Friday, November 2, 2018

RELEASE BLITZ - CHOOSING HEART OR HOME BY CHRIS KARLSEN


Title: Choosing Heart or Home 
Author: Chris Karlsen 
Genre: Victorian Historical Romance/ Holiday Fiction 
Release Date: November 1, 2018 



Christmas, 1889
The widowed Victoria reigns over an empire the “sun never sets on,” and London is bright with holiday decorations. Detective Rudyard Bloodstone is Holborn Station’s lead investigator. With his career moving along well, Rudyard’s year got even better after meeting London music hall star, Honeysuckle Flowers.
As he and his lady begin to celebrate the holidays, Rudyard grows homesick for Wales and for his family there. He makes plans to see his parents and thinks it is the perfect time to introduce Honeysuckle to them.
His joyful vision of how the visit will go fades, when to his unhappy surprise, his mother paints Honeysuckle with a trollop’s brush. His mother is firm: he is loved and missed and most welcome to the family home but not his lady. Loyalty to his parents is challenged by his love for Honeysuckle. He must choose between them, and to choose one means the risk of losing the other.  





“This is my Mum, Emma, and Dad, Davy. Mum, Dad, this is the gentleman I wrote you about, Rudyard Bloodstone.” Honeysuckle smiled up at him as she spoke his name.
Ruddy extended his hand to her father. “Nice meeting you.”
Her father pulled the blonde wig of fat curls from his head before shaking hands. “We were hoping to meet you.”
Her dad still wore his heavy Cinderella’s wicked stepsister makeup: Cherry red lipstick, a deep pink smear over his cheekbones and kohl-lined eyes. Over the years, Ruddy had interviewed a handful of men in women’s makeup. They ran the gamut from witnesses, to victims, to suspects. None were in the theatre. It was hard to hold a snicker back with most of them.
Ruddy turned to her mother and with a slight bow of his head. “Mrs. Fowler.”
“Please, it’s Emma and Davy.” She still wore her stage makeup as well. Hers wasn’t as extreme as her husband’s but Honeysuckle had said her role was part of the chorus.
Her parents were average height and a couple inches shorter than Honeysuckle. Silver strands streaked the brown hair of each. Davy was right, Honeysuckle took her looks from Emma. She had her mother’s thick eyelashes and full mouth even her petite nose that turned up slightly at the tip.
Davy brought a second chair over and placed it in front of a table covered in jars, sponges, and brushes. “Please sit.” He gestured to the chairs and joined Emma on the dressing table bench seat. “Is everything still good in London? You said in your letter you were doing well.”
“It’s all fine, Dad.”
“This is such a marvelous surprise, seeing you,” Emma said. The bodice of her gown opened as she bent to show a lot of cleavage where a red corset pushed her breasts high. Ruddy glanced at the sight and immediately raised his eyes, fixing his attention on Emma’s face. She released Honeysuckle’s hand and sat back. In his peripheral vision Ruddy saw a flash of white as the lower half of the gown parted. He continued maintaining his attention on her face.
“We should go someplace special tonight to celebrate being together,” Davy said.
“Actually Dad, we’re here for a reason other than social,” Honeysuckle replied.
Emma adjusted her robe so it didn’t gap open top or bottom, though not the faintest pink tinged her cheeks at the exposure. Honeysuckle had warned him her parents weren’t bashful types. The only time Ruddy had ever seen his mother’s undergarments was on wash days when they hung on the line.
“What do you need sweetie?” Davy asked.
“As I recall, the panto ends today.” Emma and Davy nodded. “Instead of going to dinner a special place, I need your talents to help me put on a fundraiser for a good cause. It’s in Brecon.”
“What’s the benefit for?” Davy asked.
“A plaque for the lost loved ones fallen in battle,” Ruddy answered. “But the village can’t afford the stonework. You’d be making a lot of folks happy.”
“Of course, we’ll do it,” Davy said, Emma nodding in agreement.
“When?” Emma asked.
“By Christmas Eve.”
“Christmas Eve!” Emma’s brows shot up. “How can we put on a show that fast?”
“You don’t have to put on a new routine. Just your promenade skit, a song or two, and I’ll do the rest of the entertaining,” Honeysuckle said. “I think we have the makings for a fun show.” She clasped Ruddy’s face in her palms and laid a huge kiss on his lips. “We are on our way, darling.






