BLURB:  

Three high-spirited 17 year olds, with intelligent quotients in the genius range, accompany their teacher and mentor, Carolina Lovel, to Frascati, Italy, a few weeks before they are to graduate from Wood Rose Orphanage and Academy for Young Women. Carolina's purpose in planning the trip is to remove her gifted, creative students from the Wood Rose campus located in Raleigh, North Carolina, so they can't cause any more problems ("expressions of creativity") for the headmaster, faculty, and other students – which they do with regularity. Carolina also wants to visit the Villa Mondragone where the Voynich Manuscript, the most mysterious document in the world, was first discovered and search how it is related to a paper written in the same script she received on her 18th birthday when she was told that she was adopted – a search that will take them into the mystical world of gypsy tradition and magic, more exciting and dangerous than any of them could have imagined.





Barbara will be awarding a $25 Amazon or BN.com gift card to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour. Click on the book cover to see tour stops. You can enter at every stop, improving your chances.




EXCERPT
"Ouch!  You're standing on my fingers!"  This from the petite girl with a long, blond ponytail, wearing a nightgown, most of which was pulled up between her legs and tied into a knot at her waist to keep it from getting tangled on the limb where she was perched.   Somewhere above her the sound of a saw and splintering wood filled the darkness followed by a stream of profanity repeated in several foreign languages for emphasis.

"It doesn't look right.  It's supposed to have a rim and a dent."  Clinging to a 12-foot ladder as she pointed the flashlight first this way and then that, the heavy-set girl wearing a nightshirt buttoned at the neck offered this with a slight lisp.

The girl with the blond ponytail giggled.

"What do you mean--dent?!  Let me see that picture."  The tall black girl completely hidden aimed her flashlight toward the magazine that was being thrust upwards through the thick branches in her direction.

"And the top is supposed to be rounded--like a button mushroom," the girl in the nightshirt added, the word "mushroom" sounding more like "muthroom."

"That's because it's circumcised," supplied the girl with the ponytail, from which she removed a small twig and a handful of leaves.

"Shekoo, baboo!”  More profanity.  “Okay.  I know what to do."  The tall black girl disappeared back into the upper-most branches of the tall plant that was more tree than bush.  After several additional minutes, the sawing, crunching, and clipping sounds finally gave way to the more gentle sounds of tiny snips.  And then, silence.

"That's it; everybody down."

The petite girl, with the magazine that had been overlooked in the last confiscation and now wedged firmly under her armpit, started the perilous descent first since she was nearest to the ground, followed by the tall girl.  The girl in the nightshirt eased her way down the ladder juggling pruning shears, a hand saw, and scissors.  Once on the ground, the three girls stood back to admire their work.

"That is one honkin' Peni erecti," said the tall girl causing a fresh explosion of giggles.  "Let's get out of here."  After quickly rolling down the legs of her pajama bottoms, the tall girl grabbed one end of the ladder and, along with her two friends, lugged it and the other tools back to the shed that housed lawn maintenance equipment.  Task accomplished, they returned to their rooms, and to their individual beds, careful not to disturb the other dorm residents, the floor monitors, their suitemates and, most importantly, their slumbering dorm mother, Ms. Larkins.  Within minutes, they fell into a deep, peaceful sleep--the sleep of innocent angels.

It would soon be light; and Wood Rose Orphanage and Academy for Young Women would start another day.

