We’re staying in Great Britain today and bringing you…
D is for Def Leppard
All posts by Melanie
C is for Cream ~ #AtoZChallenge
C is for Cream
(and not what you put in your coffee) but the 60s rock band from Great Britain. Did you know Eric Clapton was a member of the group?
B is for (the) B52s ~ #AtoZChallenge
A is for ABBA ~ #AtoZChallenge
2017 Theme Reveal ~ #AtoZChallenge
2017 Theme Reveal
#AtoZChallenge
Once again, I’m participating in the annual blogging from #AtoZ Challenge. The first year, 2014, I went with random subjects. Much easier when you have to have a post for every letter of the alphabet.
In 2015, I did animals. And yes, there are animals with names beginning with the letter X.
Last year it was book/story titles.
This year, drum roll, please…
I’m tackling rock group/solo artists. I hope you’ll stop by during the month of April and see if any of your favourites are included.
Here’s the schedule (you really don’t think I’m giving away my choices, now do you?):
Apr 1st – A
Apr 3rd – B
Apr 4th – C
Apr 5th – D
Apr 6th – E
Apr 7th – F
Apr 8th – G
Apr 10th – H
Apr 11th – I
Apr 12th – J
Apr 13th – K
Apr 14th – L
Apr 15th – M
Apr 17th – N
Apr 18th – O
Apr 19th – P
Apr 20th – Q
Apr 21st – R
Apr 22nd – S
Apr 24th – T
Apr 25th – U
Apr 26th – V
Apr 27th – W
Apr 28th – X
Apr 29th – Y
And the lone Sunday in the month…
Apr 30th – Z
A BED OF BRAMBLES by Sam Russell #Contemporary #Romance #Giveaway
A Bed of Brambles
by
Sam Russell
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Draymere Hall #2
Release Date: 11th March 2017
Hettie and Alexander are back, and this was never going to be a conventional love story. No bed of roses. Proud, passionate and wilful, they are alike in so many ways. That has to be a good thing doesn’t it? Or it could be a disaster…both carry scars, and old wounds have a habit of causing new hurt.
Physical attraction draws them together but hearts and minds can be thorny. One thing is certain, together or apart their lives will move on. Alexander and Hettie’s clashes of spirit will only be part of the story.
Second chances. New beginnings. The opportunity to make things right. Or to make the same mistakes all over again. Unless fate takes the future out of your hands…
Praise for Sam Russell
‘Russell delves into her characters’ minds exposing their innermost thoughts, fears, and desires’
‘The author’s ability to flesh out a character into a believable human being is what sets a great book above the rest’
‘Sam Russell’s beautiful writing draws you right into Draymere alongside Hettie, Alexander the horses and dogs, and keeps you there’
EXCERPT
Her sharp green eyes slipped over him as she scanned the arrivals hall. He noticed the dusting of sun-freckles across her cheeks and his heart clenched as he waited. He needed to read her face, to believe she was back for good. Her gaze swept around again, and this time their eyes connected. For a suspended moment it felt as if his heart stopped beating, and the pit of his stomach fell.
Then she grinned at him.
The suitcase swung into her legs at her sudden change of direction. He waved, and she abandoned the case and ran at him. He lifted her off the ground and pressed his eyes shut, not trusting himself to speak. He felt her breath warm on his neck.
BUY LINKS
ABOUT SAM RUSSELL
Sam Russell was born in London, but it was her family’s move to the countryside which ignited her passion for writing and love of the rural life. She worked as a groom and trained as a riding instructor, teaching in the UK and abroad before returning home and marrying a farmer.
Sam ran a livery stables from the farm whilst raising their three children. Her writing, which was a hobby while the children were young, took off when they flew the nest. She was encouraged to write and publish her debut novel, A Bed of Barley Straw. Her latest book, A Bed of Brambles, is the second novel in the Draymere Hall Series.
