Category: Book Blitz

Hott Shot
Serena Bell
Publication date: September 19th 2023
Genres: Adult, Comedy, Contemporary, Romance

Beauty salon… and the Beast

Quinn: Working at the family wedding resort wasn’t exactly on my Bingo card. But it’s the only way for my siblings and me to get our grandfather’s inheritance, so here I am, staffing the Hott Spot Spa and Salon front desk. It’s an absurd gig for a man who makes Oscar the Grouch look like a people-person.

Still, I’m a hard worker. I’ve made a fortune off my scientific discoveries, and if I can engineer groundbreaking drugs, I can do anything, right? Not according to Sonya Rossi, the spa’s smoking hot and relentlessly perky manager. My grumpy approach is testing even sunshine-y Sonya’s patience. Meanwhile, I’m not sure whether I want to rain on her parade—or kiss the smile off her face.

Then the universe throws another curveball, putting us under the same roof. The closer Sonya gets, the more I like it—and her. I want to get to know her better and let her see the side of me I never show people. Until now, I’ve only believed in what I can touch, sense, and prove. I definitely don’t believe in love… but Sonya’s making me wish I could.

A spicy, grumpy-sunshine, opposites attract, under-one-roof, forced proximity standalone romantic comedy set in the beloved small town of Rush Creek.

Goodreads / Amazon

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EXCERPT:

The person behind the desk is a stranger.

It’s a man with long, wild reddish-brown hair, a beard that hasn’t seen a trim in probably months, and thick, assertively male eyebrows with a whole zip code of their own. He’s sprawled out, wide legged, in the receptionist’s chair, dwarfing it.

He’s also vaguely familiar, which means he’s probably the groom Hanna said she’d send my way, a guy whose bride put her foot down at the eleventh hour and demanded he spend a day getting “the works.” Lily must have left the door open when she came in, and he helped himself to a warmer place to wait, even though it’s not yet ten.

“There are plenty of chairs in the waiting area if you need a place to sit!” I call out cheerily, gesturing at the comfy armchairs on one side of the room. “That one’s mine.” I approach the desk. “Let me block some time out for you. You’re in luck because we’ve got plenty of room for walk-ins this morning. I’ve got someone who can do the hair and beard, and I can do your eyebrows if you want that, too.”

His eyes widen. “What’s wrong with the hair, beard, and eyebrows?”

Yikes. I definitely got the wrong end of that one. “I’m so sorry! I was expecting a client with a beard this morning, and I totally assumed you were him. But you’re…obviously not. You must be here for something else. Massage? Or a dip in the springs?” Ugh—it’s never good to start the day off insulting a potential client, even if he’s sitting in my chair. “There’s a ten-percent-off coupon here with your name on it, an apology for my making assumptions about who you were—”

“No.” He scowls. “I’m not here for any of that. I’m here because due to circumstances beyond my control and yours and probably even God’s, I’m your new receptionist.”

I laugh, reflexively. And then I realize I’m the only one laughing and my laughter sort of…falls off a cliff.

“Yeah,” the bearded stranger says. “It’s not even remotely funny. Although I think my grandfather would have disagreed. I’m pretty sure he’s laughing all the way to hell.”

“Your grandfather,” I repeat. I’m so lost, I couldn’t find my best self with a compass and map.

He stands and holds out a hand. And I realize he actually wasn’t manspreading. He was taking up all that space in the chair because he’s legitimately huge—at least six-two and built like a warrior god. He wears worn jeans and a T-shirt that reads, I’m a chemist. To save time, let’s assume I’m never wrong.

“Quinn Hott,” he says. “Hanna’s brother, Fox Hott’s second-youngest grandkid. And your new receptionist.”

Author Bio:

USA Today bestselling author Serena Bell writes contemporary romance with heat, heart, and humor. A former journalist, Serena has always believed that everyone has an amazing story to tell if you listen carefully, and you can often find her scribbling in her tiny garret office, mainlining chocolate and bringing to life the tales in her head.

Serena’s books have earned many honors, including an RT Reviewers ’Choice Award, Apple Books Best Book of the Month, and Amazon Best Book of the Year for Romance.

When not writing, Serena loves to spend time with her college-sweetheart husband and two hilarious kiddos—all of whom are incredibly tolerant not just of Serena’s imaginary friends but also of how often she changes her hobbies and how passionately she embraces the new ones. These days, it’s stand-up paddle boarding, board-gaming, meditation, and long walks with good friends.

