Friday, August 31, 2018

#Giveaway Musing Mediterranean by Beth Daigle


This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Beth Daigle will be awarding a $25 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.
A trip to the Mediterranean—who wouldn’t be thrilled? Beth Daigle should be doing back flips as she prepares to escape her humdrum suburban life, but travel anxiety gets the best of her. This is a trip of a lifetime, something to look forward to, yet Beth is dreading it.

The daughter of an Italian mother and Greek father, Beth has always dreamed of visiting Greece and Italy. Her Type A husband, Tony, revels in planning every detail of their two-week vacation. The plan expands to include not only Beth and Tony’s two tween daughters, but Beth’s parents, sister, brother-in-law, niece and nephew.

As her family’s excitement mounts, so does Beth’s trepidation. She experiences serious anxiety about the flight itself, plus spending two solid weeks with her extended family.

Despite her worries, Beth manages the eight-hour plane ride to Rome, and the adventure begins.

If you’ve never experienced the beauty of the Mediterranean, or even if you have, Musing Mediterranean will take you there through Beth’s eyes, page by page.

Read an Excerpt


ROME

Our first tour of Rome took us on a romp through the city on a guided golf cart tour. That’s right, I said golf cart.

At one point along the tour, I was positioned on the back seat of the cart facing oncoming traffic. This didn’t faze me, as I don’t experience motion sickness.
Hanging off the back of our cart, I held on for dear life as we attempted to keep pace with traffic and simultaneously not lose our caravan. It wasn’t until I was faced with one particularly anxious bus driver that I began to worry that we might not end our excursion with the same number of people as we began. As traffic slowed and my cart came to a near stop, the bus pulled up behind me so closely and so quickly I could’ve leaned over and kissed it.

As the bus approached, I didn’t know what else to do other than to squeal in horror and cover my eyes—I was sure I was about to meet my fate. It all happened so quickly that I froze, unable to think of a better way to save myself and others on board.

“What is going on back there—why are you screaming?” Tony shouted.

“I’m about to be flattened by a bus!”

When Tony looked back to see how close the bus really had come, all he could say was, “Holy crap!”

About the Author:
Beth Daigle is a lifelong New Englander residing north of Boston with her husband and daughters. Prior to settling into her role as a writer, Beth was a marketing professional whose favorite part of the job was writing. As a freelancer, Beth has enjoyed contributing to numerous lifestyle and home publications, yet she yearned for something more than a magazine article. Then along came Musing Mediterranean. Beth quickly became immersed in chronicling this travel event and articulating her perceptions of the places she visited, the people she met, the foods she enjoyed and the crazy moments she encountered. The idea that someone who may never travel to Greece, Italy or Turkey could appreciate this experience through Beth’s eyes became a driving force behind the story. Revealing her struggle with travel anxiety helped Beth move forward and embrace, once again, how very wonderful it is to travel the world.

“The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page.” St. Augustine.

Beth is a creative soul who finds joy in art, home design, gardening, reading, writing, a good laugh, and an even better television show.











#Giveaway The Protector by HelenKay Dimon


Today we have the release day blitz for The Protector by HelenKay Dimon! Check it out and get your copy today!

 

Title: The Protector:

Author: HelenKay Dimon

Genre Romantic Suspense



About The Protector:

Salvation, Pennsylvania. The commune located in the small town was advertised as a modern Utopia: a place to live, share, and learn with other like-minded young people. Cate Pendleton’s sister was one of them. Now she’s dead—and Cate won’t rest until she finds out who killed her. Stonewalled at every turn, she approaches a DC Fixer for help and ends up with Damon Knox, a mysterious man with a secretive past. But Cate soon discovers that she not only needs Damon, she wants him, which isn’t good—for the attraction brewing between them will only lead to complications that can turn into danger . . .



Damon has tried to erase the hellish memories and the evil that happened in Salvation ever since he left a long time ago. Still, he can’t turn his back on Cate. As Damon works with Cate to uncover her sister’s killer, he finds himself drawn to her more and more. But how will she feel about him when she learns about his connection to the place?



Joining forces to uncover the truth, they must stay one step ahead of a cunning killer who’s bent on not being exposed.


Get Your Copy Now:

The Protector:


Exclusive Excerpt:

Cate Pendleton dumped her grocery bags on the kitchen counter and glanced around the living room area of her small one-bedroom condo. Flattened pillows. Magazines spread across the coffee table. A blanket in a ball on the floor from where it slipped off her last night while she watched television. The remote stuffed between cushions.

