Friday, June 29, 2018

Review: GETTING SCHOOLED by Emma Chase!

 
My Review: Yay! A new Emma Chase! And a second chance romance at that, which I love. Plus there's just something about a hot guy in a teacher/coach role.. Ooh, don't get me started. This book was actually an Audible original first, so I kept hearing people talk about how amazing Garrett was, and how perfect these two were.. and boy were they right.

I did NOT want this book to end. I wanted to stay in that world, read more about Garrett and Callie's life, I just want.. more everything. I knew going into this that I would get hooked easily, I'd fall in love with the hero and heroine, and I'd feel all the feels - and boy, did I! Get this book asap! You won't regret it.

Cover Lovin': Yum! Hot for teacher, anyone?

Recommendation: Dive right in.

Final Rating: FIVE out of FIVE stars (5/5)!!! Lucky me, I get two AMAZING five star reads in a row! Loved this!

  Head of the class... Garrett Daniels has this whole life thing figured out. The cocky, charismatic former high school star quarterback is an idolized football coach and "cool" teacher in the hometown where he's not just a golden boy — he's platinum. He has good friends, a great house on the lake, and the best damn sidekick a man could ask for: Snoopy, the albino beagle. Then...Callie Carpenter comes home. And knocks him right on his tight end zone. Back to school... Callie has a pretty sweet life herself...on the other side of the country. But circumstances — that she'd prefer to never speak of again — have brought her back home, helping out her parents and substitute teaching at her old high school. Now she's facing bickering, raging hormones, constant gossip, awkward weirdness, and drama galore...and that's just the teachers. Just like old times... When Garrett offers to show his former high school sweetheart the secrets of his winning teacher ways, Callie jumps at the chance - and then has to stop herself from jumping him. Good friends are all they can ever be. Or...these teachers just might end up getting schooled — hard — by love. Includes a special bonus interview with the author! ©2018 Emma Chase (P)2018 Audible Originals, LLC. ADD TO GOODREADS

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  High school parking lots are one of the most dangerous places on earth. I don’t have statistics to back that up…but I know it’s true. I pull into the school parking lot Monday morning in my Dad’s giant, newly repaired mint-green Buick, with Back in Black by AC/DC blasting from the speakers. I feel tough, powerful—like I’m driving a tank. I’m a badass teacher—I’ll run you down even if you’re a student—I’ve got twenty-nine more in class just like you. The outfit helps too—leather boots, blue jeans, a starched white blouse and a black leather jacket. It’s my armor. The morning air is cool and crisp today, but I barely feel it. I’m locked and loaded and ready to roll. As I march towards the main entrance, I spot Garrett and Dean and Alison Bellinger outside the doors. They pause when they see me, waiting. “Damn,” Dean chuckles. “Callie’s got her shit-kickers on. Did you dig them out of a mosh pit from 1993?” Garrett crosses his arms. “Somebody’s channeling Michelle Pfiefer in Dangerous Minds.” He looks fantastic. His hair is tousled from the breeze and kisses his brow, and he’s wearing a dark blue sweater that’s snug around his biceps and soft, worn, light blue jeans. I remember his arms around me yesterday on my parent’s porch. The wonder and exhilaration of the moment. Of him. The intensity in his eyes, the desire and possessiveness in the grasp of his hands. The scorching feel of his mouth, his wet talented tongue that made my stomach swirl and my head spin. So much for not complicating things. But I’m not going to play head games with myself or Garrett—we’re too old for that shit. I have feelings for him—I always have—our break-up had nothing to do with either of us not wanting each other desperately. But these aren’t just leftover echoes of a sweet, first love—this is something new. A throbbing, breathless attraction to the amazing man he’s become. I want to be near him. I want to know him, inside and out, all over again. And he feels the same way. Garrett wants this version of me as much as he always did—maybe even more. I heard it in his whispered words and felt it in his kiss. I don’t know if we have a future, if it can go anywhere. We have separate lives on opposite ends of the country. But I’m not going to worry about that—for now, I’m going to take each day as it comes and enjoy every moment we can. Except for now. Now is not the time for enjoying or worrying or relationship building…now is the time for focusing. Now is the time to be ice and steel—don’t smile, don’t waver. “Little fucknutters don’t know who the hell they’re dealing with,” I growl. Allison pumps her fist. “That’s the spirit.” Garrett opens the door for me. “Go get ‘em, Gangster’s Paradise.”           Emma Chase is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the hot and hilarious Tangled series and The Legal Briefs series. Emma lives in New Jersey with her husband, two children and two naughty (but really cute) dogs. She has a long-standing love/hate relationship with caffeine. WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | NEWSLETTER | TWITTER | GOODREADS | READER FAN GROUP    
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Thursday, June 28, 2018

Review and Excerpt: THE FRAGILE ORDINARY by Samantha Young!



