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Under His Skin by Stacey O’Neale ~ COVER REVEAL
UNDER HIS SKIN by Stacey O’Neale
Book Blurb:
Earth girls are never easy. But they’re worth it.
Bakery owner Annabelle Sparks’ business is booming ever since she won reality TV’s Cupcake Wars. The one thing deflating her happy soufflé? The extremely sexy Kaden Chance only sees her as a best friend-and Annabelle wants so much more. After waiting a year for him recognize their chemistry, she’s giving up and dating other people.
What she doesn’t know is Kaden’s heart doesn’t actually beat. He’s not human. Heck, he’s not even from Earth. To retain his intergalactic immunity, no one can ever know he is an extraterrestrial. But when Annabelle starts dating, something strange happens to Kaden’s unmoved heart: it begins to beat. Now he faces an impossible choice-tell Annabelle the truth and be deported-or lose his last chance at love.
Release Date: September 21, 2015
Pre-order Here: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
For a Limited Time, you can pre-order UNDER HIS SKIN for only $0.99!!!
BOOK PROMO ~ Seaside Nights by Melissa Foster
Seaside Nights
by
Melissa Foster
Fall in love with Sky Lacroux and Sawyer Bass in Seaside Nights, the fifth book in the Seaside Summers series!
Sky Lacroux has finally realized her dream and opened her own tattoo shop in Provincetown, Massachusetts. She’s happy as can be, renting a cottage in the Seaside community while renovations to her new apartment are being completed and preparing the shop for its grand opening. The only thing missing is the one thing she longs for, and has no control over—love.
Sawyer Bass, a professional boxer, plays his guitar to escape the painful reality of his father’s failing health and a recent health warning of his own. But when he spots a stunning brunette across the room, escaping reality goes out the door—and the beautiful woman becomes the focus of his next song—and maybe even the rest of his life.
When Sawyer walks into Sky’s tattoo shop and sees the woman from the bar—Sky—the chemistry between them is instant. Sawyer is everything Sky could ever hope for in a man. He’s honest, loving, sensitive, and potently virile—but boxing goes against everything Sky believes in. The closer they become, the more she realizes that her alpha boxer is waging his own emotional battle—only the battle she thinks he’s waging isn’t the one that threatens to tear them apart.
BUY LINKS
ABOUT MELISSA FOSTER
Melissa Foster is a New York Times & USA Today bestselling and award-winning author. She writes contemporary romance, new adult, contemporary women’s fiction, suspense, and historical fiction with emotionally compelling characters that stay with you long after you turn the last page. Her books have been recommended by USA Today’s book blog, Hagerstown Magazine, The Patriot, and several other print venues. She is the founder of the World Literary Café and Fostering Success. When she’s not writing, Melissa helps authors navigate the publishing industry through her author training programs on Fostering Success. Melissa has been published in Calgary’s Child Magazine, the Huffington Post, and Women Business Owners magazine.
Melissa hosts an annual Aspiring Authors contest for children and has painted and donated several murals to The Hospital for Sick Children in Washington, DC. Melissa lives in Maryland with her family.
Visit Melissa on social media. Melissa enjoys discussing her books with book clubs and reader groups, and welcomes an invitation to your event.
Authors Links:
Sign up for Melissa’s newsletter to stay up to date with releases and giveaways
http://www.melissafoster.com/newsletter/
GIVEAWAY
The giveaway will be the previous book in the series SEASIDE SECRETS
It’s Read A Book Day ~ #amreading
Sept 6th is Read A Book Day
Whatever your genre, or preferred medium, curling up and reading a good book is a wonderful way to spend your time. There are loads of genres to choose from – crime, romance, paranormal, Young Adult, New Adult, non-fiction, memoirs and literary fiction. All will sweep you away into the world created by the author and give you some much needed escape from reality time.
A great place to get your reading material is at your local independent bookstore. Mine is Leeds County Books. If I find a book whilst shopping elsewhere, I take down the details and then go here and order my copy, if it isn’t already on the shelf.
I also have a great collection of e-books on my iPad in the Kindle app.