AUTHOR INFORMATION:
 Originally from Carrollton, Illinois, Barbara Casey attended the University of North Carolina, North Carolina State University, and North Carolina Wesleyan College where she received a BA degree, summa cum laude, with a double major in English and history. In 1978 she left her position as Director of Public Relations and Vice President of Development at North Carolina Wesleyan College to write full time and develop her own manuscript evaluation and editorial service. Since that time her award-winning articles, short stories, and poetry for adults have appeared in several publications including the AMERICAN POETRY ANTHOLOGY, the SPARROWGRASS POETRY FORUM, THE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF POETRY (Editor’s Choice Award), the NORTH CAROLINA CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE MAGAZINE, THE NEW EAST MAGAZINE, the RALEIGH (NC) NEWS AND OBSERVER, the ROCKY MOUNT (NC) SUNDAY TELEGRAM, DOG FANCY, BYLINE, TRUE STORY and THE CHRISTIAN RECORD. A thirty-minute television special which Ms. Casey wrote and coordinated was broadcast on WRAL, Channel 5, in Raleigh, North Carolina. Ms. Casey's award-winning science fiction short stories for adults are featured in THE COSMIC UNICORN and CROSS TIME short story anthologies. Her essays, also written for adults, appear in THE CHRYSALIS READER, the international literary journal of the Swedenborg Foundation, and A CUP OF COMFORT ANTHOLOGY by the Adams Media Corporation.

Her two middle-grade/young adult novels, LEILANI ZAN and GRANDMA JOCK AND CHRISTABELLE (James C. Winston Publishing Co.) were nominated for awards of excellence by the SCBWI Golden Kite Award, the National Association of University Women Literary Award and the Sir Walter Raleigh Literary Award.  SHYLA'S INITIATIVE (Crossquarter Publishing Group, 2002), a contemporary adult novel of fiction, received the 2003 Independent Publisher Book Award and received special recognition for literary merit by the Palm Beach County Cultural Council. Ms. Casey’s novel THE COACH’S WIFE (ArcheBooks Publishing), a contemporary mystery, was listed as a Publisher’s Best Seller and was semifinalist of the Dana Award for Outstanding Novel. In 2007 her novel, THE HOUSE OF KANE (ArcheBooks Publishing), also a contemporary mystery, was considered for a Pulitzer nomination, and in December 2009 her novel, JUST LIKE FAMILY (Wandering Sage Publications), was launched by the 7-Eleven stores in St. Louis, Missouri. Her young adult novel, THE CADENCE OF GYPSIES (Gauthier Publications), was released in March 2011 and considered for the Smithsonian’s Most Notable 2011 Books.  It has also been selected by Amazon for its 2013 List of Best Books.  THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO PRISSY (Strategic Media Books), a novel for adults, was released in March 2013 and received an IPPY Award for Best Regional Fiction.  It has also been listed as a “2013 Best Summer Read” by Conversations Live Radio and has been placed in nomination for a Pulitzer Award.

Ms. Casey is a frequent guest speaker at writers’ conferences and universities throughout the United States. She is former director, guest author, and panelist of BookFest of the Palm Beaches, Florida; and for thirteen years she served as judge for the Pathfinder Literary Awards in Florida.  She held the position of Florida Regional Advisor for the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators from 1991 to 2003.

Ms. Casey is president of the Barbara Casey Agency. She represents clients nationally and internationally in fiction and nonfiction for adults. Her past and present professional associations are numerous and include being editorial consultant for The Jamaican Writers Circle in affiliation with the University of West Indies and Mico Teachers College in Kingston. She also received special recognition for her editorial work on the English translations of Albanian children’s stories.

LINKS
www.barbaracaseyagency.com

 http://www.amazon.com/The-Cadence-Gypsies-Barbara-Casey

BLURB:

Homeless Army veteran Sullivan Turner is nobody’s hero.  His failure to save his fallen comrades proved that.  So when a gutsy social worker gets caught in a drug gang’s crosshairs, he knows he’s the last man who can safeguard her and the pregnant teenagers she’s trying to protect. 

Former debutant Haley Barnes learned the hard way how to survive.  After witnessing a cold-blooded murder, the terrified teenaged runaway changed her identity and hid to save her life.  But when the killer tracks her down and attacks the girls in the homeless shelter she now runs, Haley knows the time has come to stand and fight.  But to bring down the powerful killer she must confront her high-society family’s darkest secrets -- and convince wounded warrior Sully Turner he’s the hero she believes.

