Archive for the ‘Adult Fiction’ Category

Welcome to The Friday 56 hosted by Freda’s Voice.

 

This is a really fun meme!

The only rules are to grab a book (any book), turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader and find a sentence or a few (no spoilers) that grabs you and post it.

Then go over to Freda’s Voice and leave your link so we can visit your 56!

My 56 for this week is from

Grey Daze

A Lance Underphal Mystery

by Michael Allan Scott

24876626

c8df8-add2bto2bgoodreads2bblack

My 56

Frank asks, “You okay?”

I gather myself. “Just thinking.”

Frank remains silent, eyes on the road, the white lines flashing past.

Swallowing hard, I continue. “Thinking about my wife.”

Frank keeps his gaze straight ahead, lips pursed, saying nothing as we wind our way down by the dry riverbed.

I clear my throat. “My dead wife.”

More silent treatment from Frank, as if he’s waiting.

I turn to face him. “I didn’t do it.”

Frank turns his head to meet my glare, then turns back to his driving.

I nearly choke on it. “I didn’t kill her.

“Nodding gently, he says, “I was pretty sure you didn’t.”

I look down, shaking my head, repeating softly to no one, ” I didn’t do it…I didn’t do it.”

Frank lets me ramble.

Finally I look back at him. “Now what?”

~~~~~

Synopsis

GREY DAZE descends. A fresh murder spins out of control, twisting into new realms of paranormal mystery.

Not for the faint of heart, the third in the Lance Underphal Mystery series, is an interplay of corrupt characters immersed in today’s world.

Paranormal twists and fast action in movie-like scenes set the story’s mystery/thriller elements apart from the typical whodunit/serial-killer thriller.

Guided by his dead wife, a reluctant psychic finds himself on a wild ride through a criminal underworld, slamming face first into corrupt police, gunrunning bikers, and a drug addicted killer–not to mention confrontations with the dead.

Layers of plots within plots twist this new thriller into a startling climax.

~~~~~

Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew!

Leave your link and I’ll drop by your 56.

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm.

TeaserTuesdays2014e

Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page.
•Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

~~~

My Tease for this week is from

Don’t Try To Find Me

by Holly Brown

18698861

 

goodreads-badge-add-plus

My Teaser from page 48 and page 74 in the Paperback.

From Page 48

This could blow up in Paul’s face. And in mine, and Marley’s, too. He has no idea what I’ve been keeping private.

From Page 74

Then why. I wanted to ask, do I sometimes feel like I don’t know you at all, now that we’re finally in the same room?

~~~~

Synopsis

When a 14-year-old runs away, her parents turn to social media to find her-launching a public campaign that will expose their darkest secrets and change their family forever, in this suspenseful and gripping debut for fans of Reconstructing Amelia and Gone Girl

Don’t try to find me. Though the message on the kitchen white board is written in Marley’s hand, her mother Rachel knows there has to be some other explanation. Marley would never run away.

As the days pass and it sinks in that the impossible has occurred, Rachel and her husband Paul are informed that the police have “limited resources.” If they want their 14-year-old daughter back, they will have to find her themselves. Desperation becomes determination when Paul turns to Facebook and Twitter, and launches FindMarley.com.

But Marley isn’t the only one with secrets.

With public exposure comes scrutiny, and when Rachel blows a television interview, the dirty speculation begins. Now, the blogosphere is convinced Rachel is hiding something. It’s not what they think; Rachel would never hurt Marley. Not intentionally, anyway. But when it’s discovered that she’s lied, even to the police, the devoted mother becomes a suspect in Marley’s disappearance.

Is Marley out there somewhere, watching it all happen, or is the truth something far worse?

~~~~

Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew!

How about you? Got a tease? Tell me!

stick out tongue photo: rr-sticking-out-tongue roadrunner-stick-out-tongue.gif

Loss Angeles banner

Most of you know by now how much I enjoy short stories and collections.

I’m excited to share Loss Angeles with you.

I’m not sure which genre to tag these stories as, so I’m calling it Life Fiction.

Come on in and check it out and enjoy the excerpt!

~~~

About the Book:

 

Title: Loss Angeles
Author: Mathieu Cailler
Publisher: Short Story America Press
Pages: 217
Genre: Short Stories
Format: Hardcover

Loss Angeles 2

Set in the glamorous city of Los Angeles, California, LOSS ANGELES skips the shine and celebrity the city is known for and instead dives deeply into the lives of ordinary Angelenos. In each of the fifteen stories in this collection, author Mathieu Cailler examines the private lives of a diverse mix of characters. This collection of stories showcases the rawness of real life, the complexity of navigating personal challenges and internal conflicts, and the ever present possibility of encountering unexpected compassion and empathy.

The stories in LOSS ANGELES uncover the reality that the interiors of people’s lives often have huge holes in them. In the collection, a quiet divorced man, who is still deeply in love with his ex-wife, finally speaks up when his son’s soon-to-be stepfather becomes enraged over a broken birthday gift. A young man visiting his parents for the first time in nine years delays his presence at his family’s Thanksgiving dinner to see an old friend who was influential in his early life. Cailler also goes beyond loss and grief to reveal hidden human kindness in the stories of a widower, who steps out of his melancholy to save the life of a stranger, and an aging bachelor, who becomes a father figure for a wayward young woman.

In “Over the Bridge,” Ella is a teenager learning to manage her grief over the death of her mother and the new life she and her seven-year-old brother have with their father, with whom the children have not lived with since their parents’ divorce. While Ella is receiving weekly counseling at school, she continues to struggle with the changes in her life. When the counselor instructs Ella to write a letter to her father explaining the uncertainty and distance she feels in regard to her relationship with him, Ella complies and writes with the type of honesty that one allows when there is no plan to share what is written. But when Ella finds herself in a frightening situation with a boy at a party after consuming drugs and alcohol, the letter becomes the catalyst for a change in perspective for her father.