Since this is read a book day, I’m going to do a wee bit of shameless, self-promotion here. If you’re looking for a great read, check out A Shadow in the Past
When a contemporary teen is transported back through time to the Victorian era, she becomes A Shadow in the Past…
Nineteen-year-old Sarah Shand finds herself thrust back into the past. There she struggles to keep her real identity from a society that finds her comments and ideas strange and her speech and actions forward, unlike Victorian women. When Sarah verbally confronts confining social practices, including arranged marriages, powerful enemies commit her to a lunatic asylum. After falling in love with the handsome Laird of Weetshill, Robert Robertson, she must decide whether to find her way back to her own time or to remain in the past with him.
and The Consequences Collection – an eclectic compilation of twelve stories ranging from non-fiction through creative non-fiction to pure fiction, in prose and poetry.
The story of a Scottish Home Child is based on fact and told from the child’s point of view; The Mystery Woman of Kinettles is a non-fiction article on the appearance and subsequent disappearance of a woman’s body near the Wellington County House of Industry (Poor House) in 1879 Southwestern Ontario.
Some of these stories are lighter than others, and some might even beg you to leave the lights on.
And for the younger readers,
Tim’s Magic Christmas
For Tim Frost, Christmas 2011 is a washout. No Santa. No presents. Nothing. His father lost his job when the mill closed and now the family is on the verge of losing their home.
A chance encounter with Nick Kringle, a modern-day Santa Claus teaches Tim that the greatest gift you receive is the gift of giving.
is an eclectic compilation of twelve stories ranging from non-fiction through creative non-fiction to pure fiction, in prose and poetry.
The story of a Scottish Home Child is based on fact and told from the child’s point of view; The Mystery Woman of Kinettles is a non-fiction article on the appearance and subsequent disappearance of a woman’s body near the Wellington County House of Industry (Poor House) in 1879 Southwestern Ontario.
Some of these stories are lighter than others, and some might even beg you to leave the lights on.
– See more at: http://www.melanierobertson-king.com/wp02/?page_id=7339#sthash.VVdE3rEX.dpuf
is an eclectic compilation of twelve stories ranging from non-fiction through creative non-fiction to pure fiction, in prose and poetry.
The story of a Scottish Home Child is based on fact and told from the child’s point of view; The Mystery Woman of Kinettles is a non-fiction article on the appearance and subsequent disappearance of a woman’s body near the Wellington County House of Industry (Poor House) in 1879 Southwestern Ontario.
Some of these stories are lighter than others, and some might even beg you to leave the lights on.
– See more at: http://www.melanierobertson-king.com/wp02/?page_id=7339#sthash.VVdE3rEX.dpuf
is an eclectic compilation of twelve stories ranging from non-fiction through creative non-fiction to pure fiction, in prose and poetry.
The story of a Scottish Home Child is based on fact and told from the child’s point of view; The Mystery Woman of Kinettles is a non-fiction article on the appearance and subsequent disappearance of a woman’s body near the Wellington County House of Industry (Poor House) in 1879 Southwestern Ontario.
Some of these stories are lighter than others, and some might even beg you to leave the lights on.
– See more at: http://www.melanierobertson-king.com/wp02/?page_id=7339#sthash.VVdE3rEX.dpuf
What are you reading today?
Tire(d) Potatoes
What do you do with a few old tires that aren’t fit for the road anymore? Grow potatoes in them! It works great if you have limited space and a decent number of excess rubber hoops.
Here’s a website with step-by-step instructions… Instructables.
The location we chose didn’t get as much sun as we hoped for but it was along the fence. No compost or damp earth. We started with two stacks of two tires each, added some leaves that we had used to cover other tender plants with over the winter. We added about 4 potatoes to each and pushed them down in so they were covered.
After that, if they got watered it was from the rain. We did add some potting soil to each stack later on when the leaves had compacted.
We didn’t spend extra money on seed potatoes, just planted ones we had bought that had sprouted eyes and gone soft and wrinkly… bleurgh… at least no fingers pushed their way through. That would have been beyond disgusting.