I was born and raised in Chicago. My father was a history professor and my mother was, and is, a voracious reader. I grew up with a love of history and books. My parents also love traveling, a passion they passed onto me. I wanted to see the places I read about, see the land and monuments from the time periods that fascinated me. I’ve had the good fortune to travel extensively throughout Europe, the Near East, and North Africa. I am a retired police detective. I spent twenty-five years in law enforcement with two different agencies. My desire to write came in my early teens. After I retired, I decided to pursue that dream. I write three different series. My paranormal romance series is called, Knights in Time. My romantic thriller series is Dangerous Waters. The newest is The Bloodstone Series. Each series has a different setting and some cross time periods, which I find fun to write. I currently live in the Pacific Northwest with my husband and five wild and crazy rescue dogs.



Thursday, November 1, 2018

RELEASE BLITZ - LULLAY BY FREYA BARKER



Title: LuLLaY 
Author: Freya Barker 
Genre: Holiday Romance/ Contemporary Romance 
Release Date: November 1, 2018 
Cover Designer: Freya Barker 



Faith failed him.
Ambition drove her.
Serendipity brought them together.
They’ve never met, but their paths run in the same direction—home for the holidays.
Yet their reasons for leaving are as different as the reasons they return.
Meeting by chance along a 1400 mile stretch of highway when a snowstorm grinds traffic to a halt, they have no choice but to jointly ride it out.
Exposing a common thread, leading them from the past to the present, it’s through the innocent eyes of a toddler, they discover a future.


 





Freya Barker loves writing about ordinary people with extraordinary stories. 
Driven to make her books about 'real' people; with characters who are perhaps less than perfect, but just as deserving of romance, thrills and chills, and their own slice of happy.
A recipient of the RomCon “Reader’s Choice” Award for best first book, “Slim To None”, and Finalist for the Kindle Book Award with “From Dust”, Freya has not slowed down. 
She continues to add to her rapidly growing collection of published novels as she spins story after story with an endless supply of bruised and dented characters, vying for attention!



RELEASE BLITZ - FORCES OF DESTINY (SHACKLES OF ROYALTY) BY A. AKINOSHO




Title: Forces of Destiny (Shackles of Royalty) 
Author: A. Akinosho 
Genre: Fiction/ Romance/ New Adult 
Release Date: October 31, 2018 
Cover Designer: Pick-a-Woo Woo Publishers 



Tola grew up as an only child in the suburb of Chicago. Gloomy days was all Tola could see ahead of her as financial woes slowly crept into her life with the death of her stepfather and the imminent death of her cancer-stricken mother.
Unexpectedly, the father she never knew she had appears. His royal destiny becomes hers. How will it change Tola's life? Will she find the shackles of royalty too much to bear?
In her search for comfort she chances upon a love so powerful she's willing to gamble everything and change her destiny. The fight to secure both her love and her crown will demand more than her love and her family are willing to give.


 


