Friday Finds: Romance in Every Flavor

Whether fun and sassy, fantasy and paranormal, historical, contemporary, or thriller—romance is a many flavored and delicious thing. Enjoy this week's selections and remember — if you love one of the recommended reads, come back and let me know, and share the love by posting a review on Amazon or B&N. Authors love the feedback! :)

Darkly Dreaming: A Fantasy Romance Anthology


Genre: Fantasy Romance
.99¢ For a limited time!

Fall into magic and fall in love with DARKLY DREAMING, an anthology from five award-winning and bestselling writers in fantasy romance.

Feared by a priesthood. Coveted by a god. Tempted by a slave. In Grace Draven’s MASTER OF CROWS, a renegade mage must battle a god for his soul and decide if his fate—and the fate of nations—is worth the life of the spy he has come to love.

Experience sword, sorcery, and mythical beings as never before in STONE GUARDIAN, the first book of the Entwined Realms by Danielle Monsch. Larissa’s sheltered world is destroyed when she is targeted by Necromancers. With nowhere else to turn, Larissa forms an uneasy alliance with Terak, leader of the Gargoyles. Will Terak be Larissa’s salvation, or her downfall?
Sometimes love is the most dangerous magic of all.

In HEART OF FIRE by Kristen Painter, Jessalyne leaves a sheltered life to tame her dangerous magic by becoming apprentice to a powerful sorceress, but she’ll need the deadliest man in the realm to get her there safely. If they don’t kill each other first.

Be swept away in KISMET’S KISS by Cate Rowan. In the desert realm of Kad, a deadly epidemic strikes the palace of Sultan Kuramos. Only a mystical healer from an enemy land may have the skill to save his household. But he never imagined that healer would be a woman.

Hidden at the crossroads of the world, an ancient race battles to protect humanity, even as it dies from within. Ava comes to modern day Istanbul in THE SCRIBE, the first book in the Irin Chronicles by Elizabeth Hunter. One woman searching for answers finds a reluctant guardian in a warrior whose magic is written on his skin. But does Ava have magic of her own?

Amazon: http://amzn.to/1qX7P9s

B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/darkly-dreaming-elizabeth-hunter/1120315430

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/darkly-dreaming-five-book/id915455742?mt=11

Smashwords:  http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/471319

Feeling Hot
By Elle Kennedy

Genre: Contemporary Romance | Navy SEALS
.99¢ For a Limited Time!


In tight quarters, anything can happen.

An Out of Uniform Story

It’s been a rough month for Navy SEAL Cash McCoy. Fresh off six months of celibacy during his deployment, he almost got into a hot blonde’s panties before they were interrupted. Since then, he still hasn’t gotten laid. The reason? He lost her number. And no other woman has replaced her face in his fantasies.

Then his CO asks him to keep an eye on his sister for a few weeks. Just until her psycho stalker ex is transferred. Cash’s new houseguest is none other than the same gorgeous, quirky blonde. And just his luck—his orders include an emphatic hands off.

Jen Scott is having none of it. Now that she has a second chance, she’s not letting Cash slip away. Orders be damned, he’s the one man capable of helping her explore her sexuality. She’s even willing to break her own rule—never date military men—to get the gorgeous SEAL into her bed.

Except Cash makes it clear he wants more than she bargained for. Much more. Not just her body, but the one thing she promised herself she’d never give to a man in uniform. Her heart.

Warning: Sexy SEAL? Check. Sassy heroine determined to seduce him? Check. Scorching hot sex bound to make you blush? Double check. A threesome and some man-on-man action? Triple check. You’ve been warned.

ebook available for only .99¢ until Nov. 19th from:

AMAZON: http://amzn.to/1ustfsK

B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/feeling-hot-elle-kennedy/1112120172

To buy the paperback version directly from the publisher, go here: http://store.samhainpublishing.com/feeling-hot-p-72906.html

Winner of The Cottage Next Door giveaway

The winner of the $10 gift card in The Cottage Next Door giveaway is lindarb49. Congrats and thanks to the commenters, and to Cassandra for having me as her guest this week. Natasha The Cottage Next Door www.natashamoore.com

Winners of Shadower giveaway announced!