“Hit and Stay” is the story of a young married man making the long drive home from an out-of-town business trip. Penn is troubled as he drives his SUV through back roads to avoid the highway traffic. The quiet drive in the warm cocoon of the truck affords Penn the opportunity to reflect on the one-night stand he had with a new employee. As he contemplates how or if he will confess his mistake to his wife, Kimberly, Penn reviews his life with the woman he was once passionately in love with who has grown distant since the death of her mother. During the drive, Penn has an unfortunate accident that breaks the delicate hold he has on his volatile emotional state.

The conflict between familial violence and love is the foundation of “Dark Timber.” Clevie and his older brother, Roy, reluctantly accompany their father on a hunting expedition. Their father, an alcoholic recently released from prison after serving time for beating the boys’ mother, is determined to teach his sons how to hunt for their own food.

The relationship between father and sons is strained. Roy has personal experience with his father’s violent temper, but young Clevie remains hopeful that life with their father will improve. Neither boy is interested in hunting. Clevie is the most reluctant to fire on innocent animals. However, when their father comes face-to-face with a menacing predator, both boys instinctively respond to his pleas for help.

LOSS ANGELES is a throwback to eclectic short story collections of past years and is only bound by the theme of loss in a very general sense,” Cailler says. “The stories are by turns fragile, tender, and always memorable. The characters in this book are as diverse as the city itself… they all have a story to share, and it was my job to do just that. I don’t believe in being predestined while writing; therefore, some of the stories end with a bit of hope while others reach their coda in a disconcerting fashion.”

Exposing emotions was Cailler’s focus when writing the collection. “I want the reader to relate to the feelings and sentiments expressed in the book. I think loss is the greatest bond we possess as humans, and there isn’t a single person around who hasn’t experienced it. We’ve all lost something dear to us, something profound,” the author says. “I think if a reader comes away from LOSS ANGELES feeling more connected to others and/or him or herself, I’ll have done my job. Whenever I write, I think of Plato’s words: ‘Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle.’ That’s something that I hope will resonate with the reader.”

For More Information

~~~~~

Book Excerpt:

Penn continued to drive through the night. Snow and gales of wind assailed his SUV as he barreled towards home, his foot steady on the gas, his hands positioned firmly at ten and two. Heat billowed from the vents on the dashboard and moved loose strands of hair on his face. He didn’t want to replay the scenario—the quiet L.A. hotel room, the closed drapes, the underwear on the floor, the moaning, the taste of her lips—but the SUV’s quiet cabin was a hotbed for reflection.

His headlights brushed a green highway sign, indicating that there were eighty-nine miles left on his journey home to Lake Tahoe. With the winter weather, it might take Penn more than two hours, but that was all right. How would he look at Kimberly after what he’d done?

“Don’t marry young,” people had told him a few years ago when he’d passed around the idea of proposing. “You haven’t tested the waters.” Cliché after cliché came at him, and while the marriage advice was stale and up there with “enjoy each day like it’s your last” and “don’t let anyone tell you something’s impossible,” it wasn’t amiss.

Becky had been with the company for a couple months now; there’d been some mild flirting, but Penn just thought that was the way she was, and he flirted back from time to time, knowing that it was just a game. Becky saw the wedding band on his finger; she could put two and two together.

But on this recent trip, Penn and Becky had found themselves at the hotel bar, overlooking the glimmering L.A skyline. There was a meeting early in the morning, and most of the company’s employees had gone to bed. She approached Penn and slid onto the chair next to his. They drank, and their eyes held one another in the empty bar. The piano man played his versions of “So What” and “Stardust,” songs that made people more attractive and made conversations more interesting. The right strap of Becky’s blue dress kept slipping off her freckled shoulder, and she left her smooth skin exposed longer than normal before bringing the strap back up. Her breasts were pressed up and together, and when she crossed her legs, one of her black heels dangled a few inches from her foot, making it seem as though she was already undressing. Penn remembered the way she reached over and touched his right hand.

The worst part was that Penn had only slept with Becky because of the confidence Kimberly had given him. Many times she’d reaffirmed his self-esteem, telling him he was worthy of love, that he was better-looking than he imagined, and that he deserved the best.

Penn believed the burden would be lightened if he told Kimberly, but at the same time, he thought the words might destroy her, and that’s not what he wanted. It’d taken cheating for him to know how much he loved her, but who would believe a line like that?

The tapping of a snare drum leaked out from the speakers, accompanied by the beat of an upright bass and the trill of a clarinet. He lowered the window and let the cold air flow into the sweltering cabin.

Was there a perfect scenario? Penn thought. He let his mind wander. When he got home maybe Kimberly would be crying.

What’s wrong? Penn would say.

I did something terrible, Kimberly would answer.

Kimberly would go on to tell Penn that she’d slept with someone else, that she was sorry, and that it didn’t mean anything. After that, he’d say the same thing. Two wrongs, one right. But even thinking about her sleeping with someone else made him sick. That wasn’t at all what he wanted.

High school sweethearts turned lovers turned husband and wife turned roommates—that’s what they were. Penn found it more and more difficult to make her laugh. Where there’d been kisses, there were now smiles. Where there’d been heat, there was now platitude. Where there’d been love, there was now familiarity.

~~~

About Author Mathieu Cailler

Mathieu Cailler

Mathieu Cailler is a writer of prose and poetry. His work has been widely published in national and international literary journals. Before becoming a full-time writer, Cailler was an elementary school teacher in inner-city Los Angeles. “I came to writing in a rather circuitous way. I always penned jokes for stand-up comedy appearances but later realized it wasn’t just comedy that applealed to me, but all writing.” A graduate of Vermont College of Fine Arts, Cailler was awarded the Short Story America Prize for Short Fiction and a Shakespeare Award for Poetry. His chapbook, Clotheslines, was recently published by Red Bird Press. LOSS ANGELES is Cailler’s first full-length book.

