Please help me welcome Lauren Linwood as we take a peek at her newest Western romance novel, Written in the Cards.
Blurb:

 Maggie Rutherford jilts her too-perfect society groom at the altar and flees New York for the American West, where she turns her travels into dime novels that she writes and illustrates under the pen name Lud Madison.

 After the Civil War, veteran Ben Morgan marries his childhood sweetheart and takes her to homestead on the Great Plains. Losing her and their unborn child in an Indian attack, Ben detaches from emotion and becomes a roaming gambler. When he kills a cheating opponent in self-defense, the man’s gunslinger brother swears revenge upon Ben.

 Ben hides on a cattle drive and brings in a herd to Abilene, where a waiting Maggie wants to find a rough and tumble cowboy to interview for her next story idea. Sparks fly as the dangerous drover and popular novelist wind up living in the same household, running a general store east of Abilene. But with Black Tex Lonnegan hot on his trail, will Ben run from his growing attraction to Maggie and the gunfighter’s promise of death–or will he make a stand for his life–and love? 

 Excerpt:

 Maggie squealed with delight. “I saw this contraption demonstrated when I was in Denver this past spring. The man’s fingers flew over . . . oh, what is it called? A keyboard, I think. He punched keys marked with letters of the alphabet, and they struck a piece of paper. The words formed along a line almost by magic. It was amazing!”

“Then let’s open the parcel and see it for ourselves.” Ben used his pocketknife to open the box. He extracted the typewriter, a small pamphlet that accompanied it, some black ribbons in cases, and a ream of paper.

“It’s heavy,” he told her. “It would be bulky for a woman to carry, much less travel with.”

She struck a pose with her good left arm, flexing a muscle. “I am stronger than I look, Mr. Morgan. I’ve had actual boxing lessons from an Irish brawler. I could probably take you on and knock you down before you knew what hit you.”

Ben’s lazy smile warmed her inside, all the way down to her toes. “You are a constant surprise to me, Maggie Rutherford.”

They unfolded the instructions, and she read them aloud while he affixed the ribbon in the prescribed manner. He then loaded the typewriter with a piece of white paper that sat upon a roll. They took turns striking the keys, marveling at the words that appeared upon the page. The pamphlet illustrated how certain fingers were designated to strike individual keys.

“Once the pattern is learned, this will be a remarkable way for me to write my novels. I’ll have to come up with stories at a faster rate, but that won’t be a problem at all. I have so many ideas that run through my brain now, I sometimes have trouble getting them all down on paper.”

“You can type out your ideas, Maggie, as well as your novels. That way you won’t lose any of them.”

She beamed at him, elated at the idea he proposed. She wished her wrist would be healed immediately. She couldn’t wait to teach her fingers to dance across the keyboard. Nothing would make her happier than quickly setting down all the storylines that skittered through her head. Nothing.

Until Ben leaned over and kissed her. 

Then her idea of happiness took a seismic shift.

                                              * * *

Author Bio:

Lauren Linwood became a teacher who wrote on the side to maintain her sanity in a sea of teenage hormones. Her romances use history as a backdrop to place her characters in extraordinary circumstances, where their intense desire and yearning for one another grow into the deep, tender, treasured gift of love.

Lauren, a native Texan, lives in a Dallas suburb with her family. An avid reader, moviegoer, and sports fan, she manages stress by alternating yoga with five mile walks. She is thinking about starting a support group for Pinterest and House Hunters addicts.

Social Media Links:

 Website   Facebook   Twitter   Blog   Amazon Author Page   Goodreads Author Page  About Me

 Book Buy Links:

Written in the Cards     Music For My Soul     Outlaw Muse     A Game of Chance

 

Please help me welcome Scottish Regency author, Collette Cameron.

Title: The Earl’s Enticement

Genre: Regency-Scottish

Heat Level: Sensual

Buy Link: http://amzn.com/B00KLO64

The Earl’s Enticement Cover Blurb:

She won’t be tamed.

A fiery, unconventional Scot, Adaira Ferguson wears breeches, swears, and has no more desire to marry than she does to follow society’s dictates of appropriate behavior. She trusts no man with the secret she desperately protects.

He can’t forget.

Haunted by his past, Roark, The Earl of Clarendon, rigidly adheres to propriety, holding himself and those around him to the highest standards, no matter the cost. Betrayed once, he’s guarded and leery of all women.