 



~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Gail will be awarding a $25 Amazon gift certificate and either a signed print copy (US ONLY) or an electronic copy of Fatal Exposure (Buried Secrets book one) to one randomly drawn commenter during this tour and her other Super Book Blast on August 27th.

Excerpt :


“Are you all right?” the man asked.
        
His low, gravelly voice drew Haley’s attention, and she turned her head.  She met his grim, whiskey-hued eyes, and her belly made a little clutch, the reaction catching her unprepared.  Startled, she took in his dark, furrowed brows, the stark lines of his craggy face.  He had straight, collar-length hair dampened with sweat, a slightly off-center nose that hinted at less than a choirboy past.  A few days’ worth of razor stubble -- several shades darker than his hair -- covered his throat and jaw.

Her heart made another swerve.  He wasn’t exactly handsome.  But man, oh man, was he attractive.  Arresting.  Thoroughly masculine in a decidedly carnal way.  He looked like an old-fashioned gunslinger, like the loner who rode into town, risking his life to battle the bad guys and save the day.  A solitary man in need of comfort who left behind a trail of broken hearts as he rode away.

This was the homeless man, she realized with a start.  But he was nothing like she’d expected.  He was younger -- in his mid-thirties at most -- and far more virile.  He wore work boots and tattered jeans, a long sleeved T-shirt he’d pushed up to his elbows, exposing the tendons roping his arms.  His hands were big and lean.  He cradled the gun with lethal ease.

He was the most beautiful sight she’d ever seen.

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Gail Barrett is the award-winning author of thirteen romantic suspense novels.  A former RITA® and Daphne finalist, Gail has received the Book Buyer’s Best Award, the Holt Medallion, the Booksellers Best, The National Readers’ Choice Award, and numerous other awards.  She lives with her husband in Western Maryland.  For more information, visit her website: www.gailbarrett.com.

Buy Links:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Romantic-Suspense-Buried-Secrets-ebook/dp/B00BNRHMWI/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1375097894&sr=1-1&keywords=a+kiss+to+die+for

BN:  http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-kiss-to-die-for-gail-barrett/1114668433?ean=9780373278367

BLURB:

In the western-most crumbling halls of a mountain citadel lives a lonely wizard named Urien, a master of his art and a fledgling priest of a primordial goddess of transformation. Though his training is extensive, no training could prepare him for a broken heart. For years he has lived on the fringe after having loved and lost a powerful male wizard on the verge of ascension. But such wounds do not hide well. When he delves into the darker powers at the bidding of a shady priestess, Urien's heart reveals itself as a grim warning from the goddess herself, in the shape of a wolf.

In the wake of this unsettling experience, Urien discovers that his most gifted apprentice, a beautiful, wild-tempered woman—and the partner of his erstwhile lover—is in grave danger. A series of swift-moving mishaps including a second warning and a badly backfired protection spell lands Urien into a love triangle that exposes not only his deepest desires but also the black machinations of the priestess who deceived him. When she wields her full power against him, he must reconcile his heart in order to save his lovers and himself from isolation and death.

Water Dark is the creation of F.T. McKinstry and published by Wild Child Publishing. The book opens with a troubled wizard Urien contemplating his actions. Is he honoring the old ones with his actions as reacting to a form of action compulsion that propels him. He’s unsure as he hurries behind his teacher through the dark and gloomy forest.

This is not the life Urien pictures for himself, but a failed love affair has left him both bitter and despondent. Nothing much matters as it once did, turning his heart dark. He is a regular magickal Sam Spade in this dark fantasy world reminiscent of J.R. R. Tolkien’s Mordor from Lord of the Rings trilogy.