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Wolf’s Keep
K.E. Turner
(The Wolves of Langeais, #1)
Publication date: July 25th 2023
Genres: Adult, Paranormal, Time-Travel

FROM EXCITING ROMANCE AUTHOR K.E. TURNER

Book one in The Wolves of Langeais series

He ’s all she loathes and everything she needs, but time isn ’t the only barrier she ’ll cross to gain her heart ’s desire.

Archaeologist Erin Richardson loves her job, but the dig in France is something else. A crumbling keep, a dungeon and the search for legendary chevalier Gaharet d ’Louncrais… Her imagination is running overtime. Thank God he ’s long dead and only comes to life in her dreams. Until a mysterious amulet sends her back to the tenth century. Now her fantasy has become her reality.

Gaharet d ’Louncrais needs a wife. Powerful and handsome, he constantly has women vying for his attention. But if they knew his secret, they ’d run for their lives. Forget love. Forget finding his true mate. He ’d forsake it all to save his wolf pack from extinction. But when Erin appears, with her strange clothes and her even stranger tale, she stirs his inner beast. He wants nothing more than to claim her as his own.

Erin knows a player when she sees one. Arrogant and charming, he ’s everything she ’s guarded her heart against. The Dark Ages are no fairy-tale, and she will need to fight to survive, but the most dangerous thing of all is the way Gaharet makes her feel.

She needs to find a way home. Gaharet needs her to stay. And now he ’s found her, he plans on never letting her go.

Goodreads / Amazon

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EXCERPT:

“Why did you run from me?”

She jerked her wrist, attempting to pull away, but he wouldn’t release her, instead stepping closer. Her heart thumped against her rib cage, threatening to bust out and desert ship. It wouldn’t surprise her if he could feel her pulse pounding away at her wrist. She retreated further, but he followed, backing her into the wall.

“It is a simple question.”

Erin’s breath stalled, the hard stone wall at her back, an equally daunting wall of muscle in front of her. A big, dark chevalier, he loomed over her. Her legs trembled, the consistency of putty rather than flesh and bone.

“Last night, you seemed angry that I had the amulet. And then you came at me so fast… Look, I’m… I’m… I don’t follow the old religions. I’m not a witch.” Her bottom lip trembled despite her efforts to control it. “Let’s clear that up now. I found the amulet. It’s not mine. I don’t know who it belongs to.”

Liar, liar, pants on fire.

It belonged to him. It had to.

“And this?” He tugged at her left wrist, her watch a glaring presence not so easily dismissed.

“Jewelry.” She gave a small shrug of her shoulders. “It’s the new fashion.”

“Mmm-hmm.”

He smiled, but didn’t loosen his grip, nor did he back away. He leaned toward her, his mouth bare inches from hers, dark eyes staring deep into hers, strange shadows flitting behind the irises. She couldn’t look away. Any fear of him had fled, replaced by something far more dangerous. It had her quivering inside her skin, superseding everything. It terrified her beyond imagining she’d not only be unable to resist him, but she wouldn’t want to.

“Never run from me,” he said, his breath warm across her lips and they parted in expectation, traitors to her mind’s will. “I will always catch you.”

In one swift move, he captured her other wrist and pinned her against the wall with his body. Her mind screamed a protest. Her body rejoiced. His knee nudged her legs apart, slipping between them, pressing his muscular thigh against the very center of her. And damn if she didn’t let him.

Where had her moral outrage gone, her hard-earned determination to never put herself in the arms of such a man? They’d deserted her—overpowered by a rapacious libido she never knew she possessed. It threw common sense to the wind and laughed in the face of her resolution to remain unaffected. Her body burned for him and happily broadcast that fact loud and clear. It couldn’t have been more obvious if she’d a neon sign flashing ‘all systems are go’.

With a lick of his lips, he captured her mouth. No soft kiss, no gentle seduction. She’d run. He’d caught her. To the victor went the spoils. He was taking what he wanted.

Dredging up some belated form of courage, she tore her mouth from his, refusing to give him what he demanded—an all-access pass to her mouth, her body. Not so easily dissuaded, he leaned into her neck, the tickle of his beard and his lips whisper soft on the sensitive skin of her throat and inhaled deeply.