Chapter 2

Tola/Aly
Two weeks earlier
After checking in at the lobby, I went upstairs to the apartment. A motherly looking lady, possibly in her fifties, opened the door with a bright smile.
“Hello, I’m Mrs. Romana, but everyone calls me Mrs. R.”
“Hi, I’m Aly, the nurse’s assistant.” I showed her the laminated badge Leah had made for me.
“Yes, please come in. Mr. Ellis is sleeping right now.”
She welcomed me in. I walked into the modernly decorated room definitely a bachelor space, no doubt. I looked around the wide living room with large windows and fantastic view.
“Come with me. I’ll show you your room and around the house.”
I nodded and followed her. She led me into a simple-style bedroom, and as I placed my bag on the bed, she showed me the connecting bathroom. I followed her around the house as she showed me the other bedrooms and Mr. Ellis’s office.
“Please don’t go in his office unless he calls you or sends you there. He’s very particular about that.”
I nodded my understanding.
Once back in the kitchen, she showed me his medications and instructions. He’d just come home from the hospital earlier that day from an outpatient surgery of his knee. He was going to need someone in the house with him.
I listened carefully as she explained his routine. She’d be here for a few hours during the day to clean and prepare his food. My job, as she explained, was to care for him when she wasn’t there.
“Since you are here during the day, why does he need me here full-time?” I asked.
“Well, I may need to go out during my hours here to complete errands, and I also cannot spend the night. Besides, I agree with his mother that we’ll all feel better knowing someone is here all day to help him without having to worry about hours.”
I nodded my understanding.
Mrs. R. was very pleasant, and she made me feel at home for the first time since my mom had died. I hadn’t realized how I had missed the motherly attention.
She was starting to talk about simple stuff. It was nice talking to her about school and everyday life. She made me lunch, and we laughed together at funny stuff. We had just cleaned up our plates when I heard a deep voice interrupt our conversation.
“Mrs. R, I need my meds, please.”
“Coming” she responded. She turned to me after grabbing the pain meds and bottle of juice. “He’s a big baby. Can’t take medicine with water unless it is flavored. Come with me so you can meet him.”
I followed her, heading to his room. She knocked gently; then entered. I had no expectation of him—after all, there wasn’t a picture of him in the living room, and I hadn’t stepped into his office. All I knew was he was young and fresh out of knee surgery. Nothing could have prepared me for the earth knocking me off my axis when I laid eyes on him.
I was no virgin. That part had gone out the door in my eighteenth year on Earth. Even with my dad’s overbearing love, I had kissed a few frogs in college. Not a relationship; just a few un-princess worthy moments in the sack.
But this one with his left leg resting on pillows and his knee wrapped in bandage, leaning his upper body on the headboard in a crinkled white undershirt and board shorts, his muscular, sculptured arm revealing some of the toned body and tan hidden by the shirt, his short black hair roughened from sleep… As my eyes fixated on his masculine face, the sexy gray eyes with full lashes that shouldn’t be on a man-captured my eyes. Clean-shaved face with lips that looked like they were begging me for a kiss. Time stood still as I gazed at him.
Mrs. R spoke, making us break our gaze of each other. “Kyle, here is your Motrin.”
Only then did I notice she had moved around while my eyes had been fixated on him. He accepted the meds, swallowed them, then returned his eyes to me.
“Meet Aly, your nurse’s aide. She will be helping you when I’m not around,” Mrs. R said.
My three easy weeks had just gotten downright messy. Three weeks with him was going to be very dangerous for my mind and body. I would have introduced myself, but I stood, tongue-tied, not sure what to say to him.
“Ms. Aly,” he expressed in an icy tone.
“Hi, Mr. Ellis pleased to meet you,” I responded.
His tone snapped me out any crazy fantasy of us I might have had.
“Aly, make sure I get my next set of Motrin in four hours. If I’m sleeping, wake me. I can’t stand this pain, and I hope Mrs. R has filled you in on my expectations.”
“Yes, she has.”
“Would you like to eat now, Kyle?” asked Mrs. R.
“No,” he replied.
Mrs. R began adjusting his pillows as she spoke. “You know, not eating isn’t an option for me. Unless you want me to start feeding a grown man like you,” she said in that motherly tone that gave one no option.
“Fine. Bring me what you have,” he grumbled.
“Now that is more like it.” She turned to me. “Come on, Aly.”





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6BXq6xLFkw


https://open.spotify.com/user/titiakinosho/playlist/1Uu1DP5hLYLDZFwhWzk8eM?si=ENHZA6pnR-yHRj_dF5YOlg


Ade Akinosho resides in Schaumburg IL, after living two and a half years in Dubai, with her husband and four children. A move she says gave her the opportunity to meet interesting and amazing people. By day, Ade considers herself Mom/house driver taking care of her children and by night she lets her imagination run wide writing romance novels where she feels she is literary seating in the room with her characters.
Ade is a Linguistics and English major who went on to the business operations world with an MBA. Now back to her original passion for writing, something she started doing at the age of 10, Ade describes herself as a voracious reader, lover of the art of words and a traveler. She is known to scribble on just about anything that comes away when the words fill her mind. Publishing her first novel Falsified is a dream come true for someone who has always had a passion for writing and love for reading.
When she is not busy driving or fulfilling an activity for her children, you can always find her reading a book, binging on chocolate or checking out interesting places in the world.