He finds himself working with his departed lover’s new squeeze, which is more than ironic. Urien finds himself torn between wanting Rosamond’s, his student and lover’s new darling, drowning as ordered by Wilima and rescuing the woman. Everything isn’t as it seems and Urien begins to question Wilima’s intentions.

This short novella is based on the world featured in The Chronicles of Ealiron series published by Double Dragon. While the tale does work on its own,  a thorough reading of The Chronicles would help understand the hierarchy, mythology and magick behind the tale. It would be like reading The Two Towers without ever reading The Hobbit. You could understand it, but a thorough reading of the backstory would make it a richer experience.

Water Dark is a tale that should delight both fantasy fans and devoted followers of F.T. McKinstry. It provides an unexpected conclusion keeping the novel rather cryptic and mysterious, which is how it should be.

F.T. McKinstry grew up studying music and classical literature, and at a young age acquired a deep love for fantasy and the esoteric, of which she was an avid reader. J.R.R. Tolkien was her most powerful influence. With a background in computer electronics and software development, she wrote and illustrated technical documentation for many years, during which time she created the fantasy world of Ealiron. A lifelong study of plant and animal lore, shamanism, psychology, mysticism and Northern European mythology and folklore provides inspiration and scope for her work. Her published work includes The Chronicles of Ealiron, Wizards, Woods and Gods: Tales of Integration, and Water Dark. Many of her short stories appear in Aoife's Kiss and Tales of the Talisman.

Links:
Website: http://ftmckinstry.com/

Blog: http://ftmckinstry.com/blog/

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5211061.F_T_McKinstry

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

BLURB:  
1871 . . . Worlds collide when American Suffragette, Gertrude Finch, and titled Brit Blake Sanders meet in an explosive encounter that may forever bind them together. Gertrude Finch escorts a young relative to London and encounters the stuffy Duke of Wexford at his worst. Cross the Ocean is the story of an undesired, yet undeniable attraction that takes Blake and Gertrude across an ocean and into each other’s arms.


Follow this tour by clicking on the cover. Find out more about Holly Bush and her wonderful tale and increase your chances of winning the $50 giftcard. Please retweet, share and like. :) Thanks.



Geraldine Finch has stopped in for a moment to talk to us. I am sure you'll be as impressed with Miss Finch as I am.

Interview with Miss Gertrude Finch (Our heroine of Cross the Ocean) by Miss Althea Benderway of the Ladies Order of the Knighted Sons of our Ancestors – June 21st, 1871

Miss Benderway: Miss Finch, tell our readers a little about the Suffrage movement you are involved with.

Miss Finch: I’d be happy to, Miss Benderway. I travel to small towns and to cities, too, with my sisters in the cause, Miss Esmerelda Bunchley and Miss Mary Alice Forsyth. We speak to women about getting the right to vote and ask them to join our cause.

Miss Benderway: Do you think there is any chance this right will be granted to women?

Miss Finch: The right to vote for women has been contested and defeated since our great nation was born. Of course, with the war over and Negro men granted the right to vote in ’68 with the addition of the 14th Amendment, women are back at the forefront of this conversation. We believe we are all citizens of these recently reunited United States and should enjoy all the rights that men do.

Miss Benderway: What do the men say when they hear you speak?

Miss Finch: Well, of course, they say that women are too simple-minded to vote for anything as important as the President of the United States and that if we are allowed to vote, there will be chaos, pandemonium and retribution from a vengeful God. And it’s not just here, mind you, Miss Benderway, the right to vote for women in England has not been passed yet by their Parliament.

Miss Benderway: I understand you recently traveled to England. Did you find men there to be as hardened to this reform as men in the States?

Miss Finch: Oh yes, Miss Benderway. I met a few and they can be as stubborn and entrenched in their beliefs as our own men, and even perhaps more!

Miss Benderway: Really?

Miss Finch: There was one man in particular, the Duke of Wexford, who was as dismissive of women and contrary as a man could be. His Duchess left him.