Happy Tuesday to everyone! This is Catherine Spangler. Cassandra has asked me to post this blog on her behalf. She is out of town because of very sad family tragedy, and I know she would appreciate your positive thoughts and prayers. She's such a special person and gives so much to other authors. Let's all show her our love and support.

Cassandra certainly didn't forget about the giveaway we offered on her Friday blog about science fiction romance. Since I'm giving away the copies of Shadower, she asked me to pick the winners from those who responded to the post. So I am . . . and I pick all five of you who responded! I know I said two copies, but what the heck :-)

So here are the winners: Christy Ashland, Natasha Moore, Jerri, Cora Zane, and Pam K. Please email me at catherinespangler@gmail.com.

The Cottage Next Door by Natasha Moore

It’s tough to grasp a second chance at love when you’re holding on to the past.

Thanks to Cassandra for inviting me as her guest today to tell you about my new release, The Cottage Next Door. It's a second-chance-at-love beach romance and this morning, with the temperature only 50 degrees outside, I could use a little beach!

Blurb:

After his wife died in a car accident, bestselling author Hunter McCaffrey stopped writing—and stopped living. He’s rented a beachfront cottage to try to get his head on straight, and start the long climb up from his pit of despair.

Instead of pounding out a first draft, though, he runs the beach, drinks away his pain, and tries to ignore the vibrant woman in the cottage tucked next to his.

Still floundering months after the loss of her adventure-junkie husband, Sylvie Chase hopes some beach relaxation will help her decide what to do with the rest of her life. Instead she’s wondering what to do about her unexpected attraction to Hunter, who makes her body long for the feel of his arms around her.

As Sylvie drags Hunter back to the land of the living, soon they’re agreeing to a short fling. Just to get past their sorrow, not because it means anything. But when emotions get in the way, it’s a struggle to leave the past behind and dare to love again.

Excerpt:

“Can’t sleep?”

Sylvie started. Hunter’s disembodied voice sounded loud in the darkness. She couldn’t see a thing on the deck next door, but had to assume he was sitting in his usual deck chair. Had he heard her moan?

Her heartbeat slowed back down to normal. “No.” She held her breath, waiting for him to swear and stomp into the cottage for intruding on his want-to-be-alone time. Or make a sarcastic comment about what she’d been doing when she thought no one was there.

“This is my favorite time at the beach,” he said, surprising her with his deep, pleasant tone.

“Because you can’t see the hundreds of people around you?”

His soft chuckle surprised her even more. He was quiet for a moment, then said, “Partly. But there’s something about the ocean at night. Do you hear it? Right now, this isn’t the fun-loving shore where kids splash and make sandcastles. It’s more primitive.” He was silent for a moment, and Sylvie got caught up in the roar of the waves as they crashed onto the beach. The sound pulled at her, called to her.

“Think of the hundreds of thousands of years the ocean has been pounding the sand,” he went on. “Eating away at the land, reclaiming it. Taking it back into the bowels of the deep.”

Her body heated more, even with the cooling breeze. His voice rolled over her, as powerful as the tug of the waves. She’d known there had to be more to him than that angry, bitter man she’d seen so far.

“Ashes to ashes? Dust to dust? Ocean to ocean?” she asked softly.

The waves pummeled the shore for several long moments before he replied, “Something like that.”

The words she’d been thinking slipped out easier in the darkness. “I’m sure she would want you to be happy.”

“What do you know?” he snapped, but Sylvie thought his voice contained more hurt than anger.

“I know what it’s like to roll over in the middle of the night and still be surprised to find the other side of the bed empty.”

“It’s like a kick in the gut every time.”

“Yeah.” She wrapped her arms around her knees. “I still save up things I want to tell him about my day…”

“And then remember she’s not there to share those things with anymore.”

“I have to look at pictures to remember what he looked like when he was healthy and fit and eager for the next adventure.”

“I can’t remember what she smelled like anymore.” Hunter’s voice cracked. “She had this soft scent like powder and flowers and I don’t know what, but I used to be able to smell it everywhere in our apartment. It’s gone now too.”

She nodded even though she knew he couldn’t see it. “I used to sleep with one of Matt’s shirts and I cried all day when I realized his scent was gone.” Sylvie was pleased she could say that without getting tears in her eyes. Maybe she’d finally reached acceptance.

The Cottage Next Door is available today!! I hope you enjoy Hunter and Sylvie's story!

