Day: July 5, 2021

Publisher:‎ The Wild Rose Press

Which is stronger–the courage to right a wrong, or the fear of revenge?

High school junior Paulie Passero considers himself a social misfit. He is sixteen years old and has never had the courage to ask a girl out on a date. He thinks he’s a poor excuse for the average male…until he experiences something far worse. Paulie witnesses an unspeakable act by a member of the football team under the bleachers one afternoon. The star linebacker threatens him with physical harm if he tells anyone what he has seen. Paulie is at a crossroads. Should he protect a girl’s reputation? Or defer to the oversize bully intimidating him? Dating has suddenly taken a back seat to this new dilemma.

Also by John V. Madormo

Publisher:‎ The Wild Rose Press

If you’re a fan of J.D. Salinger’s “The Catcher in the Rye,” you’ll want to read…”The Summer of Guinevere.”

The story of a shy, misunderstood teen who has never had the courage to ask a girl out on a date, and who longs for a lasting relationship.

It was the summer of 1968. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had been cut down by a sniper’s bullet. Senator Bobby Kennedy, on the campaign trail in California, had been assassinated. The Democratic National Convention in Chicago had left a black eye on the city. And 16-year-old Paulie Passero was oblivious to it all.

In a coming-of-age story, an underachieving high school junior, who has never had the courage to ask a girl out on a date, is about to experience The Summer of Guinevere. When his father learns that his mother, the woman who disowned him years earlier, is lying on her deathbed, he decides to return to rural Leroy, Pennsylvania after more than two decades, to say goodbye. He takes Paulie along to meet the grandmother he has never known.

Paulie is unprepared for and unaccustomed to Smalltown USA. He busies himself with mundane activities until he notices a girl riding in the back of a pickup truck one day. He is immediately enamored with her. When the two finally meet, she wants nothing to do with him, but Paulie is determined to win her over. In what soon becomes the first meaningful relationship of his life, Paulie learns that this is a troubled girl with a shameful past who yearns to escape the clutches of an abusive father.

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Chapter 1

Mickey grabbed me by the shoulders. “Paulie Passero, I want the truth,” he said.

“Will you please stop? I’ve been telling you the truth. I don’t know what else I can say to make you believe me.”

“I want you to admit you made up this Andie Walker business. Come clean, buddy. You’ll feel better getting it off your chest. This is your best friend talking.”

I laughed and plopped down on the bed. This was just another typical day for me and my best bud, Mickey Hannigan. I’d lost count how many times we had had these kinds of conversations in my room. Neither of us could believe the other guy could actually get a date with a real girl. We weren’t what you would call experienced.

We were entering our junior year of high school with the hopes of erasing a bleak—no, make that pathetic—history with the opposite sex. Mickey had gone on two dates in his whole life. One of them you couldn’t count since it was with his cousin. And the other was a disaster. He ended up puking on his date following a spin on the Tilt-a-Whirl at Kiddieland. So, I guess I could see why he didn’t want to believe I had a date with Andie Walker. I’d be catching up to him, and he didn’t want to hear that.

“Eat your heart out, Mick,” I said.

“All right, how about if I just show up at the tennis courts tomorrow and see for myself? How’d you like that?” He smirked.

I shrugged. “I could care less.” I knew that would make him crazy.

“Give me a break. You don’t care if I’m there? Really?”

“Just do whatever you want.” I got up off the bed. “I can’t believe you think I made this whole thing up. You think I’d lie just to impress you.”

Mickey’s sneer soon melted into a smile. “You had me going there for a minute, partner. I almost believed this whole thing.”

I stomped my foot. “Damn it, Mick. Come with me tomorrow. You’ll see. But then make some excuse why you have to leave. I don’t need anyone critiquing my moves.”

He nodded. “It’s a deal.” He glanced at his watch. “Hey, I gotta get out of here. I’ll see you tomorrow. What time are you supposedly meeting her?”

I shook my head. The Mick killed me. “Noon.”

“Perfect. I’ll get here about eleven. The buses don’t run as often on the weekends. We’ll need the extra time.”

“Fine. Eleven it is.”

He winked. He was toying with me now. “I’ll let myself out.”