Miss Benderway: No! I’m flabbergasted, Miss Finch. And you were well-acquainted with this Duke?

Miss Finch: Yes, I am. He’s shockingly handsome, tall and well-muscled, and sure of himself, too, but as close-minded as one would expect from a man accustomed to privilege in all things. He kissed me as I swung from a tree house ladder, in full view of his son and daughter and other guests.

Miss Benderway: I . . . I hardly know what to say, Miss Finch.

Miss Finch: Neither did he when I punched him in the nose!

Excerpt:
Blake went to the stables, had his horse saddled, and rode to Anthony’s estate. Maybe Elizabeth will ask me to stay for dinner, he thought. Then she’ll go to bed, and Anthony and I can drink a bottle of brandy and get stewed. He could stay there if he couldn’t ride home. A room was kept ready for him with a fresh change of clothes. Blake smiled and felt better than he had in days.  

As the butler escorted Blake down the hall of Anthony’s home to the drawing room, he heard a loud but feminine . . . snort and Elizabeth’s trill laughter in reply. Damn. He remembered now. A cousin of Elizabeth’s from America, sent as an escort to another cousin, was staying with them. Anthony had described and dreaded the arrival of Cousin Gertrude with horror. A spinster remotely connected to Elizabeth’s father’s side, she was big, bold and here for a month. Her arrival had curtailed Anthony’s visits.

Blake stopped and hissed at the butler. “Think I’ve changed my mind, Jenkins. I don’t want to disturb their company.”

“Quite the coward are we, Your Grace? Leave your life-long friend alone with this Amazon from America.” Jenkins stared as he spoke. “In any case they saw you ride up the drive.”

Jenkins spoke his mind to all including Anthony and Elizabeth. There’d be no expecting servile behavior for him. “I’m sure you did not miss the opportunity to point out my arrival,” Blake said.

 “Of course not, Your Grace.” The butler opened the drawing room doors with a flourish. “The Duke of Wexford.”

“Blake,” Anthony said and jumped to pump Blake’s hand. “I am so very happy you are here.”

Blake watched the woman sitting beside Elizabeth stand, and walk across the room to him. She was every inch as tall as he, and Anthony made the introductions. She held out her hand. Blake grasped it and bent to place a kiss there and was surprised when she began to shake it, hitting him squarely in the nose. Blake covered his face with his hand.

“Oh, dear,” Miss Gertrude Finch exclaimed. She threw a look at her cousin Elizabeth. 

AUTHOR INFORMATION:
Holly Bush was born in western Pennsylvania to two avid readers. There was not a room in her home that did not hold a full bookcase. She worked in the hospitality industry, owning a restaurant for twenty years and recently worked as the sales and marketing director in the hospitality/tourism industry and is credited with building traffic to capacity for a local farm tour, bringing guests from twenty-two states, booked two years out.  Holly has been a marketing consultant to start-up businesses and has done public speaking on the subject.

Holly has been writing all of her life and is a voracious reader of a wide variety of fiction and non-fiction, particularly political and historical works. She has written four romance novels, all set in the U.S. West in the mid 1800’s. She frequently attends writing conferences, and has always been a member of a writer’s group.

Holly is a gardener, a news junkie, has been an active member of her local library board and loves to spend time near the ocean. She is the proud mother of two daughters and the wife of a man more than a few years her junior.
Twitter
@hollybushbooks

www.hollybushbooks.com

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Holly-Bush/247399131941435

BLURB:

What happens when negligent plastic surgeons receive a taste of their own medicine…?

Chicago investigative reporter, Eden Risk, receives an unmarked envelope containing a postcard ordering her to watch the enclosed DVD…or someone else dies. No Police. After Eden watches the DVD, a gruesome, horrifying surgery, she turns to the private criminal investigation agency, CORE, for help. Only she hadn’t expected that help to come with a catch. Her former lover, Hudson Patterson, has been assigned to the case.