When she’s not writing, Sam will be out and about on the farm with the animals and the dogs. You can read more of her story on her Rustic Romance blog.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SamRussellAuthor/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SamRussellBooks
Goodreads Author Page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13571859.Sam_Russell
Blog: https://russellromance.com/blog/
Website: https://russellromance.com/about/
GIVEAWAY
A signed paperback copy of the book (UK only)
My Future Stepbrother by Tina Gayle #EggcerptExchange
My Future Stepbrother
by
Tina Gayle
Blurb for My Future Step Brother
Lyndsey Turner only wants to have fun. She doesn’t care if her dad marries Travis Clark’s mother. Travis is super-hot and sets her body on fire every time he steps near her.
Travis has other ideas. He understands Lyndsey’s wild streak and wants her attention on him. All seems to be working according to his plan until his mother discovers she may have breast cancer.
Now, Travis wants to solidify his relationship with Lyndsey and start planning for their future.
Will Lyndsey commit to be his alone or does he have to play the dating game a while longer?
If you love romance, don’t miss this short story from the popular Executive Wives Club series
Excerpt:
“So what do you plan to say to my dad tomorrow night?” Lyndsey interrupted the on-screen monolog, hoping to find out why he’d insisted on having dinner with her father. Their families had been acquainted for years. Travis’ dad had been an executive at her father’s company, Mama Turner’s Logistics until Jack Clark and several other executives had died in a car wreck.
With the death of Lyndsey’s mother, her father had turned to Marianne Clark for support. The two of them had grieved together. Now, they were dating and the entire executives wives’ club had a stake in their affair, seeing as all of them had remarried except Marianne.
Travis toyed with her hair, his fingers lightly tugging on the strands. “Not sure, I’m hoping if he sees us together he’ll begin to accept us as a couple.”
Unhappy with how the evening was progressing, Lyndsey drew her sweatshirt further down over her jeans. Tonight, they had agreed to have an in-house date with items picked up from the supermarket’s deli and a rented DVD. She’d hoped with no interruptions that they might move their relationship into a more intimate arena. “He’s seen us together at Brie’s and Jason’s, and Sylvia’s party to celebrate her marriage to Vince. Why will this time be any different?”
Pick up Free at https://www.instafreebie.com/free/EwL6x
Other books in the series
Marketing Exec’s Widow
IT Exec’s Baby
CFO’s Affair
CEO’s Widow
Read 1st Chapter at www.tinagayle.com
Tina Gayle’s Bio
Her first romantic novel published in 2008, Tina Gayle has written over thirty romantic books under two different pseudonyms. Her novels span several different genres from contemporary to fantasy and sweet to erotic. She enjoys the challenge of drawing a reader into a story and having them travel down the same road as her hero and heroine. Married thirty years, she enjoys spending time with her husband on the golf course. Find out more about Tina on her website www.tinagayle.com
Twitter – https://twitter.com/#!/AuthorTinaGayle
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/pages/Author-Tina-Gayle/214633841921560?ref=hl
Amazon Author Page http://www.amazon.com/Tina-Gayle/e/B002BM9GR8
ONE DARK LIE by Clare Chase #Mystery #Giveaway
One Dark Lie
by
Clare Chase
Genre: Mystery
Release Date: 12 December 2016
Series: London & Cambridge Mysteries #3)
Publisher: Choc Lit Ltd (Death by Choc Lit imprint)
The truth can hurt, and sometimes it leads to murder …
After becoming embroiled in a murder investigation, Nate Bastable and Ruby Fawcett have decided to opt for the quiet life. But crime has a habit of following them around.
When her work dries up, Ruby finds herself accepting a job researching and writing about Diana Patrick-John, a colourful and enigmatic Cambridge academic. Simple enough. But then there’s the small fact that Diana was found dead in suspicious circumstances in her home – the very place where Ruby has now been invited to stay.
As she begins to uncover Diana’s secret life, Ruby’s sleuthing instinct kicks in, leaving her open to danger and retribution. But can she rely on Nate to support her? Especially when his behaviour has become increasingly distant and strange, almost as though he had something to hide …
BUY LINKS
ABOUT CLARE CHASE
Clare Chase writes mysteries set in London and Cambridge featuring crime-solving couples. She fell in love with the capital as a student, living in the rather cushy surroundings of Hampstead in what was then a campus college of London University. (It’s currently being turned into posh flats …)
After graduating in English Literature, she moved to Cambridge and has lived there ever since. She’s fascinated by the city’s contrasts and contradictions, which feed into her writing. She’s worked in diverse settings – from the 800-year-old University to one of the local prisons – and lived everywhere from the house of Lord to a slug-infested flat. The terrace she now occupies presents a good happy medium.