So how did our tire(d) potatoes do? Well considering the neglect and the fact it was just an experiment, better than we expected. And yes, we did plant a red potato and later than the other ones and it did the best of all, even though we only got one spud off that plant.
As they say, nothing ventured, nothing gained. Will we try it again? You betcha! And now that we know it really does work, we’ll maintain them and hopefully get a bumper crop for next year.
And another bonus of growing the potatoes in tires – the dog stayed away and didn’t stomp on the them. Might have peed on the tires but that’s another story.
It’s getting closer – Maggie Wheeler’s guest appearance here
Maggie Wheeler coming soon to Celtic Connexions!
Mark your calendar! Maggie Wheeler, author of the Farran Mackenzie Mystery series will be in the ‘hot seat’ so to speak on September 19th!
I hope you’ll stop by on Sept 19th to find out what we’ll be talking about.
So don’t forget… Sept 19th!
BOOK TITLES ~ Finding the right one
Do you struggle with finding the “right” title for your writing – whether it’s a short story, novel, poetry or even a blog post?
Do you have to have your title before you begin to write?
How many times do you change your title before you’re finally happy with it?
The title for my debut novel, A Shadow in the Past, came from a sentence in the book.
The cover was designed around that. It works, don’t you think?
I thought I would use the same concept to come up with a title for the second book in the series and in keeping with the time-travel element, came up with Shadows From Her Past.
Don’t get all excited. Book two isn’t out yet. Book two isn’t anywhere near being ready. Book two doesn’t have a synopsis or back cover blurb yet (and that’s a whole other story – and yes, it will also require a title).
So finding a title can be an arduous task but I’ve looked around online and found these three sites that might be of help to you. There are more, but these were in the top of the google search results.
tarasparlingwrites.com/book-title-generators/
fantasynamegenerators.com/book-title-generator
kitt.net/random-book-title-generator
I’d love to hear how you deal with this conundrum. Drop me a line in the comments sharing how you find the “right” title for your work.
I See Faces and other things…
FACES and…
As kids, we likely all lay on our backs in the grass looking at the clouds finding faces, animals and other objects at one time or another.
What about with standing stones? Well, yup, I see faces there, too.
Do you see a face in this stone at Stonehenge?
How about now after I draw the outline of the mouth, eyes, nose and chin? I should have picked a different color other than black because the contrast on the rock tends to overpower the painted line.
Since my attempt with black to outline didn’t achieve the result I wanted, I went back in and outlined it in white. Does this make it easier to see?
Maybe this is the face of the troll who lived under the bridge in the Norweigian fairy tale, The Three Billy Goats Gruff?
Or what about this stone along the avenue near Avebury?
Looks a handsome fellow despite his large nose. But look at him from another angle… what do you see?
From this angle, it looks like a horse’s head. Perhaps the knight piece on a chessboard.
And this one reminds me of a shark with the shape of the head and the placement of the mouth. Look who’s grinning at us from the right side of the picture!
Did you see any of these faces?
Sheryl Browne reveals her new covers
I’m thrilled to welcome fellow Loveahappyending Lifestyle magazine author, Sheryl Browne to Celtic Connexions!
Thank you so much for featuring me and allowing me to share my latest news. I was a bit worried some people might have missed it actually, as I haven’t been shouting very loudly. Much. Ahem. OK, I lie. I’ve been shouting if from the rooftops! If perchance anyone did miss it though, my latest contemporary romance, recommended to the publisher by the WH Smith Travel Fiction Buyer, no less, is now available from Choc Lit! It’s had some super reviews so far. I’ve popped a little snippet or two below, some of which had me hooting out loud, some of which had me filling up – but in the best possible way.
The Rest of My Life: What the reviewers say:
The Rest of My Life is ‘‘HOT! HOT! HOT! Steamy, Heartfelt Romance! – oldvictorianquill
I love books that spot up my glasses with projectile tears. Five stars! – Double-Edged Words
Sheer enjoyment from beginning to end! … Let’s face it, who wouldn’t want to enter the bedroom with the delectable Adam? – Being Anne
Wow! Sheryl Browne has excelled herself with this book… there is not much it doesn’t have! Love, hate, sex, violence, apparitions… – A Chance to Blog
I quite like the cover. Correction, I absolutely ADORE the cover…
*Sigh.* Isn’t it just utterly dreamy?