For More Information

  • Visit Mathieu Cailler’s website.
  • Connect with Mathieu on Facebook and Twitter.
  • Find out more about Mathieu at Goodreads.

~~~

Until the next time…..

Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew!

shadeborn banner

Presented by: Sparkle Book Tours

Sparkle Blog Button

book 1 gif

The Book Of Shade –  Shadeborn #1
by K.C. Finn
Audience: General, 13+ – Genre: Urban Fantasy, Adventure and Romance – Formats: E-book and Paperback – Publisher: Starstorm  – Pages: 513  – ISBN: 1505677556 – ASIN: B00RD7SGK4 – Date Published: 21 March 2015

blurb

Lily Coltrane’s to-do list for starting university life is pretty simple:

1. Make friends

2. Meet a cute guy

3. Survive her first year in Modern History

In the little English town of Piketon this seems more than achievable, so much so that Lily even joins The Illustrious Minds Literary Society, an extra-curricular club that promises a truly unique social experience. What Lily doesn’t bank on are the society’s monthly visits to the mysterious Theatre Imaginique at the edge of town, a dark venue that houses the most obscure cavalcade of carnival performers she has ever laid eyes on.

Stranger still is the emergence of the theatre’s enigmatic proprietor Lemarick Novel, a stupendous showman with a frosty wit who never seems to smile, and who raises a plethora of questions in Lily’s fearful mind. How does he levitate with no sign of wires or mirrors? Why do the lightning bolts that shoot from his hands look so real? And why, of all the people in the theatre, do his pale eyes keep locking on hers?

The answers to this and more lie buried in heritage and blood. The Book of Shade is opening, and Lily Coltrane will read it, whether she wants to or not.

book links
add to goodreadsbuy now amazon
excerpt

“Ladies and gentlemen, your raucous applause, if you please, for the sensational Monsieur Novel!”

The audience obeyed the MC’s command, but when Baptiste had vacated the spotlight, nobody came to the stage. It wasn’t until the last clap died, some moments later, that Lily heard footsteps clicking along the old theatre boards. The illusionist stepped from total blackness into the shadow at the edge of the stage, and even craning her head only afforded Lily the frame of a man in a long Victorian coat. The tense air in the dated theatre was thick enough to be sliceable, and every spectator breathed in their portion of that heavy air, in anticipation of the moment when the odd Monsieur would step into the spotlight.

Novel did not disappoint them. A shock of lightning appeared from nowhere at all and in the split-second that it flashed he appeared for the waiting patrons to see. It seemed as though the contents of the theatre gasped as a single being, even those who must have seen him before were transfixed in shock. His eyes were cast into black, shadowy sockets by the bright white spotlight pouring down from above. Skin pale as a spectre’s was exaggerated by the darkly drawn eyebrows arching into points above those gloomy hollows. His lips too were black as coal, a superb effort in stage makeup that reminded Lily of a haunting cross between a French mime and a black-and-white movie serial killer. She didn’t know which to be more afraid of.

Perhaps more astonishing still was Monsieur Novel’s hair. It was long enough to be combed behind his ears, though it did not grace his neck, and in the dusty spotlight it appeared to be totally white. It was a strange whiteness, for even through his make-up, Lily thought that the gentlemen couldn’t be more than ten years her senior. The illusionist’s black mouth stretched into a serious sneer as he surveyed the awestruck crowd. He held out one pale hand with a slow and deliberate grace. Tiny blue sparks grew in his palm as he swept the hand from left to right in welcome.

“Good evening,” he purred in the darkest of tones.

And this time the lightning came straight from his palm when it exploded into life.

The dumbstruck crowd suddenly applauded in a blast of appreciation, but Lily’s hands remained still, clutching the sides of her chair. Novel stalked the very edge of the stage like a patient predator, the invisible orchestra striking up as the beams of lightning shot about the cavernous space in time to the music. He appeared to be controlling them, but his thin frame and well-fitted suit left no space in which to hide any apparatus on his body. Occasionally, he seemed to lose control of the larger forks of electricity which shot out towards the audience in frighteningly loud snaps. The patrons flinched as the whip of energy crackled above them.

All the while Monsieur Novel’s expression remained dark and thoughtful. Not once did his lips rise into a smile. They simply sneered continually at the power he was controlling, parting for him to suck in precisely choreographed breaths when he turned in his display of perfect grace, avoiding every spot the forks could hit. A few patrons in the front row, perhaps those who had never seen him before, were starting to panic at the multitude of power growing rapidly on the stage before them, with no reasonable explanation in sight. It looked like a major fire hazard for sure. One of them tried to get up.

“I would kindly recommend you stay in your seat for this performance, good sir,” Novel said loudly over the buzz of the lightning strikes. “It could be rather nasty for you, if you don’t.”

There was something foreign lurking in the shadows of his accent. Perhaps he had been living in England a long time, but he definitely wasn’t from around these parts. His voice had an amused kind of youth in it that didn’t suit his skeletal pre-modern look, and though he gazed upon the terrified patron as he sat back down in his chair, he still didn’t let the mirth in his warning show on his face.

All at once the lightning stopped. Novel stood in the dead centre of the stage, looking down at his feet with his shadowed eyes. Lily caught her breath as the flicker of hot white energy grew beneath his feet, sparking and growing into a ball of buzzing power. He thrust out his pale hands, raising them upwards as he slowly began to levitate into the air. Lily could see no wires to hoist him, and his clothes didn’t move as though they were under any strain. He simply rose up in a slow, straight line as the lightning ball grew larger and larger in the space where he’d been standing. In his ascent, his face was lit from under his chin and Lily finally saw a pair of pale blue eyes glowing out of the black sockets on his face.

And they glowed directly at her.

She started in her seat, shocked to find his gaze so blatantly fixed. She would have sworn the floating man had raised one of his black eyebrows at her, but a moment later the lightning ball exploded with a deafening crack that made the entire contents of the theatre sink down into their seats and clutch their heads in wild panic. When Lily looked up again, Monsieur Novel was gone. Someone behind Lily broke the shocked silence of the audience by starting to applaud. Gasps erupted as some of them looked beyond her to the source of the clap, then suddenly everyone was giving an ovation.