“You do that.” I waited at the top of the stairs until I heard the front door close. Then I fell back onto my bed and put my hands behind my head. I couldn’t stop thinking of Andie. This was going to be great. I was actually going to be spending some one-on-one time with the girl of my dreams. And if I played my cards right, this could be the first of many.

I thought back to how all of this had come about. It all started with Guennie. If it hadn’t been for her, I would never have had the courage to talk to Andie. Let me back up. Guennie—Guinevere Thompson—was what you might call my summer fling. All that came about when my dad asked me to accompany him to Leroy, Pennsylvania to visit his dying mother. This was the same woman who hadn’t spoken word one to him for the last twenty years. You see, she disowned him when he moved from Leroy to Chicago after he and my mom got married. When he learned my grandmother had only days to live, he decided to return to his boyhood home to say goodbye. He asked me to come along to help with the six-hundred-mile drive.

While there I met the most amazing girl. She was gorgeous. And she taught me how to act around girls. We even hugged and kissed. It was heaven—until Grandma died, and it was time to head home. For a while there I was trying to figure out a way to get back to Leroy to visit her, but when she wrote a letter telling me she was going to a dance with a boy she met at school, I knew it was time to move on. It took me a few days to get over her. But the minute I saw Andie—Andrea Walker—in the hallway at school one day, I started to forget about Guennie.

My first reaction was to do nothing. I knew I’d never build up the courage to actually talk to her. That was how it had been for two years. I’d see her. I’d stare at her. I’d follow her home—not in a creepy stalker kind of way—more like an inquisitive way. I’d watch her from a distance on the tennis courts. I even sat across from her at lunch but never managed to start up a conversation. So, when I saw her in the hallway the other day, I never expected anything to happen. But something did happen. I began to think about the time I had spent with Guennie and how we had talked endlessly when we were together. All at once, I realized I could do this. I could actually talk to girls.

And that was just what I did. We made small talk for a couple of minutes. Then I told her how I had watched her play tennis a few times. I think she was flattered I was a fan. I explained I had always wanted to learn the sport but I was kind of a klutz. That was when she made this amazing offer to meet me on the tennis courts on Saturday at noon after practice to give me a few pointers.

As I lay in bed, I kept going over what I’d say to her when we met up tomorrow. I guessed I could comment on how she looked at practice. Talk about the weather a little bit. No, that was lame. Maybe I just needed to rely on my ad-libbing abilities and go with that. Even though that strategy had failed me a million times before. But this was a new me. I could talk to girls, right? Sure. I had done it with Guennie. So, before long, I hoped, I’d be talking to Andie the same way.

Then I started thinking about how I could turn one casual meeting into a string of meaningful dates. I would have to see how tomorrow went before I planned my next move. Then again, I wondered if I should try to schedule another time together. Should I ask her if she wanted to get something to eat? Yeah, that was an idea. I hopped off my bed and grabbed my wallet off the dresser. Seventeen dollars. That was plenty for lunch. Okay, now I had a plan. I thought I could do this—as long as the Mick got lost after seeing what he came for, and realizing it wasn’t just a figment of my imagination.

I jumped off the bed, changed into pajamas, washed up and brushed my teeth. I laid out a clean T-shirt, socks, underwear, and a pair of jeans. I wondered if I should shower in the morning. The last thing I wanted to do was turn her off with an attack of B.O. Before long I drifted off. This was going to be so sweet. I couldn’t believe it was actually happening.

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Fantistic Fiction

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Highland Beast
Amy Jarecki
(The King’s Outlaws, #3)
Published by: Oliver Heber Books
Publication date: June 29th 2021
Genres: Adult, Historical Romance

When Sir Arthur Campbell leads an attack claiming Dunstaffnage Castle for Robert the Bruce, he is rewarded with both the keep and surrounding lands. As he assumes the lairdship, he finds a saboteur within his ranks. He sets a trap to ensnare the culprit, only to discover the rebel is none other than Rhona MacDougall—the only woman he has ever loved.

After her clan is devastated by war, Rhona refuses to bend to Arthur’s whims. Aye, he once stole her heart, but that was before he fought against her kin. When in his presence, she plays the demure lady, though behind the scenes, she’s doing everything in her power to subvert his authority. And she thinks she has him fooled…until he beats the lass at her own game.