Everything was exactly where she left it when she took off on her store run an hour ago. But something struck her as off. She felt it rather than saw it. A violation of her scared space. A lingering menace. The sensation of unknown hands skimming over her things. A shiver skated through her at the thought.

With her keys sticking between her fingers like a weapon, she walked around the condo, peeking in the closet and looking inside the bedroom. The journey ended back here she started. She approached the couch nice and slow. She listened for footsteps, but the only sound came from the hiss of her clunky, usually-malfunctioning icemaker.

She leaned toward the cushions, just a bit, and sniffed. There it was. Aftershave. Faint, but present. Since a man hadn’t been in the condo for weeks the smell was out of place. And this was not the first time this had happened. She came home two days ago to the same scent. A mix of musk and orange. The last time it happened in the evening. This time in the morning.

On that first day, she found her patio door unlocked. Living in a city, she didn’t take her personal safety for granted. Being two floors up, tucked behind rows of government buildings and a few blocks back from the National Air and Space Museum in downtown Washington, D.C., she kept her guard up. The neighborhood served as home to many congressional staffers. Traffic, both human and the car variety, moved in a steady beat. But she knew better than to assume everything was fine. She locked her doors. All of them and all the time, but someone got in.

A punch of awareness moved though her as she brushed her fingertips over the arm of the chair. The idea of someone snooping through her stuff, standing in her space, made her gag.  Last time nothing was stolen, so she skipped calling the police with that fear. Wrote the whole thing off as faulty memory. She knew something strange had happened, but she blocked it and pretended otherwise. But this was different. From the first whiff of that cologne, the trembling started deep down in her stomach, spun up to her head and would not stop.

She forced her mind to focus. Someone kept getting in without leave much of a trail. They didn’t stick around, and for that she was grateful. Nothing stolen. Not obviously, anyway.

Her sister. That’s what this had to be about. Cate thought back to the last six weeks and all the ground she’d covered. She poked around, asked uncomfortable questions and clearly upset someone. She got too close, which was exactly her plan. Maybe she uncovered some piece of information she hadn’t realized yet. But she would.

If someone broke in thinking they’d figure out her strategy or grab every lead she’d collected, they miscalculated. No way would she make it that easy for anyone to destroy her work or derail her.

After the first time this happened, she called the police but that led nowhere. A second call likely would end the same way. They would ignore her, write her off as the crazy one with the dead sister. Add to that her complaint wouldn’t pinpoint any clear evidence. This was about a sense of a presence, of being spooked, and she would become the new lunchtime story for the officers.

But she knew. He had been there. He or she. The person knew how to get in and was playing with her. The next time she might come home too soon.

Despite her worries and the downsides, she picked up the phone and dialed the one person who might be able to help her, the mysterious D.C. fixer. The guy no one ever saw who went by one name – Wren.




Catch Up On the Series!

The Fixer:


The Enforcer:


The Negotiator:


The Pretender:

About HelenKay Dimon:

HelenKay Dimon spent the years before becoming a romance author as a...divorce attorney. Not the usual transition, she knows. Good news is she now writes full time and is much happier. She has sold over forty novels and novellas to numerous publishers, including HarperCollins, Kensington, Harlequin, Penguin Random House, Riptide and Carina Press. Her nationally bestselling and award-winning books have been showcased in numerous venues and her books have twice been named "Red-Hot Reads" and excerpted in Cosmopolitan magazine. She is on the Board of Directors of the Romance Writers of America and teaches fiction writing at UC San Diego and MiraCosta College. You can learn more at her website: www.HelenKaydimon.com

Connect with HelenKay:

Enter HelenKay’s Giveaway:


Thursday, August 30, 2018

#Giveaway Counting on You by Laura Chapman


Counting on You banner



This is my stop during the book blitz for Counting on You by Laura Chapman. Read on for more information about of this book and there's an US only giveaway. This book blitz is organized by Lola's Blog Tours. The book blitz runs from 27 August till 2 September. See the tour schedule here.



Counting on YouCounting on You (Amarillo Sour #1)

By Laura Chapman

Genre: Romantic Comedy

Age category: Adult

Release Date: 28 August 2018

Blurb:

Is love worth the risk?



