Better Blitz

Book Title: Better Author: Carey Heywood Genre: Contemporary Romance Release Date: February 17, 2014 Hosted by: Book Enthusiast Promotions

Aubrey is embarking on a bucket-list trip around the world, the last wish of her Aunt Ally. It was supposed to be the trip Ally would have taken when she got better. Now, it’s just a chance for Aubrey to say good-bye. Adam escapes in his solo trips overseas, working just enough to fund the next one. When the opportunity to circle the globe falls in his lap, he can’t refuse. The only catch is that he won’t be traveling alone this time. Unable to hide from each other, Adam’s overprotective nature thwarts Aubrey’s desire to find her own way. Can they move past initial assumptions to find something better?

 

“What are you doing in here?" I stammer.

He’s on his knees by the bed, reaching under. "This bed is a trundle. There's no way I'm sleeping on that sofa."

"But I'm sleeping in here," I argue.

I watch as he pulls the trundle out. It's smaller, maybe twin sized.

"Yes, and I'm sleeping here." He makes a wide sweep with his hands over the smaller bed.

I remember how awkward it felt, sleeping so near him the night before. At least the trundle is low to the ground. My mouth drops as he depresses a lever and raises it to the same height as my bed, and the way it's made, we'll be face to face with maybe an inch separating his bed from mine.

I gulp. He turns to look at me. "Um, I was going to get changed."

"Oh, don’t mind me."

"Out," I order him.

His eyes travel lazily down me, and I shiver. His mouth twitches before he turns to leave, closing the door behind him. I hurry over to it and lock it, sagging against it. I had been looking forward to a night away from him. I quickly change, unlock the “door, and climb into bed. I hear the door open and shuffle further under the covers.

When I wake the next morning, I'm facing him. Wiping sleep from my eyes, I watch him. He's shirtless, his sheet draping low across his hips. I lick my lips, mesmerized by the rise and fall of his chest. I quietly slip out of bed and out of the room, taking my clothes for the day with me. I need distance. I can't stay in that room any longer. It smells like him, a mixture of Irish Spring, his cologne, and something just him.

I shower and get dressed. I'm in the kitchen, rummaging through the cabinets for something to snack on when he walks out. He's still shirtless. Why can't he put on a shirt?

"Hungry?" he asks, scratching the back of his head.

"A bit," I admit.

"Give me a minute. I saw a bakery close by."

"Okay."

He walks back into the room and shuts the door. A couple minutes later, he walks back out, now in jeans and a vintage looking M*A*S*H t-shirt.

"Nice shirt."

He laughs. "It was my dad's."

"You're wearing hand me downs," I joke.

"Just trying to live the green life."

I don’t give him the satisfaction of a chuckle even though that was funny as I follow him out of the flat.

"What about Abe?"

"He can get his own breakfast," he says, grabbing a set of keys that are hanging on a hook by the door. I give him a look.

"Don't worry. I'll bring him something back." He holds the door open for me.

I tuck my hair behind my ear and hurry down the stairs. I wait for him at the bottom, not sure which direction to go. He comes up beside me, tilting his head to the right. We turn together and walk.

"I saw you."

"Excuse me?" I stop.” “He's now a step ahead of me. He looks back at me.

"I saw you watching me this morning."

"I wasn’t," I stammer, looking away.

"If you say so," he says as he continues to walk.

I follow him but stay a step behind on purpose. I can't believe he saw me.”

Carey Heywood is a self-published New York Times and USA Today bestselling author with six books out and many more to come. She was born and raised in Alexandria, Virginia. Ever the mild-mannered citizen, Carey spends her days working in the world of finance, and at night, she retreats into the lives of her fictional characters. Supporting her all the way are her husband, three sometimes-adorable children, and their nine-pound attack Yorkie

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Hugged by an Angel Blitz

Book Title: Hugged by an Angel Author: Roberta Capizzi Genre: Contemporary Romance Release Date: July 22, 2013 Hosted by: Book Enthusiast Promotions

How can you ever love again when tragedy has crushed your heart? Kathleen used to love life. She had plans, dreams, and faith in life; but that was before the accident that took it all away from her in an instant. Now that her beloved brother is dead and she’s confined to a wheelchair, her future is but a dark cloud hovering above her head. How can she ever find the will to move on and keep living without him? Even the cares of the happy-go-lucky American physiotherapist who’s helping her with her rehab therapies are all in vain. Life seems to have lost its meaning, until one night she receives an unexpected celestial visit… Colin has been working as a physiotherapist in Dublin for almost five years, but he’s never bonded so much with a patient like he is bonding with Kathleen; there’s something about those sad blue eyes that makes him want to help her, to take away the pain that reminds him so much of his own. Having lost both his parents in a plane crash when he was only sixteen, Colin knows how it feels to have someone you love taken so abruptly away from you, and he makes it his mission to help Kathleen find her faith in life again. But something changes along the way… Sometimes love can work miracles. If you believe.

