sucked into this book right from the start! This story tugged at my heartstrings dealing with a tough matter, that happens to be a personal thing for me, but Gia did an amazing job with bringing light and compassion to a very sensitive topic. I loved the character Sophie I could absolutely relate to in some ways and Kipton, my word, everyone should have a Kipton in their life. This is a story about love and being able to come out of the dark and actually see the light and there really is true love and happiness that everyone deserves. I would absolutely recommend this book to everyone. Gia blew me away with this story and I am dying for more!" ~ Kelly Sugar Shack Book Blog

About the Author

Gia Riley is a lover of all things romance and a firm believer that everyone deserves a happily ever after. She resides in the small but mighty state of Delaware with her husband and son. Mother and wife by day, writer by night - she's a girl with a dream to write.

When she's not busy writing, she can be found roaming the isles of Kirkland's or up to her elbows in Play-doh.

"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." ~ Maya Angelou

Giveaway

Enter the blitz-wide giveaway for a chance to win some great prizes (open internationally).

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