My Review: Samantha Young has been on my radar for some time, but after this... all of her books are being moved to the top of my list. Are all of them this amazing?! Considering the great things I've heard, I assume they are. This was... I don't know if there are even words to describe this book. Powerful, maybe? Meaningful. All the feelings!

 It was quite easy to connect with Comet, probably because she's as in love with books as I am. But what I felt was deeper than just liking a character, I really got her. And Tobias... oh, my heart. Really, this whole book did terrible and wonderful things to my heart. And you need to experience this for yourself!

Cover Lovin': So pretty!

Recommendation: Read this, now!

Final Rating:  FIVE out of FIVE stars (5/5)!!! Oh man, words can't describe this one. Buy it asap!

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Impossible Vastness of Us and the On Dublin Street series comes a heartfelt and beautiful new young adult novel, set in Scotland, about daring to dream and embracing who you are. Order your copy of THE FRAGILE ORDINARY today!

   

EXCERPT:
Tobias had offered to spend Christmas Eve with me alone, considering what had just occurred between me and Kyle. Yes, I was devastated by the brief conversation. I was also confused by my reaction, because Kyle hadn’t told me anything I didn’t already know. To hear him confess his own weak will when it came to Carrie, to hear from his own mouth that yes, he did love her more than me and that he’d choose her over me no matter what was painful. I didn’t know if his fears about Carrie’s issues were founded. Maybe. I guess I didn’t know the woman who was my mother well at all. She’d never been verbally unkind to me, though. Her cruelty had always been in her indifference.
Those were my thoughts, going around and around like they were stuck on some twisted, hellish merry-go-round, when I walked into Tobias’s new house.
I tried to focus on Lena. I discovered, however, as I followed her through the narrow hallway of the three-bedroom house in the more affluent area of Porty that Tobias did take after his father in looks. There was a photo hanging on the wall in the hallway of a younger Tobias standing in between Lena and a man I knew must have been his dad. They stood outside a huge white house that reminded me of the wealthy homes featured in John Hughes’s movies. Like Tobias, his dad was extremely tall, broad-shouldered, with fair good looks.
I’d slowed down to look at the photo, and Tobias turned around to see what was keeping me.
“Your dad?”
His eyes flicked to the photo, and I hated the pain that shimmered in his gaze. He nodded and I squeezed his hand.
“Would you like something to drink, Comet?” Lena called from the kitchen. “We have water, Coke, orange juice. Or I could make us all hot chocolate.”
I tugged Tobias away from the photo. There was no need for us both to be a sad, wallowing mess today. “Yes, Mrs. King, hot chocolate sounds lovely.” We wandered into the small, modern kitchen to find her waiting on us.
“I thought I told you to call me Lena.”
“Of course, sorry.” I gave her a smile, trying to ignore the fact that she was raking her eyes over my outfit like she had the last time I saw her.
It was Christmas, so I’d decided on a burgundy long-sleeved thermal with gold sparkles through it, matched with a short burgundy velvet skirt with a dark red tulle underskirt that stuck out rock-chick style from the skirt. I wore thick, black tights and Irregular Choice burgundy suede ankle boots in the Victorian style. They seemed simple until I turned around—they had a huge gold jacquard bow pinned to back of the ankle.
I’d added a bunch of chunky gold bracelets up both arms so I jingled when I moved.
I’d considered toning my clothes down but this was me, and Tobias knew this was me and all that mattered was that he loved me, loud fashion sense and all. Still, I smoothed my hands down my skirt nervously until Tobias captured one of them in his own.
Glancing up at him in question, I found myself caught by the tender reassurance in his eyes. He drew my hand to his lips and pressed a kiss to it while his gaze held mine, and I felt like he was silently reminding me not to worry what she thought of me because he thought I was perfect.
The sound of a throat clearing broke our moment and we turned to find his mum staring at us wearing a huge smile. “Hot chocolate.” She gestured to the mugs in front of us.
Her assessment of my appearance ceased and instead she studied my interactions with her son. In fact, she watched everything Tobias did, and she did it in a way that made me think she missed him. I knew they’d talked and he was attempting to repair the damage to their relationship, but I perceived a wariness in Lena’s behavior. Like she was scared of making the wrong move—one that might cause him to shut her out again.


About THE FRAGILE ORDINARY:

I am Comet Caldwell.

And I sort of, kind of, absolutely hate my name.

People expect extraordinary things from a girl named Comet. That she’ll be effortlessly cool and light up a room the way a comet blazes across the sky.