The Rest of My Life
“You can’t run away from commitment forever … “
Adam Hamilton-Shaw has more reason than most to avoid commitment. Living on a houseboat in the Severn Valley, his dream is to sail into the sunset – preferably with a woman waiting in every port. But lately, his life looks more like a road to destruction than an idyllic boat ride…
Would-be screenplay writer Sienna Meadows realises that everything about Adam spells trouble – but she can’t ignore the feeling that there is more to him than just his bad reputation. Nor can she ignore the intense physical attraction that exists between them.
And it just so happens that Adam sees Sienna as the kind of woman he could commit to. But can he change his damaging behaviour – or is the road to destruction a one-way street?
I’m now also thrilled to share that Choc Lit have issued a further contract for my contemporary romance, Learning to Love. The book, written around a short story selected for publication in the Birmingham City University Anthology, Paper and Ink, is currently available on Amazon for Kindle. Please do feel free to take a browse. Meanwhile here’s a peek at the current cover and the blurb:
Learning to Love – Exploring the Fragility of Love, Life, and Relationships
An emotionally withdrawn, angry little boy is grieving the loss of his mother. Ten-year old Jake’s anger is aimed at his dad, who In Jake’s mind deserted his mum in her hour of need. Dr David Adams, Jake’s father, is carrying the heavy burden of guilt around the death of his wife. For all his training as a doctor, David had been as ill-equipped to deal with her decision to delay anti-leukemic treatment for their unborn baby’s sake, as he is to deal with his son’s grief. He feels Jake’s anger is justified. Now alone with his son, he has no idea how to reach him.
Andrea Kelly, David’s neighbour, mum of three and carer to her dotty mother, is forced by circumstances to take refuge at David’s house and becomes instrumental in bringing this lost little boy and his equally lost father together. Andrea, too, has relationship issues and, as her attraction to David grows, she wonders whether she should love a man who is, by his own admission, flawed.
What the reviewers are saying:
Deals with loss & betrayal in manner that lifts it far above an average ‘chick lit’.
Five enormous shining stars made of platinum!!!
Tissue box at the ready reader! 5 out of 5! On the Top reads for 2013 list!
An entertaining, easy read- a more mature style of chick-lit that might appeal to fans of Katie Fforde.
Truth, lies, deception, love, hate, anger and joy. This book goes on my top ten reads of all time!
DIZZY C’S LITTLE BOOK BLOG – TOP READS 2013!
Did I mention that all of my romance books now have lovely new covers? No? Oh. I think I probably did, but I can’t resist showing them off again. Here we go:
Thank you for indulging me! And a HUGE thank you to all those bloggers and readers who have taken time to read and review my books! I would be lost without you!
Heartache, humour, love, loss & betrayal, Sheryl Browne brings you edgy, sexy, poignant fiction. A member of the Crime Writers’ Association, Romantic Novelists’ Association and shortlisted for Innovation in Romantic Fiction, Sheryl has seven books published to date.
Sheryl’s new contemporary romance novel was recommended to the publisher by the WH Smith Travel fiction buyer. THE REST OF MY LIFE comes to you from award winning Choc Lit.
Author Links
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Buy | Buy US | Pinterest
Safkhet Publishing | Choc Lit | Romantic Novelists’ Association
The Face in the Stones – REVEALED
It’s only recently, I saw the face in the stones in this photograph. I guarantee that once you see it, you won’t be able to “un-see” it every time you see the picture. It’s even visible in the older version of the photograph that’s the header photo for my blog.
This stone circle, located in rural Aberdeenshire, Scotland, features in my debut novel – A Shadow in the Past – and its not yet published sequel – Shadows From Her Past.
This type of stone circle, known as a recumbent stone circle, is unique to Aberdeenshire. You can find out more about them here.
I’ve visited a number of stone circles in Scotland but I’ve never seen a face in them before.
Interesting? Creepy? What do you think?