As well as writing, Clare loves family time, art and architecture, cooking, and of course, reading other people’s books.
She lives with her husband and teenage children, and currently works at the Royal Society of Chemistry.
One Dark Lie is her third novel with Choc Lit. Previous titles are You Think You Know Me and A Stranger’s House.
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ClareChaseAuthor
Twitter: www.twitter.com/ClareChase_
Goodreads Author Page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/10204574.Clare_Chase?from_search=true
Blog: https://clarechase.com/blog/
Website: www.clarechase.com
GIVEAWAY!
A fantastic prize going to one winner!!!
- paperback copy of A Stranger’s House (the first Ruby Fawcett and Nate Bastable Cambridge mystery),
- a sweet treat from Hotel Chocolat and
- a Cambridge key ring.
Innocent Tears by Iris Blobel #EggcerptExchange
“Advice is what we ask for when we already
know the answer, but wish we didn’t.”
INNOCENT TEARS
by Iris Blobel
by Iris Blobel
♥♦♥ SYNOPSIS ♥♦♥
Becoming a parent can be daunting at the best of times, but for Flynn, a business lawyer in Melbourne, it almost pulls the feet from right underneath him. He’s become a father to six-year-old Nadine literally overnight! He had no idea about her existence, and the news throws him into chaos, even more so when he is asked to take over custodyWith the help of Emma, an employee at the hotel where Nadine and her grandparents are staying, and his parents, Flynn tries to do the right thing. Yet, the right thing in his eyes differs from his parents’, and Emma is voicing her opinion as well. And right in the middle is little Nadine, still grieving the loss of her mother and finding a wonderful friend in Emma. There’s no doubt she’s afraid where and with whom she will settle.
But in the end, it’s a letter Flynn receives that helps him figuring out what to do.
♥♦♥ ~ OUT NOW ~ ♥♦♥
AMAZON US: http://amzn.to/1y5grj6
AMAZON UK: http://amzn.to/1ZjirM0
AMAZON AU: http://bit.ly/1ZZ7ZLP
♥♦♥ MEET THE AUTHOR ♥♦♥
IRIS BLOBEL
Iris Blobel was born and raised in Germany and immigrated to Australia in the late 1990s. Having had the travel bug most of her life, Iris spent quite some time living in Scotland, London as well as Canada where she met her husband. Her love for putting her stories onto paper has only emerged recently, but now her laptop is a constant companion.
Iris resides west of Melbourne with her husband and her two beautiful daughters.
Next to her job at a private school, she also presents a German Program at the local Community Radio.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IrisBlobel
Twitter: https://twitter.com/_iris_b
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4067254.Iris_Blobel
♥♦♥ EXCERPT ♥♦♥
“My Mum is dead.”
Somewhat startled by this statement, Emma peeked over the reception desk into beautiful green eyes that belonged to a cute little girl with brown curly hair and a freckled button nose. She couldn’t help but smile. There was something in the girl’s eyes that held a hint of mischief and curiosity, as well as some sadness, and Emma was drawn to her instantly.
“Nadine!”
The stern voice of an elderly woman approaching the reception caused Emma to flinch. The girl stiffened with eyes wide open.
“My apologies for that,” the woman said to Emma, though her expression didn’t actually reveal any signs of apologies. The woman’s face reflected a life of bitterness, the lines appearing deep and weathered.
Emma smiled. “No need to.”
An elderly man joined them, and after a brief nod of acknowledgement she asked, “May
I help you?”
“Yes. We would like to check in. Gibbs. William and Teresa Gibbs,” the woman replied.
Emma typed the name on the keyboard, and while she waited for the details, she smiled at the girl, and asked, “Holidays?”
Nadine’s face spread into a small smile, but it was enough to show she had her two top teeth missing.
“And I see the tooth fairy has been to see you recently.”