But from the shyness that makes her book-character friends more appealing than real people to the parents whose indifference hurts more than an open wound, Comet has never wanted to be the center of attention. She can’t wait to graduate from her high school in Edinburgh, Scotland, where the only place she ever feels truly herself is on her anonymous poetry blog. But surely that will change once she leaves to attend university somewhere far, far away.

When new student Tobias King blazes in from America and shakes up the school, Comet thinks she’s got the bad boy figured out. Until they’re thrown together for a class assignment and begin to form an unlikely connection. Everything shifts in Comet’s ordinary world. Tobias has a dark past and runs with a tough crowd—and none of them are happy about his interest in Comet. Targeted by bullies and thrown into the spotlight, Comet and Tobias can go their separate ways…or take a risk on something extraordinary.

 

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Indie Bound | Amazon Kindle

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“Endearing and relatable, Comet-the girl who is searching for her place in this world-will shoot through the sky and into your heart.”

— #1 New York Times bestselling author Erin Watt

       
       
Samantha Young’s’ THE FRAGILE ORDINARY – Review & Excerpt Tour Schedule:
June 25th
Book Freak – Review
For The Love of Fictional Worlds – Review & Excerpt
Garden of REden – Review
June 26th
Blog of Books – Review
Bookalicious Babes Blog – Review & Excerpt
Kick Back & Review – Review & Excerpt
liber_lady – Review
Miss Riki – Review & Excerpt
Read more sleep less – Review & Excerpt
White Hot Reads – Review
June 27th
A Literary Perusal – Review & Excerpt
Book Bitches Blog – Review
LoveFades – Review
Smut Book Junkie Reviews – Review & Excerpt
June 28th
Catty Jane Book Lovers – Review & Excerpt
Novel Addiction – Review & Excerpt
the lovely teacher addictions – Review & Excerpt
Smokin' Hot Book Blog – Review & Excerpt
The Reading Faery – Review & Excerpt
June 29th
Ali's Reviews and More – Review & Excerpt
Bookish Proclivity – Review & Excerpt
Confessions of a Pinay Bookaholic – Review & Excerpt
Ficwishes – Review & Excerpt
Read Love Blog – Review & Excerpt
The Bookish Sisters – Review & Excerpt
June 30th
Lisa Loves Literature – Review & Excerpt
Nose Stuck in a Book – Review & Excerpt
Pervy Ladies Books – Review & Excerpt
Read. Eat. Love. – Review & Excerpt
The Escapist Book Blog – Review & Excerpt
July 1st
KDRBCK – Review & Excerpt
Once Upon A Page – Review & Excerpt
The Coffeeholic Bookworm – Review & Excerpt
July 2nd
Alpha Book Club – Review
Book Babes Unite – Review
Crazii Bitches Book Blog – Review & Excerpt
Rad Babes Read – Review & Excerpt
Spellbound Stories – Review
The Book Dutchesses – Review & Excerpt
July 3rd
Book Lovers Hangout – Review & Excerpt
gata leitora – Review & Excerpt
KM Sultry Reads – Review & Excerpt
Relentless Romance – Review & Excerpt
Sweet Red Reads – Review & Excerpt
July 4th
Bookaholic Confessions – Review & Excerpt
Margaux – Excerpt
Sofia Loves Books – Review
Sultry Sirens Book Blog – Review & Excerpt
Tales of the Ravenous Reader – Review & Excerpt
July 5th
After Dark Book Lovers – Review & Excerpt
Literary Misfit – Excerpt
More Books Than Livros – Review & Excerpt
July 6th
mustreadbooksordie – Review & Excerpt
Romance Schmomance – Review & Excerpt
Sentranced Jem – Review
    About Samantha Young: Samantha Young is the New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of adult contemporary romances, including the On Dublin Street series and Hero, as well as the New Adult duology Into the Deep and Out of the Shallows. Every Little Thing, the second book in her new Hart’s Boardwalk series, will be published by Berkley in March 2017. Before turning to contemporary fiction, she wrote several young adult paranormal and fantasy series, including the amazon bestselling Tale of Lunarmorte trilogy. Samantha’s debut YA contemporary novel The Impossible Vastness of Us will be published by Harlequin TEEN in ebook & hardback June 2017 Samantha has been nominated for the Goodreads Choice Award 2012 for Best Author and Best Romance for On Dublin Street, Best Romance 2014 for Before Jamaica Lane, and Best Romance 2015 for Hero. On Dublin Street, a #1 bestseller in Germany, was the Bronze Award Winner in the LeserPreis German Readers Choice Awards for Best Romance 2013, Before Jamaica Lane the Gold Medal Winner for the LeserPreis German Readers Choice Awards for Best Romance 2014 and Echoes of Scotland Street the Bronze Medal Winner for the LeserPreis German Readers Choice Awards for Best Romance 2015. Samantha is currently published in 30 countries and is a #1 international bestselling author.  