Lily craned her head around, almost jumping out of her skin when she realised it was Monsieur Novel sitting in the seat directly behind her. He had started his own applause. He sat with a casual grace, an elegant hand accepting the praise as he slowly got back to his feet and straightened out his beautiful clothes. Once more his frosty blue eyes snapped to Lily. She wanted to look away, but it just didn’t happen. Novel inclined his head to the rapt audience without breaking his stare, then swiftly retreated up the theatre aisle, his long coat billowing in another invisible gust of air.

character

lily biolemarick bio

  z5356418f239e6
Track List and Key Lyrics:
1. E.T. – Katy PerryYou’re so supersonic
Wanna feel your powers, stun me with your lasers
Your kiss is cosmic
Every move is magic
2. Gravity – John Mayer
Oh I’ll never know what makes this man
With all the love that his heart can stand
Dream of ways to throw it all away
3. Everybody Talks – Neon Trees
It started with a whisper
And that was when I kissed her
And then she made my lips hurt
4. Somewhere Only We Know – Keane
And if you have a minute, why don’t we go
Talk about it somewhere only we know?
This could be the end of everything
So why don’t we go somewhere only we know?
5. Butterflies – Lucy Spraggan
Cause there’s nowhere else I’d rather be
No one else I’d rather see
Controlling every part of me
I love skipping a beat every time you speak
6. Safe and Sound – Me Vs Gravity
Don’t you dare look out your window, darling,
Everything’s on fire
The war outside our door keeps raging on
Hold on to this lullaby
Even when music’s gone
7. Kiss From A Rose – Seal
You remain,
My power, my pleasure, my pain, baby
To me you’re like a growing addiction that I can’t deny.
Won’t you tell me is that healthy, baby?
8. True Love – Pink
Sometimes I hate every single stupid word you say,
Sometimes I wanna slap you in your whole face.
There’s no one quite like you, you push all my buttons down,
I know life would suck without you.
9. Still Into You – Paramore
It’s not a walk in the park
To love each other
But when our fingers interlock,
Can’t deny, can’t deny you’re worth it
10. Loved Me Back To Life – Celine Dion
Strong hands, thick skin, and an open heart
You saw through the pain, saw through the mask
You never gave up on me

book 2 gif

The Bloodshade Encounters & The Songspinner –  Shadeborn Series # 2
Pages: 300 – ASIN: B00RQMB5MW – Date Published: April 4, 2015

blurb

Shadeborn: Volume Two provides a unique insight into the past of some of your favourite Book Of Shade characters, through two spine-tingling novellas:

The Bloodshade Encounters shows readers where present and past collide, as they learn the dark history of how the charming and enigmatic Baptiste Du Nord came to know Lemarick Novel. Prepare for vampires on the streets of revolutionary Paris, and the day when Novel first laid eyes on the Theatre Imaginique. Amidst all this, a dark secret about Novel is unearthed, one which may threaten his relationship with Lily in the future.

The Songspinner begins with the present-day Salem Cross, now weak and powerless, as the old shade looks back on his life, and the dirty deals he made to try to make a success of himself. Witch-trials loom in Salem’s murky past, and werewolves roam the streets of Victorian London, not to mention a certain dark lady who would one day become the mother of the heroic Novel. Can Salem face the demons of his past, or bear the thought of a future with no magic? Or will he decide that the end of his time has come?

book links
add to goodreadsbuy now amazon

character

salem biobaptiste bio

book3gif

The Potioneer – Shadeborn Series # 3
Pages: 500 pages – Expected Publishing Date: Late May

blurb

When humans break a mirror, the idea of seven years of bad luck is little more than superstition. But, when it happens to a magical being like a shade, that quaint old saying takes on a terrifying new reality. As Lily Coltrane looks down at the smashed remains of Lemarick Novel’s mirror, she can already feel that her luck is about to run dry, even though her illusionist boyfriend is certain that he can protect her. With a suicidal Salem Cross on red alert and newly-disabled best friend Jazzy to look after, Lily’s not so sure that Novel is right.

Lily’s suspicions will be confirmed in this, her second year of university, as the quiet English town of Piketon is flooded with a new array of supernatural beings, including Jeronomie Parnell, a gifted potioneer who seems to have solutions for Salem and Jazzy’s conditions. Suspicion fills the air at the old Theatre Imaginique, as Lily uncovers yet more secrets about the people she thought she knew. The question of who to really trust will bombard Lily’s mind, especially after she is introduced to the horror that is the House of Novel, and is forced to question the bloodline that her new true love comes from.

It seems like having a soul mate isn’t quite the ideal that Lily dreamed it would be, and she can only hope that The Book Of Shade will give her the power to get through the trials that she’s about to face. And as for the even greater darkness, slowly rising in the depths of that ruined mirror? Well, that’s quite another story for Lily to unfold.

character

Jeronomie Parnell biopascal bio

giveaway

about the author

clip_image012K. C. Finn was born and raised in Cardiff, South Wales, where her love for storytelling grew at a precociously young age. After developing the medical condition M.E. / C.F.S., Kim turned to writing to escape the pressures of disabled living, only to become hooked on the incredible world of publishing.

As an author for Clean Teen Publishing and Crushing Hearts and Black Butterfly Press, Kim spends most of her time locked in the writing cave with an obscenely large mug of tea. When not writing, she can be found studying for her MA in Linguistics, watching classic British comedy, or concocting evil schemes in the secret laboratory in her attic.

media links
clip_image014clip_image016clip_image006[2]clip_image018clip_image020clip_image022

follow the tour

 

April 6
Books, Authors, Blogs 
3 Partners in Shopping, Nana, Mommy, & Sissy, Too! 
Fictional Rendezvous Book Blog
April 7
Cover Reveals 
Coffee Books & Art 
April 8
Amiabooklover 
Archaeolibrarian – I dig good books! 
April 9
Once Upon a YA Book
April 10
Bookworm for Kids 
April 13
A Little Bit of R&R 
April 14
Agapa Reads 
April 15
Cajun Book Lover 
April 16
Angels with Attitude Book Reviews 
April 17
The Avid Reader 
April 20
MrsLeif’s Two Fangs About It Book Reviews
April 21
Sweet Treat Reading Reviews 
April 22
Melissa
M Wolff
 
April 23
Booky Ramblings of a Neurotic Mom 
April 24
Indy Book Fairy
April 27
Rustys Reading 
April 28
Eclipse Reviews
April 29
Fuonlyknew – 
April 30
Hooked on Books – Review 
May 1
Portals to New Worlds 
May 4
Bound 4 Escape 
May 5
2 Girls & A Book
May 6
Hope To Read 

 

.
~~~~~

Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew and Good Luck!

To see all of my giveaways click on the lucky horseshoe below!

horseshoe photo: Horseshoe horseshoe.jpg

We’re excited to share the cover for You Can’t Get Blood Out of Shag Carpet by Juliette Harper! This is the first book in A Study Club Mystery series. It’s set to release in June 2015. Check out the excerpt and then the fabulous giveaway at the end!

About The Book

You Can’t Get Blood Out Of Shag Carpet

A Study Club Mystery

by Juliette Harper

ShagCarpetEbookCover

Synopsis

Wanda Jean Milton discovers her husband, local exterminator Hilton Milton, dead on her new shag carpet with an Old Hickory carving knife sticking out of his chest. Beside herself over how she’ll remove the stain, and grief-stricken over Hilton’s demise, Wanda Jean finds herself the prime suspect in the case. But she is also a member of “the” local Study Club, a bastion of independent Texas feminism 1960s style. Club President Clara Wyler has no intention of allowing a member to be a murder suspect during her administration. Aided by her younger sister and County Clerk, Mae Ella Gormley; Sugar Watson, the proprietress of Sugar’s Style and Spray; and Wilma Schneider, Army MASH veteran and local RN, the Club women set out to clear Wanda Jean’s name — never guessing the local dirt they’ll uncover in the process.

~~~~~~

Enjoy this peek inside!

Sugar Watson took a long drag on her Camel and critically appraised the height of Clara Wyler’s black bouffant. “You want me to go a little higher, honey?” she asked, punctuating the question with a well-developed smoker’s cough. “If I rat it up real good, I can get you another 2 or 3 inches on top.”

Clara squinted at herself in the mirror. “I think I’m good, Sugar,” she said. “What with Wanda Jean finding Hilton dead in the living room, I don’t want to look insincere at Study Club.”

Sugar leaned in conspiratorially. “I know we don’t ever throw anybody out of the Study Club, but my Lord, what in the world are we gonna do if she really did kill him?”

Clara glanced around to confirm that all the other women in Sugar’s Style and Spray were safely tucked under the dryers. “Well, she called me herself to assure me that she didn’t do it,” Clara said. “She owned up to wanting to, but she didn’t do it.”

“Well, hell,” Sugar said, “we’ve all thought about killing our husbands. That’s just part of being married. But nobody’s ever walked in my house and found Slim laying there with an Old Hickory carving knife sticking out of his chest. What did Wanda Jean say about finding him?”

“She told me the first thing she thought about was how hard it was gonna be to get the blood out of that new shag carpet they put in last month,” Clara said. “You know they went with the deep pile.”

“I know,” Sugar said. “I looked at it too when T.J. put the ad in the paper, but my vacuum cleaner just won’t suck up dirt good enough for that. Is it a light carpet?”

“I didn’t think to ask her,” Clara said, unclipping the plastic cape around her neck and handing it to Sugar. “Anyway, she said she just stood there thinking about how you can’t get blood out of shag carpet. Then it dawned on her maybe she ought to check him for a pulse.”

“I hope it wasn’t a light carpet,” Sugar said, rearranging cans of Aqua Net on the counter. “Those boys from the ambulance service never think to wipe their feet before they go in to get a body. You should have seen the mess they made when Blake Trinkle died. They just ruined Maybelline’s carpet. She spent as much getting it cleaned as she did on the funeral.”

“That’s so inconsiderate,” Clara agreed. “People just don’t think. Now you’re not gonna be late this afternoon, are you?”

“Of course not,” Sugar said. “Flowers knows not to book me on the third Thursday at three. Study Club day is sacred.”

“Good, I have to go by the bakery and . . . ”

The look on Sugar’s face stopped Clara mid-sentence. “Good Lord, Sugar,” she said. “You look like you swallowed one of your Camels.”

“I think we’re gonna be one short for Club,” Sugar croaked. “Look.”

Clara glanced out the front window in time to see Sheriff Lester Harper helping a handcuffed Wanda Jean Milton out of the backseat of his car. “What is that man thinking!” she exclaimed. “Parading her in front of God and everybody on the courthouse square!”