“Excuse me–” Mrs. Gibbs glanced at Emma’s name badge. “–Emma. Can we proceed with the check-in please?”
“My apologies, ma’am.” Emma read the details on the screen, made a few notes and turned around to activate the automated door card in the back office. All the while, she felt Mrs. Gibbs’ glare on her and instinctively pulled on her navy uniform skirt feeling slightly uncomfortable.
Emma sighed inwardly. In her early twenties and she still lacked confidence in what other people thought of her. Tucking an escaping strand of her tawny hair behind her ear, she tried to keep a positive attitude because, after all, she loved working at the All Stars Hotel in Melbourne. It was something she always wanted to do—to greet people to this beautiful city and make their stay as comfortable as possible. And she was often told how popular she was with staff and guests alike for her positive attitude, her generous heart, and kind spirit.
“Ma’am, that’d be room five-o-two. If you go to the right over there, take the lift to the fifth floor and follow the hall to the near end, you will find room five-o-two on your right.”
Teresa Gibbs took the card from Emma and turned it in her hands.
“Ma’am, you slide that into the door instead of a key. I’m happy to ask someone to come with you and show–”
“I’ll be fine. Thank you.” And Mrs. Gibbs turned to go.
Emma leaned across the counter and smiled at Nadine. “Enjoy your holidays,” she said and winked. “And come see me sometime to tell me about the tooth fairy.”
“We’re not on a holiday,” the girl said in almost a whisper. “We’re here to meet my dad.”
SINS OF THE FATHER by Sheryl Browne #Thriller #Giveaway
Sins of the Father
by
Sheryl Browne
Genre: Thriller
Series: DI Matthew Adams #2
Release Date: 28th Feb 2017
Publisher: Choc Lit (Death by Choc Lit)
A roller-coaster of a read which you won’t want to put down! Former Police DCI Stuart Gibbon
What if you’d been accused of one of the worst crimes imaginable?
Detective Inspector Matthew Adams is slowly picking up the pieces from a case that nearly cost him the lives of his entire family and his own sanity too. On the surface, he seems to be moving on, but he drinks to forget and when he closes his eyes, the nightmares still come.
But the past is the past or is it? Because the evil Patrick Sullivan might be out of the picture, but there’s somebody who is just as intent on making Matthew’s life hell, and they’re doing it in the cruellest way possible.
When Matthew finds himself accused of a horrific and violent crime, will his family stand by him? And will he even be around to help when his new enemy goes after them as well?
EXCERPT
Matthew woke abruptly, hurtled from sleep by a nightmare he thought would never end. Sweat saturating his face, pooling in the hollow of his neck, he pulled himself upright and squinted against the thin trickle of sunlight filtering through the slatted blinds at the window. His first thought was that he had a hangover the size of an airdrome. His second, that they had no blinds at their bedroom window.
Easing his legs over the edge of the bed, a wheeze rattling his chest and nausea gripping his stomach as the room revolved in sick-making revolutions around him, his gaze went instinctively to the bedside table. His inhaler was there, the blue curative he carried with him, lined up neatly alongside his phone. Disorientated, Matthew blinked hard. His vision was blurred. His memory? Where the bloody hell was he?
A hotel room. Functional, he registered. Scanning his surroundings, he noted the fire instructions pinned to the door, the ancient fire extinguisher on the wall, the dusty circa nineteen eighties carpet. A shithole. Matthew closed his eyes and swallowed against the acrid taste in the back of his throat, then almost had a heart attack as his phone rang, loud and shrill, screeching through his brain like an express train. Scrambling around his mind for some recollection of what had happened the night before, he came up with nothing that was tangible, his tenuous thoughts seeming to slip away, like sea filtering ineffectually through sand. He had a few grainy, grey memories: Jasmine, the apartment, tastefully decorated. The painting, abstract colours intermingling. Coffee. Dripping. Shoes, clacking, like the ominous slow tick of a clock. One shoe. A stiletto. Connor …? Had he been there? Here? Matthew squeezed his eyes shut, tried desperately to remember. Natalie? Christ, no.