Her whole body vibrated in response, rolling out the welcome mat. Shifting her wrists into one large hand, he ran the other down her cheek to her chin. A gentle press of his fingers and she was facing him, eye to eye, breath to breath.

“You desire this as much as I,” he murmured.

She gave a strained shake of her head, denying his words, but when he rubbed his thumb across her bottom lip, she couldn’t keep up the pretense. Her eyelids fluttered closed, her lips parted on a sigh, her body providing him all the permission he needed. He recaptured her mouth in his, slipping his tongue between her lips. With delicious hot thrusts, he demanded she respond in kind.

Erin’s resistance melted faster than summer hail after a storm. Her body softening against his, she responded with a fierce need of her own.

Author Bio:

K.E Turner can’t remember a time when she wasn’t writing stories or reading books—as a teenager in class instead of doing math, in her lunch break at work, or at home when there’s housework to be done. With a love of history, mystery, suspense, paranormal, and romance, she likes combining more than one element in her stories.

She writes spicy paranormal romances and romantic suspense, with strong but good hearted heroes, smart, sassy heroines and an often unexpected villain, or two, to shake things up.

A Western Australian based author, she lives with her husband, two dogs, two cats and a plethora of farm animals on their property in the southern region of the state. A hopeless romantic, she enjoys beach sunsets, sitting by the wood fire with a good book, a nice shiraz and good food.

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Echoes of the Past
Ashley Packard
Publication date: September 20th 2023
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Women’s Fiction

Anna Wilson is faced with the prospect of starting her first job out of university. She worked hard for this coveted position not for the prestige, but because it paid well, would make her parents proud, and most importantly, the location was close to her grandmother, her only remaining family.

Accepting this job was a seal of fate according to Anna’s grandmother, who grappled with the guilt that Anna planned her life around her.

After graduating from university, Anna’s world gets turned upside down when she receives the devastating news her grandmother passed away, leaving behind an unexpected inheritance, a chest full of old postcards, and tickets for a trip her grandmother planned leaving in a few weeks.

Anna battles the difficult decision – to stay with the job she accepted, or embark on a journey that could uncover truths about herself and the untold stories of her grandmother’s past.

Goodreads / Purchase

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EXCERPT:

“I didn’t have a choice then, but I do now,” I said, with a mixture of nostalgia and sorrow filling my chest as I sat on the bench across from an old bouquet of crinkled, dried flowers. The soft breeze rustled the autumn leaves, leaving a crisp scent lingering in the wind. The sun dipped over the horizon, casting a warm glow against my face as I sat in this place of quietude.

“Mom, Dad,” I whispered, taking a deep breath, “I miss you so much. I need your help now more than ever before.” I knew that coming here today was necessary – I needed their guidance, I was so confused.

I sat there and looked around the well-tended lawn and the sun’s reflection against the pond nearby. I kneeled down to replace the old bouquet with the new, trying to avert my eyes, but they were anchored on rereading the etched inscription for the millionth time:

“Emily & Liam Wilson, Beloved Parents, May they always rest in peace, Forever in our hearts.”

I could almost hear my father’s voice saying, “There’s no ‘cannot ’in our dictionary at home. I crossed it out, it doesn’t exist!”

Is that really true, Dad? Right then, it felt impossible. I already had a plan in place, a prestigious job lined up, and now this. A completely unexpected option. I felt a tear run down my cheek and brushed it away with my sleeve.

Life hasn’t been the same since you dropped me off at Grandma’s. None of us could have predicted what happened next.

“I think I know what I want to do, but I’m so scared.”

Memories came flooding back, each one flipping through my mind like snippets of a film.

***

“Anna, my dear,” Charlotte said gently, but heavy with melancholy as she opened the screen door from the back side of her house. Anna was hula-hooping and stopped, sensing that something was off by the sound of her grandmother’s tone, and came over to her.

“There’s something I need to tell you.”

“What is it, Grandma? What’s wrong?”

Anna watched as Charlotte fell to her knees, took her hands in her own, tears streaming down her cheeks, and said, “I just got a phone call. There’s been an accident and your parents…I’m so sorry, they’ve passed away.”

Anna froze. Shock washed over her, as she attempted to grasp her grandmother’s words. Her eyes started to feel puffy and swollen with tears. A whirlwind of thoughts and emotions raced through her mind. How could this happen? It was a vacation.

Charlotte pulled her in closely as they wrapped their arms around each other. Both acknowledged that neither of their lives would ever be the same again.

Author Bio:

Ashley Packard was born and raised in the suburbs outside of Boston, Massachusetts. She currently resides in Berlin, Germany with her husband Zac and their two cats Emmy and Zelda. They moved to Germany in 2022 as newlyweds after getting married in Iceland. “Echoes of the Past” is her debut novel. She has a passion for traveling, telling stories, and taking photographs. You can find her latest work and updates on http://www.ashleypackard.com.

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Children’s Book

Date Published: Sept. 14th 2023

Publisher: Jan-Carol Publishing, Inc.

 

Delightful illustrations bring you inside Grandpa Charlie Green’s mountainside farmhouse. Join Maggie the cat, Pip the goat, Grandpa Charlie Green, Daddy, and of course, little Wilhelmina Olive Blessing, as she tells us this sweet wintertime story. What do they do to get little Maggie home? Join the fun. Read out loud yourself or read along with others! You will love the story of Maggie, the cat who comes home for Christmas.

 

About the Author

Julia spent many winters in the mountains along with her little dog, Chloe, and her sweet husband, Kent. She continues to live in Atlanta, but her heart is really in those woods. 

One of her favorite things ever was hearing her first graders read aloud. She sometimes wrote for the government and companies, and later wrote descriptions of homes. She even spent time as what is called a roustabout!

Today, she presents her first ever storybook! She hopes many children will read the story aloud! She continues to visit her mountainside cabin often. She lives in Atlanta along with Kent and two sweet cats named Rigby and Linus. One of these days, she’s hoping to get a little goat.

 

Contact Link

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Purchase Links

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Publisher

Almost Heaven is a dark, emotional tale of how the power of love can heal even the deepest of wounds.

This is my stop during the book blitz for The Final Haunt by Kat Mayor. The Final Haunt is the fourth and final book in the Spirit Chasers series.

The first book in this series, The Spirit Chaser, is available for free here.

This book blitz is organized by Lola’s Blog Tours. The book blitz runs from 18 till 24 September. See the tour schedule here.

The Final Haunt (The Spirit Chasers #4)
By Kat Mayor
Genre: Horror
Age category: Adult
Release Date: 19 September 2023

Blurb:
Third Eye Redesigned
Casey faces a long, arduous recovery. Her near-death experience has left her with the loss of her human sight. It has also left her with abilities she never had before.

SCI Realigned
The Spirit Chasers are back, investigating the most haunted locations in America. After all, these ghosts aren’t going to cross themselves over. This season they take on the legendary Hillendahl Mansion and an abandoned psychiatric hospital, as well as homes with an evil and bloody history.

Investigation Rewind
Some places are too evil—Enchanted Hill should be left alone. Lurking in the background is a demonic entity they just can’t escape. If they brave it, they’re going to need every supernatural gift at their disposal to defeat an ancient evil that threatens to destroy them all.

Links:
– Goodreads
– Bookbub
– Amazon
– B&N
– Kobo
– Apple
– Smashwords



About the Author:
I am a native Texan and have lived in the Houston area for most of my life. I am a wife and mom who loves to read. When I’m not kicking an idea around in my head for a story, I read and review books on Goodreads. Occasionally, I sleep. Author of The Spirit Chaser Series and Murder of a Mommyvlogger. Author of the Circles series under the name KM Montemayor.

Author links:
– Facebook
– Instagram
– Goodreads
– Amazon

Moonlight Rip Tide
Yurie Kiri
(Murder and Magic, #4)
Publication date: September 5th 2023
Genres: Adult, Paranormal, Thriller

Want to go for a ride in a classic car? Park by the ocean? Sounds nice huh?

Mona found the man and his car, a beautiful, old Ferrari, very attractive. Sure, she’d go for a ride with him to look at the ocean, the party was boring anyway. Maybe by the time they got back things would liven up a bit…

She felt the bag tighten around her neck, cutting off her air supply. This cannot be happening. She gasped and struggled, but it was no use. He was as strong as he was classically handsome, a real Hollywood leading man type. Everything went dark as she lost consciousness, her last thought was about the mistake she’d made threatening to tell Danny’s wife…

Susan felt that someone was stalking her. She’d gotten several strange calls attempting to make appointments for private exercise and aerobics lessons. Dicky and the cops had wrecked her apartment and she needed to work to get a new place but she was afraid to take on an unknown client. What should she do?

“Get in the car or your pregnant friend is dead!” he said hoarsely. Susan must save Anne, but how?

Goodreads / Amazon

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EXCERPT:

Prologue

Ben Bowen pulled to a stop, looked at the woman sitting next to him, revved the 4-cam V12 engine once then parked the classic 1967 Ferrari 275 GTS convertible on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. His parking spot was in a deserted, crumbling cliff-side part of Rancho Palos Verdes near the famous Pacific Golf Course, west of the LAX airport. Occasionally a jetliner, either leaving or arriving the area would soar high overhead. In between the faint sounds of passing jets, one could hear the surf crashing loudly on the rocks far below, with large waves filling a cove famous for its vicious, deadly rip tide.

“So, do you bring all of your girls to this spot?” Mona asked with a smile when the car’s noisy, smelly engine shut down. She loved sex and adventure which was why she’d gone to the party at Danny Trapp’s house near the golf course. She’d expected to find even more fun at the huge house belonging to one of the richest men in Los Angeles and so far she hadn’t been disappointed. Danny and his string of car dealerships up and down all of California, Nevada and Arizona were worth billions of dollars and along with all that money were special, very expensive cars like the old Ferrari she had ridden in, out to the cliffs with Danny’s friend Ben, who was a truly beautiful young man.

“Of course!” Ben said, sliding the seat back as far as it would go. He loved Danny’s old Ferrari convertible for the way its engine sounded when he revved it and for the way he could move the seats back far enough to fuck women. “Look at how far back the seat goes…” He looked at Mona and hoped she’d take the hint quickly. He wanted to take care of her then get back to the party before too many people might realize that he had gone off with her. Although he’d taken care to not be seen leaving with Mona, some of the people at the party might be able to put two and two together… and that could be bad.

“Cool,” Mona said with a smile at Ben’s bulging crotch. “Want to fuck me here, now big boy?”

“Certainly!” Ben said smiling back at her. He looked at her as she unbuttoned her blouse. Mona was approaching 40 which made her desperate and a little crazy too, he thought. Crazy enough to threaten Danny Trapp with exposure. She’d fucked just about everyone, including Danny and now she wanted money in exchange for not telling Danny’s fourth or was it his fifth wife about their steamy affair. Anyway, Mona was older but she was still quite attractive with a great body and a beautiful face beneath a head of dark, luxurious curly hair made even more attractive with the oriental vanilla fragrance of Dior’s Hypnotic Poison.

“Aren’t you going to get ready, baby?” Mona asked as she pulled her dress up then removed her brief underwear.

“I am always ready for you, Mona,” Ben said, unzipping his pants and giving Mona a peak of his oversized penis.

“Now that’s what I like in a man!” Mona said with a grin. “A big dick!” She turned around, got on her knees then stepped across and straddled Ben in preparation for fucking him with the old Ferrari’s steering wheel pressing against her butt.

“Want to try a plastic bag?” Ben said with a grin. “You know like we were talking about at the party? If we can deprive your brain of just a little oxygen for only a few seconds, it won’t hurt and your orgasm will be ten times more intense…” He looked directly into her brown eyes and smiled seductively.

“Promise?” Mona said with glistening eyes. “Promise me it will be great?” She loved sex and she loved the size of his dick. Fucking him might be the best sex of the party but she’d had to fuck a few more guys to get a good comparison, something she intended to do that evening.

“Of course!” Ben said, pulling a plastic bag out from where he’d stashed it, beneath the driver’s seat. “I promise you, this trick will blow your fucking mind baby! You’ll never forget it! Just let me slip this bag over your beautiful hair. I won’t even mess up your lipstick…”

“Thanks!” Mona said, feeling the building excitement in her body. She grinned and ducked down to let Ben slip the plastic bag over her head.

“It will be so great!” Ben said as he gently slipped the fresh plastic bag over her head while she grinned at him like a fucking idiot and squirmed around on his lap, pressing herself against his stiffening dick. There was no way he was really going to fuck her too, not without a condom needed to prevent leaving any evidence behind. But he only had two hands, both of which were now in use and therefore he had no chance of putting on some protection. He held her close and then closed off the air in the bag with his big, strong hands… Once she stopped struggling he was going to toss her off the cliff. When her broken body was found on the rocks down below, provided she just didn’t wash out to sea with the heavy surf and its dangerous rip tide, the county coroner would rule it either an accident or a suicide, both of which were good outcomes as far as he and Danny were concerned.

Author Bio:

Yurie Kiri’s novel Moonlight Beach won the 2020 Hollywood Book Festival’s award for Genre Fiction. The second book of the series is called Moonlight Canyon and the third book is called Moonlight Rocks.

Yurie Kiri’s novel Moonlight Beach is packaged in Moonlight Duology with its sequel Moonlight Canyon. “Moonlight Duology” has been selected as the winner in the “Sequels” category for the 2023 Los Angeles Book Festival. These two books have been described as something like Carlos Castaneda’s “The Teachings of Don Juan…” combined with Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road” only more intense.

Yurie Kiri is currently working on the next book in the series which may be called “Moonlight Riptide” since nothing is more dangerous than getting caught in a riptide at night. This book, tentatively to be released in the fall of 2023, will pit Susan and her friends against Moonlights Rocks’ Sam and his evil buddies. It will be a classic good versus evil story that will keep you guessing until the last page.

In Yurie Kiri’s Tokyo Games, the game character drags the player into a malevolent web of corrupt politicians, despotic religious orders, and ancient, flesh-eating mythological monsters. Yurie’s novel Osaka Games, the second book in the Games series won the 2022 Beach Book Festival’s award for Genre Fiction. Like in Tokyo Games the game character gets dragged into battles with gangsters, corrupt businessmen and Samurai ghosts while struggling to deal with body swappers.

New York Stories, Yurie’s most recent book was the winner of “Unpublished” fiction category in 2022 New England Book Festival. An Entrada Publishing – Beta Reader said, “I loved the feel of the story and the pacing. It [New York Stories] is unique and a little quirky, while tackling ideas that are very possible in today’s society….

Yurie Kiri is a shy, secretive person who lives on a boat, cruising between various ports in the Pacific Ocean. Sailing, writing, and photography are Yurie’s primary passions. Since Yurie’s beloved cat, Fluffy, knows where all the bodies are buried, she’s not allowed to leave Yurie’s sight.

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Six Feet Under
Elice Nange
(Sin and Sinuosity, #3)
Publication date: September 12th 2023
Genres: Adult, Romance, Suspense

Everything has a price. A price we all pay — in life and in death.

Determined not to follow in his father’s footsteps, Oscar Hyun carved out his own path in life. On the surface, he has everything. Money, power, and prestige. Except for one thing — his elusive soulmate.

Or so everyone says.

Fueled by the saying ‘once bitten, twice shy, ’he’s busy enough as it is and has no time for such trivial matters.

Until she waltzes into his life.

A woman whose reputation precedes her as the illegitimate daughter of one of the deadliest Mafia families in the Midwest. A woman who leads a privileged and sheltered life, and one he should have no business getting involved with.

Courtney Sotelo.

An innocent she is not. Nor is she the naive tomboy everyone thinks she is. That part of her is long dead, snuffed out of existence by the scars from her past. And in its place is something dangerous. Something deadlier.

A weapon.

His soulmate in more ways than one.

Like him, she wants what she wants — consequences be damned.

Note: This book can be read as a STANDALONE in the Sin and Sinuosity series.

Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iBooks / Kobo

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Author Bio:

Elice Nange is an author currently residing in the USA. She writes from the heart. Stories often address sensitive subjects like racism, sexual orientation, religion, discrimination, etc.

She may or may not be obsessed with Maya Angelou, ice cream, and the color purple not necessarily in that order

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Ragtown
Kelly Stone Gamble
Publication date: September 12th 2023
Genres: Adult, Historical

Helen Carter lives in the back seat of her father’s Model T in the harsh Nevada desert, surrounded by thousands of desperate souls trying to endure the hardships of the Great Depression. When her father dies while working on the Hoover Dam diversion tunnels, she finds herself alone. In this unforgiving landscape where marriage, prostitution, and starvation seem to be her only viable choices, Helen is determined to defy society’s expectations of a young woman and create her own American dream. She relies on her resourcefulness to survive but soon realizes she can’t go it alone.