 ~~~~~~
.
About The Author

Juliette Harper is the pen name used by the writing team of Patricia Pauletti and Rana K. Williamson.

Like the characters of their debut series, The Lockwood Legacy, Juliette is a merging of their creative energies.

Pauletti, an Easterner of Italian descent, is an accomplished musician with an eye for art and design. Williamson, a Texan from a long line of hardheaded Scots, knows the world of the Lockwoods like the back of her hand.“We decided to write under a pen name because neither one of us by ourselves could have created Kate, Jenny, Mandy, and their world,” says Pauletti. “Juliette is a little bit of us both. We want to be her when we grow up.”

“Patti teases me that I just don’t want to own up to writing a book with romance in it,” Williamson adds, “but that’s not true. I like the Lockwood women and the way they tackle everything life throws at them. And before we’re done, they’ll be ducking a lot. I imagine coming into the office every day and saying, ‘Okay Juliette, what’s going to happen now?’ She tells us, and we get it down on paper.”
 ~~~~~~
.
giveaway photo: Giveaway Banner for 42nd giveaway.png
.
Ends May 12th, 2015
.

.

.
This event was organized by CBB Book Promotions.

 ~~~~~

Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew and Good Luck!

To see all of my giveaways click on the lucky horseshoe below!

horseshoe photo: Horseshoe horseshoe.jpg

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm.

TeaserTuesdays2014e

Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page.
•Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

~~~

My Tease for this week is from

The Publicist

Book One

by Christina George

 

c8df8-add2bto2bgoodreads2bblack

My Teasers from pages 41 and 95 in the paperback.

From page 41:

Touring with aging actresses, one of whom was an alcoholic, a former producer who was more arrogant than anyone she’d ever met before in her life, and a yet-to-be-met assistant who found it impossible to write a single email that wasn’t in all-caps made her head pound.

From page 95:

 “Kate, listen, let’s not over think this, let’s just let it be. Let’s love each other as long as we can and when we can’t anymore, we’ll both know it.”

~~~

Synopsis

Welcome to the world of publishing. The ego has landed.

Can one woman change an age-old institution like publishing? Probably not, but Kate Mitchell sure wants to try. As a publicist with a large, respected New York publishing house, Kate finds herself at the mercy of a broken publishing system, books that don’t sell, and author egos that are often, well, as big as the island of Manhattan.

Enter the star Editor, MacDermott Ellis: Tall, handsome, charismatic, married, and ready to save the day. Then there’s Allan Lavigne, once a revered author–now as forgotten as last year’s bestsellers and his nephew Nick: Tall, gorgeous, sweet, single and ready to sweep Kate off her feet. Kate wants to do the right thing but her hormones seem to be driving her decisions.

As Kate tries to navigate the landmine of publicity, over-the-top author expectations, and the careful dance of “I’m sorry, your book isn’t on the bestseller list this week,” she also finds authors who are painfully overlooked by a publisher wanting more sex, more celebrities, and more scandal.

The story only an insider could tell.

~~~

I’ll be reviewing all three books in The Publicist Series next month.

What a modge podge of characters!

~~~

Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew!

How about you? Got a tease? Tell me!

stick out tongue photo: rr-sticking-out-tongue roadrunner-stick-out-tongue.gif

Rescue Me banner
This is my stop during the book blitz for Rescue Me by Catherine Mann.

This book blitz is organized by Lola’s Blog Tours.

The book blitz runs from 2 till 8 February, you can view the complete blitz schedule on the website of Lola’s Blog Tours.

.
So far this series contains 2 books: Shelter Me (Second Chance Ranch #1) and Rescue Me (Second Chance Ranch #2)

.

Rescue MeRescue Me (Second Chance Ranch #2)
By Catherine Mann
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Age category: Adult
Release Date: February 3, 2015

Blurb:
A rescued dog returns the favor in the latest Second Chance Romance from USA Today bestselling author of Shelter Me.

Detective AJ Parker left undercover work in Atlanta to join a small-town Tennessee police force, hoping for an easier workload and the solitude of his cabin. But the scars left by AJ’s previous work are more difficult to escape than he thought…

Mary Hannah Gallo works with the Second Chance Ranch Animal Rescue to train therapy dogs for traumatized patients. It isn’t easy, but her life is under control—until she meets the broodingly sensual AJ, who rattles her composure all the way to her toes.

After an assignment confiscating dogs from a backyard breeder reveals a dangerous drug operation, AJ must work with sexy perfectionist Mary Hannah to train an abused rescue dog—a dog now named Holly. While Holly proves to these two very different people that opposites can, in fact, attract, she also knows more than a few explosive secrets that could heal—or divide—the entire town.