Mistaking Roark for a known spy, Adaira imprisons him. Infuriated, he vows vengeance. Realizing her error, she’s appalled and releases him, but he’s not satisfied with his freedom. Roark is determined to transform Adaira from an ill-mannered hoyden to a lady of refinement.

He succeeds only to discover, he preferred the free-spirited Scottish lass who first captured his heart.

Excerpt:

“Halloo,” he hollered. “Is anyone there? I’m the Earl of Clarendon. I’m being held prisoner.”

She shook her head, sending him a contemptuous scowl. “Stop shouting, you dolt. It’s but a weasel or a stoat, perhaps even a squirrel. They come in through the drains or gaps where a stone’s gone missing in the wall.”

She motioned with the pistol for him to move away from the door once more. “I’m surprised none have paid you a visit as yet. As for Ewan, he’s away in London, just now.”

With what could only be described as a derisive grunt, Marquardt obliged her and sauntered away from the door. He rested against the far wall, ankles crossed, crunching on the apple.

A muffled thud, as if someone had bumped into something, echoed through the lower chambers.

He perked up. “That was no pest.”

Adaira whirled to peer into the gloom.

“I say, can you hear me? I’m locked in a cell.”

She spun back around.                

He’d moved to the door, his hands fisted around the bars. Drat it. She was losing control of the situation. His presence mustn’t be known to anyone other than Brayan yet.

She bent to retrieve the sack. No doubt Brayan had come looking for her at one of her parents’ behest. Marquardt absolutely must not see him. Brayan would boast he’d helped lock the man up. From the sound of the crashing about, he’d sampled the flask a good deal more and was utterly bosky.

“Blast and da—” She stopped as Marquardt’s eyebrows flew to his hairline in obvious disapproval.

Lowering her voice, she hurried on. “Ewan’s expected back any day. When he returns, I’ll tell him I apprehended you. He can do with you what he wants. I’m quite sure it will involve the authorities.”

“Apprehended?” He shook his head. “You’re still sticking to the absurd notion that I’m Edgar?”

He tossed the apple core between the bars. It bounced before rolling to a stop barely three feet beyond her. A rat promptly appeared, scrambling to snatch the core in his pointed, yellow teeth. The little beast raced down the passageway with two other rodents squeaking their outrage in its wake.

Marquardt had done that on purpose, the lout. 

                                   * * *                                                

Connect with Collette:

Website     Blue Rose Romance Blog   Twitter   Facebook

 

Congratulations to T. Miles and Denise! Thanks for joining me at The Reading Cafe! I will be putting your prizes in the mail this week.

It’s fun to stretch outside the historical box, so today Brenda Stinnett joins us to talk about her new book, Tenth Degree of the Paranormal.

CMR: Good morning, Brenda!

Brenda: Thanks so much for having me today on your blog, Cathy. I'm so excited to be here.

CMR: Would you tell us a bit about your book?

Brenda: Tenth Degree of the Paranormal is a paranormal suspense with romantic elements. It’s a book that means a lot to me because I actually started it when my own daughter was twelve, which is the same age as the young girl in the book. It has morphed over time, with multi-layered themes, dealing with mother/daughter relationships, forgiveness, and the age-old battle of good against evil. I love when people read it and get what’s between the lines. It’s now out in both Kindle and hard copy!

CMR: That sounds intriguing! Let’s take a look at the cover blurb from Tenth Degree of the Paranormal

      We thought the Cold War was over, but apparently not for Barbara and Tiffany Stevens in Tenth Degree of the Paranormal, it could be a battle to the death.

      Whether a hunch, intuition, or something more sinister, Barbara knew she had no choice. Self-deception was no longer an option—comfortable but not an option. She knew each denial she’d ever made left a scar on her soul, each more painful than the last.

      An epic battle between good and evil pits a mother who struggles to deny her paranormal powers against a megalomaniac intent on world destruction.

      Barbara Stevens has always struggled with her inexplicable powers. Her unwillingness to acknowledge her pent-up abilities has not stopped her young daughter Tiffany from exercising her own powers.

      Recruited by a group intent on honing and harvesting these paranormal powers to create a super race, Barbara and Tiffany are soon kidnapped and held on an island off the coast of Russia.

      Suspicion soon grows that Tiffany may, in fact, manifest the ten highest paranormal abilities of astral projection, aura reading, bio-energy transference, levitation, past life regression, precognition, spontaneous healing, telekinesis, and telepathy.