Amazon

B&N

Apple

Samhain

To celebrate the release of The Cottage Next Door, I'm giving away a $10 gift card to one commenter. Just tell me where you like to go on vacation? Would you pick the beach...or somewhere else?

Natasha

www.natashamoore.com

Friday Finds: Alien Encounters of The Steamy Kind *Contest*

Check out the tempting stories on today's Friday Finds, plus scroll down and see how you can enter to win a copy of Shadower, Book Two in The Shielder Series by National Bestselling Author Catherine Spangler!

Shadower

by Catherine Spangler 



Genre: Science Fiction Romance

*WIN A COPY!*



Injured in a bar fight and then stranded on a hellhole planet when her ship is stolen, smuggler Moriah Cameron finds herself at the mercy of arrogant Sabin Travers. She manages to elude him, but quickly realizes she has no good option to get off Calt, so she stows away on Sabin’s ship. Sabin discovers her just as she stumbles upon a secret that could affect hundreds of lives—a hidden Shielder colony.


Forced to take Moriah captive to protect that secret, he decides to take her to Elysia to have her memory altered. 

Instead of being grateful that he didn’t shut her up permanently, Moriah is infuriated about being delayed from picking up a crucial shipment. In return, Sabin resents the disruption this defiant and ungrateful woman creates in his life.



Having a strong aversion to domineering men like Sabin, Moriah manages to steal his ship and escape—after dumping him, drugged and naked, at a Pleasure Dome. Her freedom is short lived when Sabin catches up with her. He finds a way to make her pay, and she has no choice but to go along.



As they battle wills and wits across the quadrant, Moriah is shocked by her growing attraction to Sabin. But when she discovers he is also a shadower, all bets are off. She eludes him once more and heads to a dangerous but lucrative delivery. Things go wrong at the drop, and only Sabin’s major sacrifice can save her. But ultimately, it’s love, acceptance, and healing that save them both.



AMAZON: http://amzn.to/1uGGZAl

B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/shadower-catherine-spangler/1004168365

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/423144

Visit the author's website and bookshelf at: http://catherinespangler.com/books/

* Enter to win a copy of this ebook (regularly priced at $2.99) Two lucky winners will receive an ebook copy of Shadower, the second book in Ms. Spangler's incredible Shielder series!

To enter, mention this contest with link to this post ( http://cassandracurtis.blogspot.com/2014/09/friday-finds-alien-encounters-of-steamySF.html ) on either Facebook or Twitter with the hashtags #Shadower #ebook, then come back here and let us know where you posted (your link please) so we can verify your entry! Contest ends midnight, Monday, Sept. 15, 2014.** Good Luck! 



Want more SFR? Then read on and discover alien worlds and heroines more than ready to take on entire galaxies.

Tales From the SFR Brigade
Genre: Science Fiction Romance | Anthology

FREE

Experience love and adventure among the stars in ‘Tales from the SFR Brigade,’ a free digital anthology of eight Science Fiction Romance stories.


• A space captain discovers the cyborg she loves just might be her greatest enemy.

• A mind-wiped prostitute risks all when she recruits a dangerous stranger to help her escape a terrible fate.

• A prisoner-of-war confronts the comrade who loved her, then left her for dead.

• A space-obsessed physics teacher is kidnapped by a far-too-charming alien.

• An apocalypse survivor battles the biomech-enhanced hunter who seeks to capture her.

• A young artist must choose between her comfortable life on Earth or a war-torn space colony with her beloved.

• A daring thief is on the run from the alien law man who is determined to bring her to justice.

• A widowed rebel leader tries to save the last remnants of humanity, one stranger at a time.



From Earth to the furthest reaches of the galaxy, explore the worlds of Science Fiction Romance with stories from Linnea Sinclair, Marcella Burnard, Erica Hayes, Liana Brooks, Pippa Jay, Berinn Rae, Amy Laurens, and Kyndra Hatch. 

Download ‘Tales from the SFR Brigade’ for free today.


AMAZON: http://www.amazon.com/Tales-SFR-Brigade-Linnea-Sinclair-ebook/dp/B00H0ENUFQ/

B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/tales-from-the-sfr-brigade-jc-cassels/1115864827

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/329144 





**Must be 18+ to enter. The odds of winning depend upon the number of participants. Contest void where prohibited by law. It is the participant’s responsibility to check the blog to see if their name is announced as a winner, and contact Cassandra Curtis.com in order to claim the prize. Prizes must be claimed within 30 days of contest winning announcement. If not claimed within 30 days, the prize will either be added to another contest, or a second chance drawing at my discretion. 
Not responsible for lost/stolen mail.