You can find Rescue Me on Goodreads

You can buy Rescue Me here:
Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble ~ Kobo

~~~~~

First book in the series:

.
Shelter MeShelter Me (Second Chance Ranch #1)
By Catherine Mann
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Age category: Adult
Release Date: August 5, 2014

Blurb:
Nestled in the sunny fields of Tennessee lies the McDaniel family’s Second Chance Ranch Animal Rescue. Two new arrivals are on their way, but only one is the four-legged kind.

Staff Sergeant Mike Kowalski wants only one thing after he gets home from Iraq: to sleep in a king-sized bed with clean sheets. But first, he has to hand off his fallen commander’s dog, Trooper, to his family without handing off his heart to Sierra…

Sierra McDaniel needs a break. Her family life is crazy, and when she’s not mucking out kennels, she’s slogging through grad school. Sierra certainly doesn’t want another dog, especially one that reminds her of her father. And she definitely doesn’t want to see Mike with that charming smile of his…

But Trooper has a mission of his own. Before too long Mike is moving to the ranch to lend a hand—and hoping for his own second chance with Sierra.

You can find Shelter Me on Goodreads

You can buy Shelter Me here:
Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble ~ Kobo

Catherine MannAbout the Author:

.
USA Today bestseller Catherine Mann and RITA Award winner, Catherine writes contemporary romance for Berkley, Harlequin, Sourcebooks and Tule. With over sixty books in released in more than twenty countries, she has also celebrated six RITA finals, an RT Reviewer’s Award finalist, three Maggie Award of Excellence finals and a Bookseller’s Best win.
A former theater school director and university instructor, she holds a Master’s degree in Theater from UNC-Greensboro and a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts: Theater (with minors in both English and Education) from the College of Charleston.
Catherine and her flyboy husband live on the Florida coast where they brought up their 4 children – and still have 5 four-legged, furry “children” (aka pets). Catherine is an active volunteer with her local Humane Society, serving on their Board of Directors, fostering over 200 puppies, ill dogs, and dogs with service/working potential. She recently checked off a major item on her “bucket list” by completing her Florida State Animal Rescue Coalition and starting her own rescue with three friends – The Sunshine State Animal Rescue. Catherine enjoys hearing from her readers and can be found online daily. To receive an autographed bookmark, send a SASE to: P.O. Box 6065, Navarre, FL 32566

You can find and contact Catherine here:
Website ~ Facebook ~ Twitter ~ Goodreads ~ Pinterest

Catherine Mann has begun an animal rescue of her own with three friends – Sunshine State Animal Rescue in the Florida Panhandle. Here’s their facebook page if you want more info.
They rescue from high kill shelters and do traditional adoptions as well as help identify potential service dogs and search and rescue dogs at shelters.

~~~

giveaway photo: Giveaway Banner for 42nd giveaway.png

There is a tour wide giveaway for the book blitz of Rescue Me.

This giveaway is US Only.

These are the prizes you can win:

.
– Two winners will get a $25 gift card to either Amazon or Barnes and Noble and an autographed copy of Shelter Me by Catherine Mann (US Only).

For a chance to win, enter the rafflecopter below:

.
a Rafflecopter giveaway


Lola's Blog Tours

~~~

Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew and Good Luck!

To see all of my giveaways click on the lucky horseshoe below!

horseshoe photo: Horseshoe horseshoe.jpg

ThreeTwoOneBlitzBanner2

I know. You’re thinking,  Laura reads erotic books?

Yes, I do. Not too often but when a couple of my favorite authors started writing this genre, I had to read their books as I loved their writing.

Now I wonder how many great reads I’ve missed because I passed over books that were tagged erotic.

And with a lot of you suffering from blizzard conditions and the blahs of cloudy winter days, I thought I’d share Three Two One (321) and heat things up for ya!

Come on in and check it out. You can leave your coat at the door as it’s mighty hot in here. LOL

And don’t forget to enter the giveaway!

~~~

Three, Two, One (321) by J.A. Huss
Publication date: January 28th 2015
Genres: Erotica, Romance, Suspense
.
threetwoone 600_final_ebook_cover
.
.
Synopsis:

ONE GIRL

Battered, barefoot, and huddled under a bookstore awning in the pouring rain, Blue only knows one thing. After fifteen months of captivity, finally… she is free.

TWO FRIENDS

Self-made millionaires JD and Ark are not out to save anyone when they stumble upon a wet and shivering girl one early Sunday morning. But when you sell sex for a living and salvation rings your bell… you answer the call.

THREE SOULMATES

After years of searching, love lifts the veil of darkness, and three people—with three very big secrets—find themselves bound together in a relationship that defies the odds.

Or does it?

Love. Lust. Sex.

This trinity might be perfection… but not everything should come in threes.

WARNING: This is a STANDALONE non-traditional M/F/M ROMANCE with a non-traditional ending.

Add To Goodreads

Purchase:
,

About JA Huss
.
threetwoone Julie
JA Huss is the USA Today bestselling author of more than twenty romances. She likes stories about family, loyalty, and extraordinary characters who struggle with basic human emotions while dealing with bigger than life problems. JA loves writing heroes who make you swoon, heroines who makes you jealous, and the perfect Happily Ever After ending.You can chat with her on Facebook (www.facebook.com/AuthorJAHuss), Twitter (@jahuss), and her kick-ass romance blog, New Adult Addiction (www.newadultaddiction.com).If you’re interested in getting your hands on an advanced release copy of her upcoming books, sneak peek teasers, or information on her upcoming personal appearances, you can join her newsletter list (http://eepurl.com/JVhAr) and get those details delivered right to your inbox.
Author Links:
.

~~~

giveaway photo: Giveaway Banner for 42nd giveaway.png

a Rafflecopter giveaway

~~~

Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew and Good Luck!

To see all of my giveaways click on the lucky horseshoe below!

horseshoe photo: Horseshoe horseshoe.jpg

iRead Book Tour Logo Medium

I usually shy away from books that deal with true life evil like the sex trade. Something about the characters described in the synopsis drew me to this one and I’m glad I read it.

I hope you enjoy my review of and give this book a read.

Don’t forget to enter the giveaway!

You can be one of ten lucky winners of a copy of The Scwarzschild Radius in print or eBook.

~~~~

http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photography-manhattan-skyline-night-new-york-city-image28953902

efc96-addtogoodreads

~~~

My Review

I was hesitant to read this story when I read what the topic was about.

Exploiting young people for sex is prevalent in our society today. The research for this story must have been dark indeed and gave cause to many nightmares.

Evil men. Men of influence and power. Men that think being wealthy gives them license to buy whatever they want. That’s what prowls these pages, preying on the weak, the lost, the vulnerable. And the monsters willing to provide it for them.