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Wednesday, June 27, 2018

Guest Post: Aidee Ladnier, author of WOLF AROUND THE CORNER!

Wolf Around The Corner
By Aidee Ladnier
Aidee is giving away a $5 Amazon GC, $10 Amazon GC, Ebooks from her backlist, print books from her backlist. The winners will be chosen by Rafflecopter. Please use the RaffleCopter below to enter. Don't forget you have a chance to enter every day so be sure to visit all the stops on this tour. You may find those locations here.


Wolf shifters are very popular. In fact, there are thousands of books out there in this genre. How do you write a shifter story that stands out as distinctive and original? What will readers find in Wolf Around the Corner that's new and exciting?

Hi! And thanks for having me on your blog.

This is a great question! Actually, the shifter book saturation issue is why I never thought I’d write a werewolf protagonist. I’ve read a lot of werewolf books and most of the shifter tropes like alpha males, the wolf pack in danger, and fated mates never appealed to me as an author.

But then I imagined a world where lycanthropy was treated more like a very rare medical condition.  I renamed the malady Galen’s Syndrome, using the medical convention of naming a disease after the first person to describe it. In late antiquity, the Greek physician Galen described a patient with a ravenous appetite and other qualities of a wolf. If I made Galen’s Syndrome a condition that appeared in less than 1 in 2,000 individuals, it would classify it as a rare disorder and 80% of rare disorders have a genetic component. So I could keep a bit of the magic of werewolves, I made my shifter the possessor of a genetic curse. In other words, if someone is cursed with lycanthropy, the curse becomes a mutation passed down as a recessive gene. Therefore, although individuals could become carriers of the curse and still be normal, if someone gets the recessive cursed gene from each parent, they’ll be able to shift into a wolf.

So I have my werewolf, but I’m still not fond of the shifter tropes. Just to be contrary, I set out to make his story the opposite of all the shifter romance conventions. My shifter, Frank Braden, is insecure and awkward—the opposite of an alpha. He also doesn’t have a pack. In fact, he doesn’t have any friends with the same disorder and he’s even been asked to leave his family home because his father and stepmother are afraid he’ll be a danger to his half-siblings. He’s essentially, a lone wolf. And there are no fated mates in this universe. I love the idea of a fated mate, but if I personally have to go through the embarrassing and excruciating dating dance, I’m going to make sure my characters do too. I won’t give my protagonists any shortcuts to love.

I also made my werewolf the lead actor in a theatrical version of Beauty and the Beast. I’ve known several actors and the transformation scene for this particular fable has always been either to use a mask or a double to allow the main character to run off stage and take off their makeup. I thought a director might faint with joy at having a real life werewolf shift onstage during the transformation scene. Who wouldn’t buy a ticket to see that? Especially in a world where many people think werewolves are folktales. The play would be part sideshow and part theater. Which leads to a built-in conflict—because there’s a person behind that transformation not just a spectacle to gawk at. I wanted to raise the moral question of how a director could both have an actor use a special trait without making them feel used. Where do you draw the line at exploitation and performance?

But, the book is still very light-hearted and sweet. I grew up in a small town and tried to put my favorite things about small towns in the fictional Waycroft Falls. From niche bookstores, to strange statues, and Founder’s Day bed races. Frank and Tom’s romance doesn’t run smooth, but it does skip along awkwardly to a hopeful beat.