His phone rang again, sharp, insistent. Becky, it had to be, and Matthew had no clue what to say to her. Attempting to control his escalating panic, to regulate his breathing, he let it ring and reached for his inhaler instead … and then stopped dead.
Seeing the crimson stains on his hand, Matthew’s heart somersaulted in his chest.
Dried blood, he registered, trying hard not to let the panic, now gripping his gut like a vice, cancel out logical thought. Old blood. His? How old?
Bringing both palms shakily to his face, he examined them. They were ingrained with the stuff. He flipped them over. His knuckles were bruised. Right hand. Sweet Jesus, what had he done? Disentangling himself from the duvet, Matthew scrambled to his feet, then quelling the nausea now clawing its way up his windpipe, he checked himself over. Deep wheals ran vertically down his chest. Four. Matthew swallowed hard. Checked his limbs. Found scratches on his arms. His neck, too. He could feel those, raw and sore.
His pulse rate ratcheting up, he yanked the duvet back. More blood. Too much. Stark against the grey-white of the sheets. Trying desperately to keep a lid on his emotions, he turned, stumbling towards the bathroom, where he leaned over the toilet and vomited the sparse contents of his stomach.
Standing unsteadily, Matthew clutched the sink hard for support. Deep gouges on his cheek, he noted through the mirror, then flinched as a flashback hit him head on: Jasmine, smiling, her eyes, flat and emotionless. Her fingernails trailing down his face, his torso. Her touch had been light. She’d inflicted no damage. So how? Who? Natalie? A fresh image assaulted him, Natalie lying next to him. On top of him. Had he? No! His gaze straying to the wall behind him, Matthew’s legs almost gave way. There were blood spatters on the tiles. Perspiring profusely, he dragged an arm over his forehead. Irregular, splattered all over the walls. Christ, this couldn’t be happening.
A terrifying scenario unfurling in his head, Matthew willed himself to turn to the bath. His hand visibly shaking, cold trepidation snaking the length of his spine, he steeled himself to reach for the mould-stained shower curtain, hesitated, and drew it back.
A tap dripped, slowly, steadily. Each drip echoing distortedly around the room, sounding like a nail being driven into his coffin. He registered the watery trickle of blood washing over the carcass of a spider wedged in the plughole.
No body.
Wilting with relief, Matthew turned away. Taking several slow breaths, he grabbed a towel from the rail, whilst simultaneously reaching for the sink tap, and then stopped, his head screaming, his instincts colliding. If he cleaned himself up, he’d be destroying evidence. If he ran … Matthew stared hard at himself in the mirror. More images assailed him, disjointed memories. Surreal, foggy recollections. He’d been here with two women. Jasmine and Natalie. Matthew knew that much. Thought he did. And every indication was that one of those women had been badly injured, or worse, possibly by him. If he was going to call this in, and terrified though he was, his conscience told him he had to, he couldn’t wash. He needed to. The smell in the room was cloying. A woman’s scent. It was all over him.
He had to call Becky. Trying to keep calm, to not give into his urge to run from the room and keep running, Matthew headed back to the bedroom, where his phone had been ringing constantly. Whatever had happened, she needed to hear it from him first. He needed to tell her … Tell her what? Something’s happened, but I don’t know what? I think I’ve been set-up but I have no idea why? I might have had sex with someone but it wasn’t intentional?
Consensual.
No! Disbelieving, Matthew gulped back an immediate deep sense of shame.
BUY LINKS
ABOUT SHERYL BROWNE
Heartache, humour, love, loss & betrayal, Sheryl Browne brings you edgy, sexy, heart-wrenching fiction. A member of the Crime Writers’ Association, Romantic Novelists’ Association and shortlisted for the Best Romantic e-book Love Stories Award 2015, Sheryl has several books published and two short stories in Birmingham City University anthologies, where she completed her MA in Creative Writing.
Recommended to the publisher by the WH Smith Travel fiction buyer, Sheryl’s contemporary fiction comes to you from award winning Choc Lit.
Author Links
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Amazon | Amazon US | Pinterest
Choc Lit | Romantic Novelists’ Association
GIVEAWAY
AN ECOPY OF THE BOOK!