   

 “Hey.” I turned when I heard her voice and saw her in the wheelchair, her braided hair over her shoulder. She looked so beautiful I wanted to reach out my hand and stroke her sleepy face. I wanted it so much I had to break eye contact for a minute before I lost control and made a fool of myself. “Oh, hi. I’m sorry, did I wake you?” I asked as nonchalantly as I could, although my heart was beating fast in my chest. She smiled and shook her head, staring at my hand. “I didn’t know you smoked.” “I don’t,” I replied instinctively. Her eyes lit up with amusement and I realized how stupid I must have sounded. “That looks pretty much like a cigarette to me,” she said, pointing. I bent my head and smiled. “No, what I meant to say was I’m not a smoker.” I looked at the cigarette in my hand, and suddenly the words were released without asking for permission. “I used to smoke when I was in one of my dark moments, but I don’t anymore.” What the hell was wrong with me? Why did I always end up opening myself up with her as if she could understand what I’d been through? Why couldn’t I simply lie my way out of her question, the way I’d always done with everyone? “Are you now? In a dark moment, I mean?” She looked up at me and her huge blue eyes widened in concern. Why did she have to be so sweet and so damn beautiful? It made lying so much harder and I couldn’t afford to let her get close to me, to break through the wall around my heart any more than she already had. “Well, you almost—we almost died in a fire. I have every right to be a little shaken, don’t you think?” She chuckled, and as I looked at her I realized I didn’t need that cigarette anymore. I stubbed it out in the plastic ashtray on the small iron table in the corner of the balcony. All I really needed was to see that beautiful smile of hers. The rest didn’t matter. “Good boy,” she said, nodding approvingly. “You’ll feel much better now.” I couldn’t help but smile. She was tearing down the wall brick by brick, and I felt a fire in my heart just looking into her eyes. I needed to break the spell, before it was too late. “Let’s get back inside,” I said, approaching her and instinctively pushing her wheelchair. “I promised to take care of you, and I won’t be keeping my word if you get sick.” “I’m a big girl,” she said in a mocking tone. “I can take care of myself.” “Of course,” I replied, mimicking her tone and playing her game. “I tend to forget that, Your Majesty!” “Colin! Don’t start again!” she screamed, without hiding her exasperation, and I laughed.

 

An avid reader since her childhood years and being an only child, Roberta always enjoyed the company of her fictional friends from the children’s books she loved reading, while she dreamed of writing her own stories one day. It was when she discovered novels by authors Rosamunde Pilcher and Maeve Binchy in her teenage years that she realized it was time she put down in words the stories she had kept well hidden in her mind until then. What started as a hobby, soon turned into a real passion and a way of life, until she could no longer keep the stories to herself, and decided to get over her fears and share them with the world. Roberta lives in Italy, but her dream is to move out of her country and live either in a thatched cottage in the Irish countryside or in a country house with a swing on the back porch, somewhere in the United States, where she would love to spend her days writing novels as a full-time job, and maybe one day even get as far as writing a screenplay for a movie.

 

Can't Go Without Release Day

Book Title: Can't Go Without (Oasis Waterfall, #2) Author: Angelisa Stone Genre: Contemporary New Adult Romance Release Date: March 1, 2014 Hosted by: Book Enthusiast Promotions

“What’s the one thing you can’t go without?”

Tristan O'Donnell has money, women, and all the luxuries that cold hard cash can buy. Tristan's been sucking sunshine right from the monogrammed silver spoon his life was served up on since the day he was born. And quite frankly, he wouldn't want it any other way. He's his mother's pride and joy, his father's right-hand-man, and the envy of every guy around. All Tristan has to do is flash his million dollar smile, give his trademark wink, and he gets what he wants, when he wants, anytime he wants.

Leah Franchetti grinds her fingers to the bone; sculpting, painting, recreating treasures from trash—the very sentiment that defines her life. Her inventive, vindictive, lucrative, and seemingly unforgivable plan allowed her to shortcut her way into the life she always imagined, owning an art gallery, surrounding herself in the comfort of her passion and dreams.

When circumstances force Leah and Tristan to come face-to-face with the past and with Leah’s devious manipulation, truths come flooding forth, destroying those in the present and possibly jeopardizing both of their highly anticipated futures.

Can Tristan overcome Leah’s slander and deception—despite how dangerously close he comes to losing the one thing he can’t go without—money? Will Leah be forced to come clean, knowing she’ll have to live her life with the one thing she can’t go without—her dignity?

Rushing out of Chet O’Donnell’s office, angrily and haughtily, I face-plant straight into a strong, hard chest, covered in a wool, cable-knit sweater, smelling of expensive cologne. People always say that the sense of smell is the most powerful sense, triggering memories and feelings clearer than any of the other four senses combined. Just one smell, one inhalation of that warm, sexy designer cologne and my insides burn, ignite with intense desire and longing. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. No. No. No. “I’m…I’m…I’m…” I stammer, backing up, dropping my head, and looking straight at the ground in humiliation. “I’m…I gotta go,” I mumble, sidestepping out of his way, and heading straight for the elevator. I push the button repeatedly, knowing damn well my actions won’t speed up the elevator’s arrival. Tristan runs to catch me, just as I eye the stairwell and bolt for the door. “Leah! Wait!” he yells; the “wait” is muffled by the sound of the door slamming behind me. I run down only one flight of steps and escape onto the twentieth floor, knowing that Tristan O’Donnell would chase me the entire way down the stairs—if seeing and talking to me were his goals. Tristan O’Donnell always gets what he wants. Always. Hoping that Tristan doesn’t check the video monitors, I walk down the hallway to the other set of stairs and down to the first floor, exiting O’Donnell Industries. Once I hit the street, the winter sun reflecting off the snow burns my eyes. I squint at the pain of the brightness, knowing the sting of my tears has nothing to do with the shining, searing light.

 

Who is Angelisa Stone?

Angelisa Stone is a typical Midwestern wife and mom, frazzled by parenting and housework, and overwhelmed with sports schedules, doctor appointments, and three-dimensional creative projects due “tomorrow morning.” Stone dreams of white sandy beaches, clear-blue waters, and Midori coladas in hand, but realizes that her loving husband and four not-so-perfect children are her real dreams-come-true. Writing and reading are her passions, and she hopes (and prays with her fingers tightly crossed) that readers will find enjoyment and escape through her words and characters. Stone's first novel, Can't Go Home, is available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble now.

Email Angelisa for fun chatter and banter, giggles and chuckles: angelisaauthor@gmail.com

 

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