About Wolf Around the Corner:
Frank’s family taught him that his wolf was dangerous, unwanted. Now his best friend’s brother wants him in bed and on stage. But giving into his wolf’s need for love could risk the quiet life Frank has created for himself—and his heart. Settled in the small town of Waycroft Falls, Frank is content to be a lone wolf among the white picket fences and dollar book bins until he finds himself sniffing his best friend’s brother. Tom smells like hot apple pie and his Broadway smile has Frank lolling his tongue. But when the visiting actor learns Frank’s secret and plies him with hot kisses to get him to star in his play, Frank can’t help but wonder if Tom is only acting. Tom ran away from family obligations to be a Broadway star. If he could make it there, he could make it anywhere…but he didn’t. Trudging home to Waycroft Falls to open his sister’s new performance space brings him face to face with a werewolf—a werewolf that would be perfect for Tom’s shoestring production of Beauty and the Beast. Staying in Tiny Town USA would be worth it if he can somehow convince the sexy wolf to expose his furry condition on stage and howl privately in Tom’s bed. Wolf Around The Corner, a paranormal semi-finalist in Passionate Ink’s 2017 Sexy Scribbles Contest, is a full-length fairytale romance with a side of wolf shifter. If you like your romance with gorgeous men, humor, and small town magic, you’ll love Wolf Around the Corner! Buy your copy now and settle in to watch the drama unfold! Genre: M/M Paranormal Shifter Contemporary Buy Links: Amazon  | B&N | iBooks | Kobo | Smashwords | 24Symbols | Indigo | Angus & Robertson | Mondadori ~*~*~*~*~*~ Excerpt:  The first thing he always did was take a large lungful of air. It reoriented him to the outside. His animal cataloged the smells—car exhaust, grass, tree pollen, and wait, a mouse skittering in the Dumpster out back. Frank’s urge to run built. He circled the apartments, looking for the storm drain near the landscaping wall. Inside him, his animal wiggled in excitement at the prospect of being freed. Frank shucked his clothes behind the wall and tucked them into the shelter of the pipe, out of view. Then he shifted, his hands lengthening, hair sprouting, and muzzle growing. His point of view shortened, now three feet from the ground as he blinked through the eyes of his wolflike animal. Frank couldn’t stand still any longer. He sprang into the woods. Frank ran, crashing through the underbrush and into the darkening shelter of the trees. He leaped over a shrub, felt the give of a sapling as he plowed through the brushwood. The animals and birds quieted at his loud, headlong dash, knowing he wasn’t of the forest, only disguised and playing at being a creature of the wood. His paws skidded on a pile of old leaves. Frank almost lost his balance as he skipped up and over a fallen log. Around him, the scents of the forest all pushed in on him. Here a whiff of mold, there an astringent sniff of decay, everywhere the menthol of evergreen sap and wild herbs growing scattered on the forest floor. Dry twigs snapped beneath his paws. His tongue lolled from his mouth, the fresh taste of the woods painting the back of his throat. The sun dipped below the horizon, the sky inking the tops of the trees. And Frank ran on until his limbs stopped, shaky and trembling. He collapsed onto a blanket of pine needles and leaves, moss and fungi cradling him as he panted. As he caught his breath, the sounds of the woods lapped back around him. Insects and birds first. A harsh caw from a crow shrieked a hundred yards to his right. The chirp of a cricket sawed a few feet away. The rat-a-tat of a woodpecker echoed above. And the still of twilight calmed him. When he’d rested enough that his legs would support him again, Frank began the slow jog back to the apartments, letting his nose guide him through the darkening visibility of the woods. He could smell Mrs. Reynolds’s nighttime cocoa, and Mr. Reynolds’s liniment that stank of capsaicin. The lighted windows of the apartment building led him the last few feet, and he scurried up to the storm drain. But his clothes weren’t there. The sky darkened into night. Frank knew Mrs. Anderson was out, but he could try to get the elderly Reynolds couple to buzz him inside. And hope they didn’t ask why he was naked trotting up the stairs. Or he could stay in wolf form without a tag, which meant a night outside running from animal control and/or dodging every human that would mistake him for a stray dog. Or wait, a third option. There was an oak that almost reached the ledge of his apartment window on the second floor. He never bothered to lock the window. Frank shifted back to human and sprinted across the yard. He leaped for the lower boughs of the tree, grunting as the bark dug into the flesh of his palms. Frank swung himself up to straddle a branch, regretting it as the rough wood scraped his thighs. He crouched in the tree, awkwardly trying to shield his more delicate parts from the smaller whiplike twigs. He skirted around the trunk, grimacing as a low branch brushed a little too close to his groin. There. He was now on the side that faced the apartment house. Frank balanced upright, his arms pinwheeling until he caught another branch higher up to steady himself. The leaves around him shivered on their stalks, the rustling loud. Please don’t let Mrs. Reynolds look out her window. Using the taller branch as a guide, Frank placed one bare foot in front of the other and inched away from the security of the trunk. The limb beneath his feet shook as his weight tested its strength. He slid a foot farther out on the branch. It dipped, the leaves at the tip brushing against the side of his window. Just a few feet more. An ominous crack sounded beneath him, and Frank froze. The branch popped again. It wouldn’t hold. He could make a jump for it. Frank swallowed hard. He should make a jump for it. Frank jumped. And missed the house, falling into the azalea bushes. Just as his hunky new neighbor from across the hall walked out of the apartment building and down the front steps. Frank had seen Tom in the hall that morning, carrying boxes. Trying to be neighborly, Frank had introduced himself and offered to help. Tom had turned Frank down but flashed the whitest, most even teeth at him. Frank had seen nothing whiter outside of a movie theater big screen. They’d exchanged pleasantries, commented on the weather, and then gone their separate ways. Or rather, that was what Frank wished had happened. What went down was: “Need help?” Frank barely got the words out when his new neighbor turned in the doorway. Frank froze. God, the man was gorgeous. “Naw, man. I got it.” Tom shifted