Prepared to meet his condemnation, Rhona bravely stands before this man whom she has deemed a beast. But Arthur confronts her with a proposition she never dreamed possible—if she proves that she can change. If not, the desire long ago burned onto their souls just might hold them both captive for eternity.

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—

EXCERPT:

Arthur followed Rhona to the well. “I’d be grateful if ye’d pour a bit of water over my hands.”

Her gaze slid to his chest while her lips parted, emitting the slightest of gasps. By the grace of God, he liked having her eyes upon him and the way her pupils grew larger. She raised the bucket and started a stream.

“Ye’ve had practice,” he said, rubbing his hands clean.

“Aye, everyone kens me to be the bucket-wielding widow.”

He chuckled as she set the pail down, picked up the hem of her apron, and set to drying his hands. Her touch was firm, yet gentle, the linen, soft and soothing. “Ye’ve had a difficult time of it over the years, have ye not?” he asked, his tone gentle.

His hands were dry, yet she continued to rub the cloth over them and up his forearms. “Things haven’t been all that bad. Ivor and I were only married a year, and he’s been gone so long, his memory is fading. I suppose it was difficult at first, but now I have Gran to look after and my patients, of course.”

“And you enjoy your work?”

Rhona’s apron fell away as she gripped his hands. “I do. Being a healer gives me a sense of purpose.”

“Just being yourself is purpose enough for me.”

She took a step nearer and raised her chin. “Ye oughtn’t remove your shirt when visiting a…um…widow.”

“Forgive—”

Within a heartbeat, she wrapped her arms around him and fused her lips to his in a passionate, burning, demanding kiss, expressing more emotion than she had during the entire day of conversation. Her tongue swirled with his in a bone-melting, fire-igniting dance. A kiss that promised to lead to so much more with frantic caressing. The discarding of clothes. The erotic sensation of flesh brushing flesh, of taut nipples, of heady, steamy, moist—

Dear God, Arthur’s knees nearly buckled as she pressed her body against his. Her breasts molded to his chest, her mons connected with his cock, making him harder and more ravenous than he’d ever been in his life.

“Forgive me,” Rhona sighed, her head dropping back. “I should not have kissed ye.”

“Never say that. Kissing you makes me forget who I am. What I’ve done. When I kiss ye, I am the only man in the world and you the only woman.” Arthur brushed his lips across hers. “I never want to stop.”

“But I’m not the same lass ye fell in love with over that fanciful summer. Nor are ye the same lad. We both have our crosses to bear.”

He moved his palms to her shoulders and took a step back. “What are ye saying?”

“I know not.” Shaking her head, Rhona hid her face in her palms. “Whenever we are together, I am always so confused.”

“Are you muddled because of the rift between Lorn and the Bruce?”

“Aye,” she said, her voice uncertain. “Ye ken I must be faithful to my granduncle and to my clan.”

“Hmm.” He pressed his lips to her forehead and closed his eyes tightly. By the gods, he wanted her more than life’s breath, but she needed to want him with equal fervor and without a rift tearing apart her heart. The lass was too conflicted and until she reconciled her loyalties, she would not love him as much as he loved her. No matter how much he wanted to bend his knee and ask the question to make her his, he mustn’t push her. “I’ve been away from my post for long enough. I must be heading back.”

As he released her, she stepped away. “Now?”

He bowed. “My thanks for an enjoyable afternoon spent in your company, mistress. Mayhap we can sing another round of ‘The Twa Sisters ’again soon.”

With that, he straightened and walked away. It took a will of iron, but Arthur did not look back.

Author Bio:

Multi-Award winning and Amazon Bestselling author, Amy Jarecki likes to grab life, latch on and reach for the stars. She’s married to a mountain-biking pharmacist and has put four kids through college. She studies karate, ballet, yoga, and often you’ll find her hiking Utah’s Santa Clara Hills. Reinventing herself a number of times, Amy sang and danced with the Follies, was a ballet dancer, a plant manager, and an accountant for Arnott’s Biscuits in Australia. After earning her MBA from Heroit-Watt University in Scotland, she dove into the world of historical romance and hasn’t returned. Become a part of her world and learn more about Amy’s books on amyjarecki.com, find her on Facebook and Twitter as @amyjarecki.