Contest Alert!!! Win a copy of Shadower from guest Catherine Spangler!

Special treat this coming Friday on Friday Finds - a cool contest and two lucky winners will have a chance to grab a copy of book two (Shadower) in the amazing SFR series Shielder. Honestly, Lois McMaster Bujold, Linnea Sinclair, and Catherine Spangler are responsible for getting me hooked on SFR.

That being said, I'm very excited that I'll be giving away a copy of Shadower by Catherine Spangler on the blog this Friday to two lucky winners! So stop back by this Friday and enter to win! www.cassandracurtis.com/blog

Friday Finds: Time Travel Love

Somewhere in Time
By Barbara Bretton


Genre: Paranormal Romance
FREE ( for a limited time!)

The CROSSE HARBOR TIME TRAVEL TRILOGY

Book 1 - SOMEWHERE IN TIME
Book 2 - TOMORROW & ALWAYS
Book 3 - DESTINY'S CHILD

Reviewers Choice Award - Best Historical Time Travel
--Romantic Times

Historian Emilie Crosse dreamed of a love that would last forever
Who knew she'd have to sail across two centuries to find it?

When her ex-husband Zane Grey Rutledge showed up at her door with a Revolutionary War uniform that was part of his grandmother's estate, neither one suspected that their lives were about to change in ways they couldn't possibly imagine.

Swept back in time to 1776 where a nation is struggling to be born, Emilie finds herself torn between two men: Zane, her ex who still holds the key to her heart, and Andrew McVie, the Patriot hero of her long-ago dreams . . . .

AMAZON: http://www.amazon.com/Somewhere-Crosse-Harbor-Travel-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B008ELA6VK

Smashwords:   https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/238286

Keeping Up and VooDOoPad

 

No, I didn't get a shiny new computer, a friend brought over her laptop so I could go into SL (Second Life) for myself and "walk" around and pay on my booth (which she has been keeping up with rental payments for me and keeping it updated too) at Awen island.

I have to admit, it felt really weird. I couldn't remember the simplest things and it was like relearning it all from practically scratch, since so much had changed, even down to the controls and how to navigate.

I guess considering the last time I was in SL under my own steam was something like 2011 or 2012, it stands to reason. Nothing stays the same for very long and when you're talking computer technology or anything related to computers,  make that quadruply so. She helped me take a few pics of my avatar for posting. Within about fifteen minutes of being in SL, her laptop started to overheat and we had to use her laptop case's built in fan. After an hour, the machine was so hot nothing helped so we shut down. But the main thing I got to accomplish were the new additions to my booth in Awen, pictured below:

Pretty nifty, huh? I wish SL didn't melt computers. Because I remember what I loved about being in virtual worlds and that's the neat graphics and the odd feeling like its you really walking around and interacting with stuff and your creativity kinda soars as a by product, or at least mine did.

But until they make a computer that doesn't get fried by SL, I guess quick in and out trips on her laptop when she comes to visit are about it.

The other thing I haven't kept up with (but still thought I knew what I was doing -- of course) is the little program I used to use when I needed to "block" scenes in my story outline.  The program evolved into something else or got bought out by someone else and I sorta stopped using it and actually thought I'd switch to Scrivener since that's what the majority of my friends who write, use.

But I simply couldn't get comfortable with it like I once was with my little program (for the Mac) VooDoo Pad. Somewhere in between I decided to kick it old school and went waaay back—to index cards and pens and even—gasp!—binders! It got to be a real hassle, especially since I'm the queen of paper scrap notes. Maybe being in SL today reawakened a part of my brain that remembered there are some things computers do well and one of them is organization and note keeping, so I went online and found the latest full version of VooDoo Pad that my ancient computer could still run and installed it.

Will this keep me on track now? Yes. I think so. Or at least I believe it to be so. If anything in this world can. lol Ahh I know me too well.

Have a Mac? Want to try VooDoo Pad?

Go here: http://flyingmeat.com/voodoopad/voodoopadpro.html