the box in his arms to hold out his hand. “I’m Tom Davidson.” Frank wiped a clammy hand on his jeans and shook Tom’s hand. “Hot.” And Frank knew his mouth had disclosed the exact thing his brain was thinking. Idiot. Who said that to a guy he’d just met? A guy like Tom already knew he was hot. Tom tilted his head as if he hadn’t heard Frank right. “Yeah. The temperatures are a little warm for this time of year.” Frank didn’t dare correct him and kept his mouth shut, afraid he’d say something worse. “Okay, well then, see you around, Frank.” Tom chuckled and continued into his apartment. Meanwhile Frank beat it down the stairs, unsure how he managed not to walk into traffic as his mind ran over the exchange fail again and again. So yeah. That was the less than stellar first impression he’d given Tom this morning. And now Frank followed that up by hunkering down naked in the azalea bushes. “Are you okay?” The gleam from the safety light caught Tom’s dark gold hair as he tilted his head to peer over the shrubs. The shadows sank into his chiseled cheekbones. He looked like a brooding movie star ready to sweep a celluloid damsel off her feet. Too bad Frank was a naked man trying to keep from exposing himself. Frank crouched down farther, making himself as small as possible, hoping the azalea’s pink blooms would distract Tom from looking at his hairy backside. “I’m fine.” “Are you sure?” Tom leaned closer. “Are you… Do you have any clothes on?” Frank racked his brain for some reason he’d be naked and hiding in the bushes. “Um, I, uh, just got out of the shower, and I leaned too far out my window.” “Oh my God. Did you fall from that height?” Tom glanced up to the second floor, to Frank’s closed window and then back down. “Do you need an ambulance?” Frank sighed. This conversation was only getting worse. Cupping his hands over his privates, Frank rose from behind the bushes. “I’m okay. Just need to get back inside. I have a hidden key if you can get me past the front security door.” Tom’s eyes widened when Frank stood. Frank winced, sure he looked like one long scrape covered in leaves. He blew at the hair in his eyes. A twig dangled, caught in an auburn strand, but Frank was unwilling to expose himself to yank it out. “Sure. Sure.” Tom fumbled for his key and opened the door. Frank half hopped over the acorns and chestnut burrs to slide past Tom. Tom wrinkled his nose as Frank passed. Good old wet dog smell. It always clung to him after a run in the woods. Frank took the stairs two at a time to escape. After a shower and shave—why did going furry always lead to needing a shave? The rest of his hair receded. Why didn’t his beard?—Frank spent thirty minutes in front of his bathroom mirror, trying to psych himself up to knock on Tom’s door and invite him over the next day for coffee or to watch football. He scratched behind an ear, feeling the healing scab from a graze he’d gotten when he’d fallen into the azalea bushes. Staring at his reflection, he tried to look earnest and approachable. He could do this. He had game. “Hey, I know you don’t know many people in town, and I’m a loser, but would you like to spend time with me?” Frank made a face at himself. Probably shouldn’t label yourself as a loser. “Yo, you want to watch football? No, how about basketball? Baseball? No? What about Mexican wrestlers?” Oh God, what if Tom doesn’t like sports? “I ordered two large pizzas by mistake tonight, and I could use some help, or I’ll be gorging on pepperoni for a week.” Lame. Frank’s own gaunt features stared back at him from the mirror. Who was he kidding? He’d always be the guy who lost the genetic lottery and ended up with the family curse. Galen’s syndrome was rare, only affecting about one in 2,000, but well-known enough that most people had at least heard of it. The Greek surgeon Galen had coined the word lycanthropy to explain the shape-shifting curse that traveled down through a family tree. Like most recessive gene disorders, it only manifested when two genes were passed down to a child, leading early scholars to think the afflicted had been re-cursed or spared for a generation due to divine providence. It was only with modern medicine that curses were found to be attached to DNA, breaking and molding chromosomes like magical radiation. But despite better understanding of the disorder, the stigma remained, not helped by the occasional local television feature linking the disorder to werewolf mythology. All Frank knew was the recessive curse gene made him even more different from his family. He’d already been pushing it when he came out as gay. Turning into a wolf at sixteen had been…well, more than his father and stepmother could handle. She wanted to protect the kids, she told him. He loved his half siblings, didn’t he? It wasn’t safe to have a wild animal around children. It had gutted him. They turned him out of his own home. He’d been angry. He’d done something stupid, lashing out, snapping at his sister Robbie. It still hurt, remembering the tears on his baby sister’s face, her eyes wide and scared. Of him. It was then he knew his stepmother had been right. Dangerous animals didn’t belong in a family. So he’d left, traveling all the way across the state until he landed in Waycroft Falls. It had been hard that first year. There were a lot of adult things he still hadn’t figured out. Like how to ask out a guy who he hadn’t known his whole life. Moving from one small town to another had been a bad idea. Frank bonked his head against the mirror, gazing down into the white porcelain sink. He rubbed at a stray hair that clung to the side. But on the plus side, small towns meant he rarely needed a car. And he could shift and run if he needed. He should take his clothes with him ~*~*~*~*~*~ About the Author:  Aidee Ladnier, an award-winning author of speculative fiction, believes that adventure is around every corner. In pursuit of new experiences she's worked as a magician’s assistant, been a beauty pageant contestant, ridden in hot air balloons, produced independent movies, hiked up a volcano, and is a proud citizen scientist. A lover of genre fiction, Aidee's perfect romance has a little science fiction, fantasy, mystery, or the paranormal thrown in to add a zing. Social Links:  Website: http://www.aideeladnier.com/ Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6570769.Aidee_Ladnier Amazon: amazon.com/author/aideeladnier Tumblr: http://aideemoi.tumblr.com/ Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/aideelad/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aideelad/ Instagram: http://instagram.com/aideelad/ a Rafflecopter giveaway
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Release Blitz: CLAIMED by Maria Vickers!