      If proven true, Tiffany’s abilities will trigger an opening to the gates of hell. But can this descent into evil be stopped in time?
                                     * * *
CMR: And, of course, an excerpt:

The roar of surf pounded in Barbara’s ears, and the freezing salt spray stung her face. Rain poured down in solid sheets as she raced across the beach. Drenched, she felt a chill ice over her heart. A nameless evil lurked on the beach, insidious and powerful, and there was no doubt Tiffany was its prey.

Above her head, a thumping roar that sounded like a frightened heartbeat drowned out the surf. She paused in midflight to watch a helicopter appear out of nowhere. It seemed ready to crash on the beach. She held her breath until the rotors started up again, and sand blasted her face. The prop wash left her blinded by grit and rain.

The helicopter landed, and Barbara ran away from it. Lightning ripped the sky, while the thunder blended with the whirring of blades. She paused, trying to get her bearings.

Tiffany shouted, and Barbara looked around, praying she’d spot her daughter. They were angry. Were they mad because she’d used her powers? This crazy puzzle must fit together somehow.

She needed to think. Again, she heard Tiffany’s voice, but this time, her daughter cried out a clear warning. Before Barbara reacted, someone grabbed her, and she tumbled into the sand. Too late, she screamed.
                                     * * *
CMR: I’m so glad you were able to share your book with us today, Brenda. Is there anything you’d like to add?

Brenda: Tenth Degree of the Paranormal was truly a labor of love for me, so I certainly hope you enjoy it. The King’s Vampire is now in hardcopy as well at Amazon. Both books can be ordered from Barnes & Noble.

Thanks again so much for having me!
______________________________________________________________________

Brenda Stinnett

Facebook:   https://www.facebook.com/AuthorBrendaStinnett

Amazon:      http://amzn.to/1sBlyyu

Web Page:  http://brendastinnett.com

Twitter:       https://twitter.com/brendastinnett

2nd in the Regency Blooms Series

from Soul Mate Publishing

Heat Level: Sensual

 
A bit about the book –

Miss Tamsin Tisdale believes herself to be completely unsuitable for London life. After a myriad of social mishaps, and the potential ruination of her family name, she’s shipped away to her cousin’s northern estate. Only after she accepts the type of existence Society dictates she must follow will she be welcomed home.

Marcus Winston, the Duke of Grayson, has a lackluster reputation. The last in a dying line, he’s endured a protected life—rank with privilege, but encumbered by isolation. After a brief encounter with rebellion, he learns the devastating consequences of his carelessness and willingly accepts living life from inside his gilded cage.

However, a chance meeting with the brazen Miss Tisdale gives Marc the opportunity to reinvent himself into the man he’s always dreamed of being. But when his deception comes to light, and ghosts from both their pasts threaten to unravel the intimacy they’ve come to cherish, will either of them set their fears aside long enough to embrace love? Or will Miss Tisdale’s stubbornness divide them?

A little bit of the book -

Marc watched the faint outline come across the dense morning fog, becoming more discernible as it approached. The tall, thin figure was riding along at a perilous speed, given the morning’s lack of visibility. He thought perhaps it was some gangly young man misguided in the fog. It wouldn’t be the first time someone accidentally stumbled upon the vast property that made up his family’s immodest estate.

Then the fog parted in an almost biblical manner, revealing his gross inaccuracy.

Were those ... breasts?

Marc closed his eyes and thought for a moment. Typically, women didn’t ride alone at such an hour and they certainly didn’t wander unexpectedly across his property. It’d been quite a while, his last birthday to be exact, since his last intimate encounter with a woman—a gift, compliments of St. Regis—so there was always the possibility that perhaps his half-drunk, sex-starved mind had conjured up the sensual image.

He shook his head, opened his eyes, and looked back again toward the horizon.

Yes, those were most certainly breasts.

And she was most definitely not a young man. The woman’s riding habit pulled taut against her body as she raced toward him. Her hair was blowing behind her—various hues of auburn and gold, like wild flames curling about in the wind. Then a decidedly feminine voice burst through the morning’s silence, interrupting his self-doubt.

“Oh, thank goodness I found you!”

This was no mirage. She was indeed very real.

And very loud.
__________________________________________________________________________
A bit about the author –

Jessica Jefferson makes her home in northern Indiana, or as she likes to think of it—almost Chicago.  She is heavily inspired by classic sweeping, historical romance novel-but aims to take those key emotional elements and inject a fresh blend of quick dialogue and comedy.  She invites you to visit her at jessicajefferson.com and read more of her random romance musings.

http://www.JessicaJefferson.com

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