Math teacher Haleigh Parde has no desire to change her single status until she receives an invitation to her high school reunion. With her ex spreading rumors she needs a date and fast. Desperate times call for desperate measures and Haleigh finds herself meeting a blind date at a neighborhood bar called Amarillo Sour . . .



After watching Haleigh crash and burn, app developer Ian Henning makes her a proposition. If she'll provide honest feedback on his new dating app, he'll guarantee her a date to knock the socks off her former classmates. Even better, he—and the other Amarillo Sour regulars—will help her navigate the rocky road of dating.



Through setups ranging from awkward to absurd, Haleigh discovers her matchmaker might just be better than the matches. And Ian wonders if she's the answer to everything he's worked for professionally. Or is she something much, much more . . .

Excerpt:

She must be crazy. While she’d cut someone out of her life for calling her that, it was the only logical explanation Haleigh could come up with as she downloaded a beta copy of XO On Demand onto her phone.
Only the day before she’d been set up on her first blind date ever. Now, here she was, giving online dating a shot.
What a difference a day made.
She’d been completely serious about never considering online dating. She knew people who had tried it—and successfully. Not that she judged, but it seemed like such a direct and confrontational way to meet someone. By putting your profile out there, you were proclaiming to the world that you were on the prowl.
In another five minutes, she’d be one of those people. After she finished the setup and the survey Ian assured her would be fun, she’d have her first string of potential dates. Brought to her through the magic of technology.
All because she couldn’t stand the idea of her classmates judging her.
If she was one of her own students, she’d tell them it didn’t matter. That after high school, no one cared what people thought. And she’d be lying.
The download completed, and the app opened on her screen. She followed Ian’s directions to create her account. His play-by-play wasn’t entirely necessary. The directions were pretty self-explanatory, but he seemed eager to help. It eased her nerves. Some.
“This where it gets interesting.” Ian clicked a button, taking her to the next page. “Instead of having you answer fifty questions about who you are and what you want, we’ve created a quiz of sorts. Would you rather go camping or stay in a five-star hotel? Which breakfast looks most appetizing? What—”
“I’ve got it.” She flashed him a grin to soften her tone, but she needed to concentrate.
There were so many questions. None of them were too complicated or earth-shattering, but she had to choose correctly. Her future lineup of men depended on it.
Question One: Which of these dishes would you order right now?
She selected a basket of chicken strips with fries.
“That’s what I’d pick, too,” Ian said. “What do you use for dipping?”
“Honey mustard.”
“Barbecue.” He shook his head. “I knew there had to be something wrong with you.”
At least his teasing made this a little less nerve-racking. “You guys aren’t going to use these answers and sell my information to restaurants now, are you?”
“Of course not.” But he tapped his chin thoughtfully. “It isn’t a bad idea, though.”
Question Two: Where would you rather spend a Saturday afternoon?
She didn’t even have to consider this one. She picked “Binge-watching TV in my bed.”
“What’s your go-to show?”
“You heard that one last night,” she reminded him. “Doctor Who. But I’ve been known to do a Lord of the Rings or Star Wars marathon from time to time”
“Which episode is your favorite?”
“Five.” That’s what everyone always said. There was probably something about the bad knocking down the good at the end of the Empire Strikes Back that made a person seem deep. After Greg had explained that to her years ago, she’d made it her customary response.
Only when she was being totally honest, she’d admit she liked Return of the Jedi best. She loved those Ewoks.





You can find Counting on You on Goodreads



You can buy Counting on You here:

- Amazon

- Barnes & Noble

- Kobo

- Google Play

- iTunes



Laura ChapmanAbout the Author:

Laura Chapman is the author of sweet and sexy romantic comedies. A born and raised Nebraska girl, she loves watching football, traveling, crafting, and baking. When she isn’t writing her next story, she is probably working at a museum by day and binge-watching Netflix with her cats Jane and Bingley at night. So, basically, she’s living large.



You can find and contact Laura Chapman here:

- Website

- Facebook

- Twitter

- Goodreads

- Amazon

- Instagram

- Newsletter



Giveaway

There is a tour wide giveaway for the book blitz of Counting on You. One winner will win a Amarillo Sour Starter Kit, that includes two shot glasses, two coasters, a bottle opener and pens with the bar’s logo on them plus a $10 Amazon card. US Only.



For a chance to win, enter the rafflecopter below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway