Fiction / Romance / Historical / LGBTQ+

Date Published:  July 26, 2022

Publisher: Elite Online Publishing

 

 

Secrets are cruel challenges.

Especially a secret God gave Sandra that not even He can accept and refuses to tolerate. Sandra is a Mormon girl, but this story is not about Mormons. It is about an explosive secret, racial bigotry, superstition, and bias toward uncommon people-a mixture with the power to transform humanity.

Humorous, thoughtful, sensual, and a gripping page-turner to the end, Sandra’s Syndrome gives readers a beloved heroine at a time when humankind needs one like never before. June 8, 1978, a historic date for an entire church that attempted to end racism. For Sandra, it was the first day of battle to end separation and segregation for all special children of God … and you won’t believe the miraculous conclusion.

A love story of true-life fiction.

 

About the Author

Mark Merkley is an author and retired university instructor. He has a MA and BA in Organizational and Interpersonal Communication from Brigham Young University. Mark was trained formally as a technical writer and has recently delved into the world of creative writing. He believes that humor within creative storytelling possesses greater emotional opportunity to provide readers personal understanding of characters and their experience with complex issues.

An avid reader, Mark first got his inspiration for Sandra’s Syndrome from a character in Kathy Reichs’ bestselling novel, Bones Never Lie. After spending several years cultivating the idea in his head, he decided to start writing it down two days after his retirement. It is controversial. However, religion and science must engage common ground to understand the misunderstood and accept the uncommon. That common ground is the battlefield for the victory of social acceptance and inclusion.

When Mark is not behind a computer, he spends his time playing softball and basketball, and enjoys puzzles and decision-making problems. He is also known for hosting parties and game nights for his friends. They bond over their love for travel, new experiences, fine tastes, and adventure. Love and acceptance are consistent.

Contact Links

Website

Instagram

Purchase Links

Amazon

International

 She’ll do whatever it takes to keep evil from winning!

Whispers by Jayce Carter

Book 2 in the Larkwood Academy series

General Release Date: 20th September 2022

Word Count: 77,834 Book Length: SUPER NOVEL Pages: 285

GENRES:

CONTEMPORARY EROTIC ROMANCE MÉNAGE AND MULTIPLE PARTNERS PARANORMAL REVERSE HAREM

Add to Goodreads

Book Description

  Escape or die—Larkwood Academy isn’t for the weak. When I first arrived at Larkwood Academy, I was sure someone would rescue me. After months here at the mercy of the guards, the other residents and even the Warden, I’ve realized the only person who can save me is myself. In order to escape, I’ve teamed up with three other shades—Wade, a young and carefree void, Knox, an incubus afraid of his own powers, and Brax, a berserker who seems to hate me as much as he wants me. Meanwhile, we have to hide our plans from Deacon, a guard who isn’t quite human or shade, and Kit, an adjunct professor with a terrifying power and far too much connection to the Warden. Even as I uncover the truths behind the secretive and dangerous North Tower, as the Warden takes an ever-increasing interest in me and my powers and as I search desperately for a way out, I realize there is only one option. Escape or die, and I’m not ready to die… Reader advisory: This book contains scenes of incarceration, violence and assault. There are also references to inadequate parenting.

Excerpt

I never missed my voice more than when Deacon touched me, when I opened my mouth and wanted to moan his name. Sure, there were other times it annoyed me—when I wanted to tell someone off, when I wanted to explain myself, when I just wanted to be heard. Those times irked, but the loss never bothered me as much as when Deacon teased his lips over my breast, when the lack of noise from me made it feel incomplete. Not that Deacon seemed to mind—or perhaps it was better to say he could make up for it easily. He might not have been the most vocal man in his normal life, but that all changed in bed. I looked around for a moment, noting the quiet corner of a shed in the yard where we’d tucked ourselves away. Maybe bed is a stretch… We couldn’t risk people catching on to us, which had left us finding out-of-the-way spots like this for our little rendezvous. Neither of us wanted to turn into a weakness for the other. “I missed you,” Deacon whispered in his low, rough voice against my skin, his breath warm and rapid. I loved these moments, how he lost that composure he usually had, how he seemed like anyone else. Normally Deacon was bigger than life, a guard at Larkwood Academy who even the other guards feared and distrusted. In these moments, though, he wasn’t any of that. He was just mine. I set my hand on the back of his neck and brought him closer, pulled him to my body until I could use my lips to try to tell him the things I couldn’t say with my kiss. He groaned against my lips, then grabbed my thigh to pull it around him. My ass pressed against the small table I sat on, but I didn’t care about anything. Not splinters, not discomfort, nothing but drowning myself in these rare moments of happiness. I’d lived at Larkwood for months and had mostly accepted the brutality that made up my world now, but that made these moments even more important. When Deacon touched me, when he growled into my ear, it made the rest of the ugliness of my life drift away. He sank his cock into me, and I dug my nails into his back. It always gave me this wonderful burn when he took me, when I could feel entirely filled by him. So I lost myself in him, in his strength, in the rough whispered praise he offered. Too soon, it ended. Too quickly, I wiped off and pulled my sweats back on, brushing my hair with my fingers to appear presentable. We never had much time, never got to indulge in the quiet happiness normal people could when they enjoyed languid motions and gentle kisses through the night. Deacon buttoned his pants, his expression having shifted back to the usual closed-off one he showed to everyone else. No doubt that was one reason I so cherished the times we had, because they were the only chances I got to really see him. “You need to be more careful,” he muttered. I turned toward him, furrowing my brows. The zipper of his pants was loud in the quiet shed. “You’ve got guards watching you. Warden put out a memo to keep a close eye on you. You think they don’t know you’ve been meeting up with those delinquents you seem to think are friends?” I pressed my lips together and narrowed my eyes. Of course Deacon didn’t care for the other connections I’d made—he considered all the shades dangerous, so he saw any other resident as a risk to me. What he didn’t understand was that everything was a risk to me. The whole damned world seemed to want to take me apart, to pull me to pieces until nothing was left. He came forward and set his hand on the back of my neck, angling my face so I looked right into those bright purple eyes of his. Those eyes had ushered me into my new life at one time, but they meant so much more to me now. “I don’t want to lose you, Hera. You can’t trust anyone, can’t let your guard down. Whatever they’re talking you into, it’ll get you killed.” I set my hand on his chest and pushed. He didn’t move because of the pressure I applied, but because he chose to. I could have used my powers, my ability to control sound waves, but I tried my hardest to keep that hidden. I’d finally gotten to where I didn’t do it on accident, so I kept it on a tight leash. While he’d witnessed that skill, he had no idea of the extent of it. “Nothing to say?” Anger flashed across his features, but I didn’t fear him. I knew him too well already, knew he’d never hurt me, at least not on purpose. Sure, he was a guard at the very place holding me captive, but he did all he could to protect me. “No one makes me do anything,” I signed to him. “You’re too naïve,” he snapped. “You think I don’t know they’re trouble? That they’re looking for some magical way out? Look, this place has stood for a long damned time, and no level-one shade has ever escaped. A lot of them have died trying, though. I don’t care how good a friend you think they are, they’ll let you take the fall if it benefits them at all.” Deacon’s words were callous but not unexpected. We’d done this for weeks, ever since I’d left solitary after being caught breaking into a file room. Deacon was smart enough to know I was up to something, but pushing too much might just end up making me a bigger target. It had driven a wedge between us, one that hurt more than I liked to admit. I hated having to separate my life, to keep things from all the people around me, but I didn’t have a choice. Deacon couldn’t find out about the plans I had with Wade, Knox and Brax, and the three of them couldn’t know the extent of my relationship with Deacon. Though I had a feeling all the men in my life had made wrong guesses about one another. It was in the looks, in the aggression they all showed when talking about each other. No doubt each of them assumed I was sleeping with all the others in my life. Which wasn’t true. Though…not because of lack of effort on my part. It just turned out romance was as foreign a concept to me as the economics of other countries and how football worked. Getting people into bed was much more difficult than I’d have ever imagined. I recalled all the times I’d heard as a teenager how boys were animals who only wanted one thing, how I had to be careful as a woman or I’d get taken advantage of. Yet most of these men were not taking advantage of me in the way I wanted them to, no matter how I tried to tempt them. Not that telling them that would matter. Deception was a way of life here at Larkwood, and we all had our secrets. “Don’t fight with me. We don’t have long.” “I’m not trying to fight,” he assured me, despite the aggressive tone of voice that he used almost exclusively for fighting. “I just worry about you. I’m afraid I’ll open my email and see your name on the North Tower list. I don’t want that.” To be fair, neither did I. Despite the fact that the North Tower seemed my only real escape option, I wasn’t ready to face that horror just yet. I needed a better plan, more information—anything to give me an edge. But it wasn’t as if I could admit any of that to Deacon. If he discovered any plan for escape I had, he’d just ruin it to protect me. So I had to keep that all close to my chest and play dumb. “You don’t need to worry about me.” He made a soft sound low in his throat, as if he couldn’t believe what an idiot I was. “Of course I do. You’re trouble, Hera, and you attract trouble like a fucking magnet. Don’t forget, I was the one who saved you that night when you changed. I saw it all. I know exactly how much you need someone worrying about you.” I dropped my gaze at the painful reminder. If it wasn’t for him, I’d have died on that parking structure floor. I’d have bled out because of the man who had slit my throat, the one who had taken my voice. Instead, Deacon had heard my scream, had come and saved me. Then he’d brought me to Larkwood… It was a complicated relationship. He reached forward again, but he didn’t touch my cheek. Instead, he touched the scar at my throat, the whole reason I couldn’t speak. “You almost died. This happened because the world didn’t like what you were. I saved you that time, but I’m terrified I won’t be able to the next, that you’ll do something stupid and end up in a situation I can’t do anything about.” His words were so soft, so sad that they took me aback. I forced myself to stare into his eyes, to witness the pain and fear there. For all Deacon’s faults—and there were a lot of them—he wasn’t a bad man. He wanted the best for me. The problem? We didn’t agree on what was best. He wanted me alive even if it meant losing everything else. I wanted freedom, even if it meant risking my life for it. It was an impasse I didn’t know how to fix. “I don’t want to see you get finished off because you want to escape,” he whispered. I forced my hand up so I could sign back. “I’m not planning anything.”

Buy Links

Choose Your Store First For Romance

About the Author

Jayce Carter

Jayce Carter lives in Southern California with her husband and two spawns. She originally wanted to take over the world but realized that would require wearing pants. This led her to choosing writing, a completely pants-free occupation. She has a fear of heights yet rock climbs for fun and enjoys making up excuses for not going out and socializing. You can learn more about her at her website.

Giveaway

Enter for the chance to win a $50.00 First for Romance Gift Card! Competition hosted by Totally Entwined Group. a Rafflecopter giveaway https://widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js

 🖤 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗔𝗟 🖤

 COVER REVEAL! Catherine Wiltcher’s Rush & Ruin duet releases October/November!

 
From USA Today bestselling author Catherine Wiltcher comes a seductive new mafia romance duet.
 
Cover Design: Steamy Designs
Photographer: Michelle Lancaster
Model, Pt 1: Richard
Model, Pt 2: Natasha

Add the Rush & Ruin duet to your Goodreads TBR
Part 1 ➩ https://bit.ly/3C0rFdv
Part 2 ➩ https://bit.ly/3C0hzJq
 
Influencers, sign up to review ➩ https://bit.ly/38jvKNI

My Protector. 𝑀𝑦 𝑅𝑢𝑖𝑛.

𝐄𝐥𝐥𝐚:
Edier Grayson is the King of Shadows.
A ruthless sinner.
𝐴 𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝑙𝑖𝑎𝑟.
On the eve of my eighteenth birthday, he kissed my lips and painted the stars in the sky for me, but when I woke the next morning he was gone.
No note. No explanation.
Now he paints the streets of New York City red, and his heart is as cold as his promises.

𝐄𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐫:
Ella Santiago and I were raised in this cartel life together.
I loved a girl with sunshine in her soul, until her father gave me two choices.
I walked away to spare Ella my fate.
Now she’s the one woman I can’t have, and the only woman I see.

Years later, we find ourselves in the same city.
𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑡𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑖𝑡.
My obsession is too strong.
𝐼 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑖𝑡.

But Ella should know that all shadows crave light.
This is 𝑚𝑦 world, and I’ll do whatever it takes to have her back in my arms.
The paper she works for? I bought it.
That date she made with a colleague? I crushed it.
I protect what’s mine—𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡’𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑤𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑒—even when she can’t admit it.

Even when my enemies are determined to break it.

 ★✩★ NEW RELEASE ★✩★

What Happens in Venice, Stays in Venice

A Multi Author Anthology

Goodreads: 

Hosted by DS Book Promotions

𝑴𝒖𝒍𝒕𝒊𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒈𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒕 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒊𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒄 𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝑽𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒄𝒆.

AMAZON

US 

UK 

CA 

AU 

Universal Link

Available on Kindle Unlimited

Join sixteen authors as they take you on holiday in the romantic city of Venice. The opportunity for fantasies to play out will be taken. 

Once in a lifetime dreams will be realized. Hearts will be lost to strangers. The city’s magic will weave its spell and lives will become entwined. 

But…Will What Happens in Venice, Stay in Venice? 

Participating Authors:

Susan Horsnell | S.L. Davies | Jakki Frances | Annee Jones | Marie Ahls | S.C. Principale | Rebecca Barber | JA Lafrance | Tiffany Carby | E.S. McMillan | Stacey Johnston | LC Taylor | J.A. Melville | J.O Mantel | Lily Ryan | Ana Balen 

Hosted by