CLAIMED
RELEASE BLITZ
Series: Love Seekers, Book 3
Author: Maria Vickers
Release Date: 6/27/2018
Cover Designer: T.E. Black Designs
Genre: Contemporary Romance

**While this is book 3, it can be read as a standalone.

When she was a little girl, Michaela Snow dreamed of a life full of love and adventure, but not all dreams come true. As a widow raising her niece, Lauren, she doesn’t have time to think about what could have been, and she certainly will not allow herself to think about a certain taekwondo instructor with mesmerizing hazel eyes. Meeting Evan was never part of the plan, and now she can’t seem to get rid of him. She doesn’t want him there, however, the more he’s around, the more she finds herself reluctantly trusting him.

Evan Gibson loves his life and his job, but something is missing. After watching his friends find partners to share their lives with, he wants the same thing for himself. One night stands no longer hold the same appeal they did and so far, no woman has been able to measure up to his ideal…until Michaela. 

Complications arise, threatening everything. Life is about to change. Will it tear them apart or push them together?

Staking a claim doesn’t always mean forever.
Amazon US: http://a.co/aY23EM8
Amazon CA: http://a.co/bqwji4Z

Evan

Sometimes it was hard seeing my friend so happy. Bryan had finally pulled his head out of his ass and got the girl of his dreams, and it was someone he never saw coming. Emma was made for him though, which made me a little jealous.

I’d always considered myself a nice guy, good-looking, tall, muscular, and yet, while I could get almost any girl I wanted, I’d never found the one. Lying deep inside me, a hopeless romantic waited—something most didn’t know about me. Bryan did, but then again, we’d known each other since junior high and he was my best friend/former roommate. My friend Chad, whom I met through Bryan, probably suspected, but he never said anything. Then again, although he’d be loathed to admit it, he’d been looking for the same thing…until Rayne.

Rayne was a work of art. Beautiful on the outside, but a decrepit, flesh falling off the bones, ugly bitch on the inside, and Chad had it out for her–not that I blamed him. I didn’t. She attacked with a vengeance and only thought about herself, but there was something in her eyes. Something hidden in the depths of a darkness few truly knew.

I knew the darkness. I understood where she’d gone, and it wasn’t a place many left without help. Sometimes, I could still feel the pull of the ghosts trying to drag me back, but I refused to go back there. I wouldn’t lose myself again.

“Sabum,” a small voice broke through the fog and cleared the air. I grinned and turned around to find one of my students standing behind me, rocking on her feet, her hands behind her back as if she were hiding something from me. Today, her hair had bright pink fuzzy something holding it in two long blonde braids. The ends were thankfully not as bright or distracting.

“Matilda,” I answered, biting the inside of my lip when I saw the disgusted face she made. She stuck out her tongue as if she’d eaten something that tasted disgusting and scrunched up her face. The first day she joined my Taekwondo dojang, she’d made almost the same face when her mother introduced her to me. Matilda had tried to hide it, but she’d failed miserably. I didn’t tell on her though. “Mattie then?”