Hudson would rather have another CORE agent handle the investigation. Two years ago, he’d screwed things up with Eden…bad. And as more DVDs arrive, Eden and Hudson find themselves not only knee-deep in a twisted investigation, but forced to deal with their past, and the love they’d tried to deny. 

REVIEW



Shadow of Perception by Kristine Mason is Book 2 in the CORE Shadow Trilogy. CORE is an elite group of agents that handles unusually dangerous and heinous crimes.  A Shadow of a Perception opens with a crazed father who has kidnapped the plastic surgeon he blames for his daughter’s death and videotapes a diabolical surgery on the man. Eden, an investigative journalist and heroine, receives the tape.

Eden can’t believe her eyes when she watches the first video or the note that instructs her to show the horrific sequence on the news or another person will die. Her first instinct is to call CORE who had handled similar incidents in the past. What she didn’t expect was to have Hudson Patterson play bodyguard. He’s convinced that the deviant killer behind the tape has his eye on Eden. It is difficult to be near Hudson after their affair ended so abruptly two years ago. She’s tried to put it behind her, but having the living, breathing Hudson beside her brings it all back.

Hudson would rather have anyone guard Eden than him, then again, not. After all, he’s the best and he wouldn’t want anything to happen to her. He’d never forgive himself. He had a job to do and he could do it. Before he knows it, he, Eden and the rest of CORE find themselves trying to outthink a driven madman anxious to exact revenge on those he blames for his beauty queen daughter’s death. As the tapes arrive, and the body count rises, Hudson and Eden rediscover what they threw away so cavalierly.

Shadow of Perception has some majorly creepy scenes with the killer. CORE characters especially work well together. Hudson and Eden are initially very prickly around one another making their eventual return to love all the sweeter. The author’s research into child beauty pageants, what happens to the participants and parents that live for the pageant crown adds to the fabric of the story.

 Shadow of Perception is a major thriller with super disturbing scenes. I am betting it will put a few thousand people off any planned plastic surgery. All the same, it is a fun read. Two thumbs up for this satisfying read. Suspense and thriller fans both should enjoy it.

Excerpt :

Heroine’s POV:

“Hey, Eden,” Hudson Patterson said as he shrugged out of his leather coat and pierced her with his steely blue gaze. “I see you got yourself into another mess.”

The room shrank and her sole focus remained on the one man who had stirred more emotions in her than all the other men before and after him combined. Two years ago, he’d lit a fire inside her, and within months, he’d smothered the flames with his arrogance and bullheaded attitude.

Based on the condescending remark he’d just made, she doubted his opinion of her had changed. His appearance had, though. Harder, darker, more dangerous. His brown, wavy hair now reached his shoulders and he needed a shave. Even without the worn, black leather jacket, which now hung on the coat rack, he looked thuggish in a tattered charcoal gray thermal shirt, low-riding jeans and black Doc Marten boots. The whole badass biker look shouldn’t have appealed to her, but Hudson owned it and wore it well.

She glanced at his mouth, then immediately regretted it. Lust slammed into her belly as wicked memories of what his firm lips had done to her surfaced. Those unwanted memories collided into a kaleidoscope of naked skin, harsh moans and multiple orgasms. Even now, she swore she could still feel his rough hands urging her hips, spreading her legs, gripping her bottom. Could imagine his mouth on hers, or better yet, between her thighs.

Hudson smiled. A smug, satisfying smile that snapped her out of her sexual spell and reminded her exactly why breaking things off with him had been the right decision. Her body might not have thought so at the time, and those urges to have him in her bed right now might still be strong, but her head knew better. Hudson was an arrogant jerk who exuded less emotion than she did.

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

I didn’t pick up my first romance novel until I was in my late twenties. Immediately hooked, I read a bazillion books before deciding to write one of my own. After the birth of my first son I needed something to keep my mind from turning to mush, and Sesame Street wasn’t cutting it. While that first book will never see the light of day, something good had come from writing it. I realized my passion, and had found a career that I love.