Ezra Deal, a young dam worker, brought his sister to Nevada in search of the father of her child, only to have the man reject her. Tragically, both his sister and the baby pass away during childbirth, leaving Ezra with a profound sense of guilt. Determined to distance himself from any further responsibilities, he focuses on his job and locating the man who callously denied his sister. But when he learns that his friend Helen is running from not only the law but also a Las Vegas gangster, he must decide between his independent lifestyle and helping her.

As Helen and Ezra grow closer and become more invested in the diversion of the Colorado River from its course, their lives parallel this monumental change. Ezra can picture building a life with Helen, but she has other ideas. With the help of a thirteen-year-old runaway, a few prostitutes, a dead desperado, and Ezra, Helen embarks on a journey to live life on her terms.

Incorporating actual dramatic events gleaned from the oral histories of the dam workers, Ragtown highlights a time in American history when ordinary men and women overcame the challenges of the Great Depression and thrived.

Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iBooks / Kobo / Google Play

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EXCERPT:

EZRA

When we reached the camp, a circle of ten or so men surrounded another, who quickly shifted from one man to the next, cussing and threatening them with a hayfork. In the center of the circle, two small figures lay naked on the ground. Their hands and legs were spread wide apart and appeared to be tied to tent stakes. They weren’t moving.

Ben was coughing uncontrollably when he reached us. “Dear Lord,” he said in between coughs. “What the hell happened?”

“One of the boys gave a can of beans to Johnny-behind-the-rock without asking his daddy first.

They’ve been out there for over an hour now,” Helen said.

“Where did he get a hay fork?”

“He used it for a tent pole. Tore down the whole thing to get to it.”

I alternated my stare between the man jabbing at the spectators and the two small bodies on the ground. I didn’t want to get stabbed, but somehow, we had to get to those boys, and none of the other men seemed too keen on making a move.

Ben whispered something to Helen, and I heard her say under her breath, “If Ranger finds out we have a gun—”

“No.” I reached for Ben’s arm. “You’ll get fired. You can’t do that.”

Ben shook his arm loose. “Those boys are gonna die before Ranger gets here. I can’t let that happen.”

I could see the boys clearly now. They couldn’t be more than six or seven. Their skin was as red as a cock’s comb. I walked toward the circle, trying to focus on the man with the hay fork while others in the crowd tried to reason with him to no avail.

Too much going on and not enough sleep, or maybe I wasn’t thinking clearly, but as he turned his back to me to jab his weapon at someone else, I broke the circle and tackled him from behind. We hit the rocky ground together, me landing on top, the hay fork a few feet away.

The man struggled against me, and I hit him square in the temple with a closed fist. Then another. And another. I felt all the anger inside of me boiling up—anger at my father, at Billy, and even at Grace for dying on me, and I hit him again. He bucked and threw me off him, swearing as he rolled over. He tried to get to his feet, but I kicked him hard in the abdomen with my booted foot, throwing him back to the ground. I grabbed the hay fork and raised it high over my head, directly above him. His face tensed, and his dark eyes filled with anger.

As I lowered the fork, a strong hold around my midsection pulled me away, and I missed my mark by inches. “That’s enough, son,” Ben said from behind me. Four men held the offender down and, after untying the boys, hog-tied him with the same rope to keep him until Ranger arrived.

The boys ’skin had started to blister, and they were covered with red ants. I turned away, unable to look at them, and focused on Helen. “Are they alive?”

“Barely.”

Author Note: Johnny-behind-the-rock was mentioned in one of the many oral histories related to Ragtown. Too old to be employed on the dam project, he lived alone behind a large boulder with nothing to his name but the clothes he wore. He rarely came from behind his rock, moving throughout the day to stay in a shady spot. He rarely spoke and survived on what others gave him. He was known only as Johnny-behind-the-rock. I don’t know his story, I’m not sure anyone does, but I’m sure it was tragic to live as he did. I wanted to remember him in some way, even if it is only a mention in a work of fiction.

The ant scene is a fictionalized account gleaned from a true event that took place in Ragtown. I included it to show the cruelty that desperation can breed.

Author Bio:

I want readers to take something away from my books and short stories: something memorable, whether it be an interesting protagonist, an emotion or a moment in time.

Depending on what characters decide to sit beside me on a particular day, I may write historical fiction or quirky, dark humor.

My interests are as diverse as my writing. I am at home fishing on a river, riding horses in the mountains, reading on a beach, hiking through the desert or playing pirate with my friends.

I don’t believe in growing old and I refuse to grow up.

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