Rolling her eyes, she sighed comically, overemphasizing everything by lifting her shoulders more than necessary and exhaling loudly. “I don’t know why it’s so hard for you to remember. You make me call you sabum because you are my teacher, why can’t you call me Mattie?”

“You’re right.” I held back my laughter. This little girl had come a long way in the year I’d been teaching her. Her mother had brought her in hoping that learning Taekwondo would give her some confidence. Mattie had been shy and quiet, unable to look me in the eyes. It took me a month to find out she had a pair of striking blue eyes. Up to that point, I only knew she had hair so blonde, it was white, and it was always in two French braids that ran down the back of her head, ending at her shoulder blades. When I’d met her, she was eight but very small. I thought she’d been in first grade, not third. The first time she watched a class and someone got thrown, she screamed and begged her mother to let her go home.

A year later, this little girl loved coming, could take on some of the kids bigger than her, and was always the first to show up for class. Such a drastic change. I wished I could say the same about some of my other students. Unlike her, some of my other students would stick to the shadows and stay in the background if they could. Fortunately, or maybe it was unfortunately for them, I didn’t allow that in my dojang.

“Sabum,” Mattie called out again.

“Hmmm?” I hummed, shaking myself from my thoughts. “What is it?”

Rolling her eyes, she put her hands on her hip. “Aren’t you the one that said we should always listen to others?”

“I did?” I stepped past her and ruffled her hair, giving her a small wink.”

“Yes.”

“Isn’t it time for you to get ready for class?”

“I suppose.” She sighed.

“Don’t sound so put out.”

“Hey, Sabum…?” Her words drifted off, but I had a feeling she wasn’t done. Clasping my hands behind my back, I waited, and it didn’t take long for her to continue. “Why are boys jerks?”

This threw me off. Boys? Was she old enough to even know the difference between boys and girls? Was she old enough to like boys? I’d admit that I didn’t have that much experience with kids outside of the dojang, which was probably for the best since I really didn’t know how to handle them besides teaching them Taekwondo.

“Sabum?” she called out to me.

“Sorry.” I smiled and patted her head. “Boys will always be jerks. Even when they are my age.” My thoughts drifted to Bryan and Chad. One had finally learned to pull his head out of his ass, but his wife still kept him on his toes, and the other…sometimes I wondered if there was any hope for him.

Her grimace reminded me of someone who just ate a lemon and didn’t like it. “Really? And you’re old.” She shook her head in disappointment.

I snorted unable to hold back my laughter any longer. “Why don’t you go and get ready and we’ll warm up as we wait for everyone else.”

When she ran off, her mother approached. “Sorry about that Evan.”

“No worries. I don’t mind at all. When I was her age, anyone twenty and above seemed old. How are things going at school?”

“Her teachers rave about her and she gets along with the other students.”

I smiled. “I’m glad.”

“Me too. She had such a hard time and now…she’s a different person. Thank you. My husband and I can’t thank you enough.”

“She did all the work,” I corrected Mattie’s mother.

“But you helped her along.” She smiled and grabbed my arm to squeeze it before walking over to the metal bleachers I had in the far corner for parents to watch their kids.

I was about to go and join Mattie when a stranger who appeared very unsure of herself entered practically dragging a little girl with messy, curly brown hair entered. The girl could have used a good hairbrush. The woman…I swallowed hard.Fuck me!Her white teeth were biting her lower lip and I half expected to see blood gushing from a wound any minute. Her brown eyes were darting from side to side, and she kept pushing a few strands of her straight golden hair that had escaped her bun, behind her ear. And the curves on this woman was enough to make my dick stand at attention.

Clearing my throat, I approached her slowly and said, “Hi. I’m Evan. Can I help you?”
Exposed: Book One of the Love Seekers
Exposed buy links:

Paperback: https://amzn.com/1537285920

Redeemed: Book Two of the Love Seekers

Redeemed Buylink:
Maria Vickers currently lives in St. Louis, MO with her pug, Spencer Tracy. She has always had a passion for writing and after she became disabled in 2010, she decided to use writing as her escape. She believes that life is about what you make of it. You have to live it to the fullest no matter the circumstances.

From a young age, she has always loved books and even dreamed of being an author when she was younger. Growing up in the Navy, she used to weave tales for her siblings and her friends about anything and everything. And when she wasn't creating her own stories, she had a book in her hand. They transported her to another world. She hopes that with her books, her readers have the same experience and that they can relate to her characters. 

Getting sick changed her life forever, but it also opened doors for her that she thought would always be out of reach.

IG: @authormariavickers
Twitter:@mvauthor

Join her reader group, Maria’s Love Seekers.

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