When I’m not writing contemporary romances and dark, romantic suspense novels (or reading them!) I’m chasing after my four kids and two neurotic dogs.

LINKS:

FACE BOOK: http://www.facebook.com/kristine.mason.1029

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/KristineMason7

WEBSITE: www.kristinemason.net

BLURB:

 

Neal Sinclair meets David Bankston in a college town bar. He’s tall, dark, and handsome, and wears a Stetson like nobody’s business.

When they dance, inner passion heats up while inhibitions melt away. Neal quickly discovers David’s not a Southerner at all. He’s a Boston architect, in Tuscaloosa for only one night. The next morning, they struggle to walk away from something that caught them both by surprise.

Time doesn’t diminish the ache they feel in each other’s absence. Unable to stay apart, David arranges to take Neal to watch her beloved Crimson Tide play in a football bowl game. Reunited, they’re determined to make it work. When separated, they perfect the art of open communication. They each know that true love is a long shot.

But distance isn’t the only thing standing in their way. Unbeknownst to her, Neal’s overprotective father is, too. With so much conspiring against them, can a natural disaster turn the odds in their favor?


Joan will be awarding a $25 Amazon gift card to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour. Follow the tour and increase you chances of winning. Click on the cover to follow the tour.


Excerpt 

“What’s this?” she asked curiously.

“Do you do tequila shots?”

“Never have before.”

“Then you’re in for a treat. This is a slightly different recipe from the traditional salt and lime. I think you’ll like it.”

“How do you do it?” She looked at the three separate ingredients and wondered if there was a method to the madness.

“I’ll show you how I’m going to do it. May I have your hand, please?”

He held his palm out and she placed her hand in it. He turned it over, so the underside was exposed, and then he kissed it open mouthed. Neal watched him run his tongue over her skin, making it glisten with saliva. Then he sprinkled a generous amount of cinnamon over the slick spot. He picked up the whiskey and held it in one hand then dipped his mouth to suck her wrist. She felt him lick softly over her skin, and the fire started to burn inside her. He sat up and raised an eyebrow at her as he quickly consumed the liquid and then he sucked on the wedge to drain the juice out of the citrusy pulp.

“Damn, that’s hot.” She could already feel the rush of moisture to her sexual center, and crossed her legs.

David’s expression was lustful as the rush of alcohol began to take effect. “Your turn.”

He reached for her wrist, but she quickly jerked it back from him.

“No way, Cowboy,” she admonished him. “I’m doing it like you showed me.”

She reached out for his hand. When he extended it to her, she pushed up his sweater, then unbuttoned his shirt sleeve and rolled it up to get it out of the way. She kissed his wrist just below his thumb, and then took her own slow, sweet time to suck it until it was thoroughly wet before applying the aromatic spice. Neal licked the cinnamon, threw back the tequila, and bit the orange wedge that he held out to her. As soon as she swallowed, he covered her mouth with his and plundered it with his tongue.



AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Joan Chandler is a Florida native who has lived in the Deep South all of her life. She is married with two children who are her pride and joy. She lives a double life of sorts, holding down a nine-to-five job during the day, and writing steamy romance at night—often with her black cat curled up in her arms as she types.

When she’s not spending her spare time working on her next novel, she loves to go camping, sharing girls’ night out with her friends, walking her two dogs, and watching college football.

BUY Links:

AMAZON:   http://www.amazon.com/Bride-BookStrand-Publishing-Romance-ebook/dp/B00CT35YFW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1369583017&sr=8-1&keywords=bama+bride

BOOKSTRAND PUBLISHING:    http://www.bookstrand.com/bama-bride

BLOG:  www.joanchandler.wordpress.com

twitter account:   @joanchandler1

Find me on facebook:  Joan Chandler

email:  joanchandler13@gmail.com