Shining a light, a ray of hope, in this dark tragedy, are three young girls.

Olivia, adopted by an American family, learns she has a sister, Achara, forced to work in a brothel in Thailand. To save her, she enters the seedy world of sex and depravity and disappears.

Achara. Sold to a brothel and forced to spend her days servicing the men that come to her door, no one to turn to for help except a sister she never met, Olivia, living in America and offering to rescue her.

Rachel, Olivia’s sister in America. Desperate to find Olivia, who vanished without a trace. Or so she thinks until she gets on her sisters computer and stumbles upon emails from Olivia’s long lost sister, Achara.

I wondered I far I could go to save someone I loved. Rachel is just starting college. She’s led a happy, carefree life with friends and family. She knows nothing of the dark and deadly world of the sex trade. Yet she braves it to find Olivia and save Achara.

Her lack of experience and wiles are apparent to her clients and Rachel won’t be able to stay on the sidelines for much longer. How the author showed this to her clients and to me made her very genuine. Her bravery endeared her to me and I feared for the worst.

The scenes of sexual depravity are not written in big detail. They are shocking and the author spares you a lot of that by being somewhat brief. There’s enough to make you cringe, to sadden you, to outrage you.

The monsters are real and walk among us, going to work, paying their bills, going home to their families, and hiding behind the world wide web to satisfy every vile, deviant desire you can imagine. They look like us on the outside, but on the inside is an evil so deep you couldn’t bear to look upon their true form.

Don’t let the topic scare you off. These girls are inspiring, the chapters are short and make for fast reading, and all is not dark in these pages.

Bravo  to the author for writing about such a vile and tragic topic in our society today and giving me a bright light to follow with his strong, brave characters.

4 Stars

~~~

Synopsis

Rachel, an 18-year-old Columbia University student descends into the netherworld of runaways and predators to find her sister, Olivia, who has suddenly disappeared. After getting a job in a strip joint where Olivia worked, then doing private shows in the homes of rich clients, Rachel discovers that Olivia has been abducted by a killer who auctions the deaths of young girls in an eBay of agony. As she closes in on the killer who has taken Olivia, Rachel becomes his next target.

Author’s Bio:

Gustavo Florentin

Gustavo Florentin was born in Queens, New York and received a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the Polytechnic University of New York. He spent a decade in the defense industry working on the F-14 fighter jet and classified electronics projects. After the fall of the Soviet Union, many thought America wouldn’t need weapons anymore, so while others waited for the peace dividend, he moved on to the financial sector in New York where he is currently a network engineer. His passions include violin, travel to exotic places and exploring worldwide conspiracies. He lives in New Jersey where he is working on his third novel. His thriller, In the Talons of the Condor, won the following awards:

WUACADEMIA–Prix d’Or Best Novel
The Verb First Chapter Contest–First Prize
Mount Arrowsmith Best Novel 4th place
The Writing Show–Second Prize best first chapter of a novel.
Second Prize–16th Annual International Latino Book Awards

Connect with Gustavo: Website  ~  Facebook  ~  Twitter

Where to buy the book:

Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble

~~~

giveaway photo: Giveaway Banner for 42nd giveaway.png

Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

~~~

Click on the button below to follow the tour for more fun, exciting posts!

iRead Button small

~~~

Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew and Good Luck!

To see all of my giveaways click on the lucky horseshoe below!

horseshoe photo: Horseshoe horseshoe.jpg

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.

TeaserTuesdays2014e

Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page.
•Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

~~~

My Tease for this week is from

In Too Deep

Due South #1

by Tracey Alvarez

23009076

 

c8df8-add2bto2bgoodreads2bblack

My Tease from 17% in the eBook.

“So,” Ben said after a comfortable pause. “Piper gave you a bit of grief then?”

“She’s a pain in the butt. A genetic trait, I reckon.”

“You gonna say that around my mother?”

“I may be having  a crappy day, which is turning into a crappier week, but I haven’t got a death wish. yet.”

~~~

Synopsis

Love small-town romance with an unforgettable cast of characters?

The Due South series will transport you to an unspoilt, wild island off the coast of New Zealand.
Meet Piper and West…

She vowed never to return.
To save her brother from financial ruin, Piper Harland must do the one thing she swore she’d never do—return to the tiny island hometown where Ryan “West” Westlake crushed her heart. Piper is tough, resilient and a little wild—much like the remote and beautiful Stewart Island where she grew up. As a cop who’s part of the elite New Zealand Police National Dive Squad, bringing the dead back to their families still doesn’t stop the guilt she feels over her father’s drowning death. Now nine years later she’s obligated to return to a hostile community as the outsider, and forced to work with the man who was once her best friend and first lover.

She’s a risk he can’t take.
West is an Island man, through and through. As owner of the local pub, he lives and breathes the local community, and sure as hell can’t imagine living anywhere else. But most of all he refuses to ever fall for a woman like his flighty mother. He lost Piper once to give her the chance to fulfil her dreams of becoming a cop. But now she’s back for an unexpected six week visit to help her brother—his best mate. Maybe West wants her a little bit, maybe he can’t resist the temptation to tease and touch her, but can he fall in love with such a flight risk?

Saying goodbye for the second time might just destroy them both.

Fresh…Seductive…Heart-warming…
And enough steaminess to make your toes curl!
Intended for mature 18+ aged readers.

~~~

I grabbed this as a free download. Felt the need for some romance. I’m really enjoying it. The characters are strongly written, the back and forth between them is fun, and the romance is steamy!

~~~

Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew!

How about you? Got a tease? Tell me!

stick out tongue photo: rr-sticking-out-tongue roadrunner-stick-out-tongue.gif