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The Perfect Play
Cookie O’Gorman
(Southern U O’Brien Brothers, #2)
Publication date: July 8th 2021
Genres: Contemporary, New Adult, Romance, Sports

She’s playing to win.

Okay, so I probably shouldn’t have made that bet with Emmy. But come on! She was challenging me. Attract a guy in seven days? No problem.

Well…maybe just one.

The guy she chooses is her brother, Chase O’Brien aka golden-boy-Virgin and star pitcher for the Wolves. Unlike most guys, Chase seems immune to my charms—but I’ve always loved a challenge.

He’s playing for keeps.

Charlie never should’ve made that bet with my baby sister. But if she uses her magic touch to heal my arm and gets me back in the game? It’s all good.

Actually, the more time we spend together, the harder I fall. I always knew I’d recognize my soulmate when I found her—and Charlie’s the one.

Even if she doesn’t know it yet.

This new adult sports romance features a strong heroine with a soft center, a hot-bookish hero who believes in true love and a sexy set of brothers guaranteed to make you swoon.

Love is always the perfect play.

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—

EXCERPT:

Changing directions, I strode over to his table, tapped him on the shoulder and waited for him to look up.

“Oh hey,” he said as his light gray eyes settled on me. I wondered if he even remembered my name. We’d met on several occasions. His brother’s girlfriend was my best friend. But who knew with this guy? “Did you want something?”

“Yeah,” I said, crossing my arms. “You need to leave. Now.”

Chase blinked. “What?”

“The library is a place for learning, and you’re causing a ruckus.”

“Ruckus?” he repeated then shook his head. “I don’t understand.”

“I can’t be any clearer. You’re disturbing the peace. No one can concentrate.” I put some authority into my voice, then said, “I’m going to have to ask you again to leave.”

Chase tilted his head. “Is this a joke?” he asked. “Did Baylor put you up to this?”

I couldn’t control my eyeroll. “No, your dumb, panty-thieving twin didn’t put me up to anything.”

“Well, I was just reading.”

“Doesn’t matter,” I said. “You have to go.”

Chase leaned back, really looking at me now. “Do you work here or something?”

Refusing to let him see me fidget, I put a hand on my hip.

“No,” I said.

“Then technically,” he said, “you can’t make me leave. Can you?”

“But—”

“I’m on good terms with Blanche,” he said, giving a nod to the librarian, who sent him a smile and fluttery wave in return. “She’d never throw me out. This has been fun, but I should get back to my book.”

I stared him down, determined not to leave until I’d had my full say.

After a few seconds, Chase sighed then looked up again.

“Is there something else?” he asked.

“Yeah, there is,” I said, pointing a finger at him. “First, would it kill you to be more pleasant? I thought you were supposed to be the nice brother.”

Chase shut his book carefully and gave me his full attention. “Like you were being so nice a second ago?”

I sniffed. “My behavior isn’t in question. You’re the one making it difficult for everyone else to study.”

“How am I doing that?”

“Ask the three girls sitting over there,” I said, giving a nod in Delia, Sandy, and Tamara’s direction. “They haven’t shut up since the moment you walked in. It would help if you’d stop throwing out all of these signals.”

“I was just reading my book!” Chase exclaimed.

I pointed at him again. “Yeah, in this super-hot way with your baseball cap pulled low and your forearms flexing every time you turn a page. I mean, seriously. How are the women in the room supposed to keep their minds on learning with all that going on?”

Author Bio:

Cookie O’Gorman writes YA & NA romance to give readers a taste of happily-ever-after. Small towns, quirky characters, and the awkward yet beautiful moments in life make up her books. Cookie also has a soft spot for nerds and ninjas. Her novels ADORKABLE, NINJA GIRL, The Unbelievable, Inconceivable, Unforeseeable Truth About Ethan Wilder, The Good Girl’s Guide to Being Bad, and Wallflower are out now! She is also the author of NA sports romances, The Best Mistake and The Perfect Play.

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