Secrets in the Sand by Alana Lorens

Secrets in the Sand

by Alana Lorens

Amazon.com  The Wild Rose Press

Book Blurb:

After a run of bad relationships, Lily Pearl Evans has finally become an independent woman. In the New Mexico desert town of Chaparral, she works for herself, sets her own rules, and is determined no man will hold her back again.  

Gene Nicholas worked for more than a decade to achieve his dream to be a doctor. Wanting to share his gifts with those less fortunate, he leaves south Florida to volunteer for Doctors Without Borders in Mexico. When Gene provokes a showdown with the local Mexican drug cartel, he becomes a man with a price on his head. On the run, he ends up on Lily's doorstep--a mystery man forced to conceal his past to protect them both.  

With the cartel's dangerous web drawing tight around them, can Lily and Gene survive a drug lord's revenge?

Excerpt:

Gene stood up, becoming aware that most of the women weren’t dressed in what he expected as usual afternoon casual wear in suburbia. No culottes or capris here. Their hair curled loose around bare shoulders. Two wore cocktail dresses, the rest some sort of silky lingerie. They seemed perfectly comfortable as his gaze crawled over their exposed bodies. Most wore no makeup, but he believed they were all beautiful. In diagnostic mode, his brain clicked forward along whatever logical track he could get his hook into.  

“Is this a…?” The woman smiled. 

 “Bordello? You could say that.” She walked across the room toward him, the lower front of her skirt flowing open, revealing legs that couldn’t possibly be on the upward side of thirty, although his trained eye recognized subtle evidence of her age. She held out a peach-nailed hand. “I’m Lily Pearl Evans. Welcome to the Sassafras Social Club.”  

He automatically took the hand extended to him, felt the softness of her skin against his. Up close like this, he could see she had obviously cultivated an early beauty into striking middle-age allure. Without releasing her gaze, Gene smiled. “I’m sorry to impose.”  

“So, Mr. Richards, I’m curious what brought you to us.” Her fingers took hold of his hand, turning it over so she could examine it. He tried to pull away, but she held tight, her grip stronger than he’d expected. “What are you looking for?” he asked, suddenly very aware of his lack of footwear and his vulnerable position.  

 

What if the bordello had ties to Agustin’s cartel? Several of the girls had olive skin, dark hair and eyes. Thinking he was safe, he could have landed in the snake pit. 

 

“Your fate line is very strong,” Lily said, tracing the midline of his palm.  

 

“Is it now?” He looked down at his hand, in his mind’s eye seeing it covered in the blood of the women at his Doctors without Borders clinic, the women and girls assaulted by Agustin and his men. Rejecting the image, Gene let his mind go numb. His eyes closed and shut out the world.  

 

The warmth of her hand didn’t leave his. “I’ve got an itch under my skin that tells me there’s more to you than meets the eye, Mr. Richards.” 

 All he could do was shrug. So much confusion whirled in his mind. He didn’t know if he could trust Lily Pearl. He could hardly trust himself. A week before, he wouldn’t have believed he was capable of killing a man in cold blood. 

Author Bio:

Alana Lorens (aka Barbara Mountjoy) has been a published writer for over 45 years, including seven years as a reporter and editor at the South Dade News Leader in Homestead, Florida. She writes non-fiction, romance, adventure, and suspense novels. She is the author of the Pittsburgh Lady Lawyers series, which draws on her years as a family law attorney in the state of Pennsylvania. One of the causes close to her heart came from those years as well–the fight against domestic violence. She volunteered for many years at women’s shelters and provided free legal services to women and children in need. Alana resides in North Carolina, loving her time in the smoky blue mountains. She lives with her daughter, who is the youngest of her seven children, and eight crotchety cats. 

Author Links 

Website http://Alana-lorens.com 

Facebook    https://www.facebook.com/AlanaLorens/ 

Goodreads   https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4829967.Alana_Lorens 

Amazon Author Page  https://www.amazon.com/Alana-Lorens/e/B005GE0WBC/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1 

Book trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2U26_4t9yRA&t=40s 

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/alana-lorens 

Twitter:  @AlexanderLyndi 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexander_lyndi/ 

 

Second Chances by Alana Lorens

Second Chances

by Alana Lorens

Buy Link

Book Blurb:

No one escapes adversity, but everyone deserves a second chance. 

SECOND CHANCES begins the day attorney Inessa Regan receives a pink slip after ten years of faithful service. She’s been a mid-level associate her whole career, partners telling her what to do, providing her with an office and everything she needs. Thrown out into the legal world on her own, she doesn’t know how she’ll survive.  Her neighbor brings her first client, Kurt Lowdon, a young Iraq veteran with cancer, who’s looking just to have a will made. Inessa struggles to give Kurt what he needs, and he helps make it easy for her. 

Once his immediate needs are met, he takes her under his wing and brings her more clients as well as a place to open an office to see them. Things begin to fall together for her, including a very special friendship with Kurt that becomes something more. But his past military service, and the friends he’s made there, begin to cause problems for them both, as well as issues his drug-addicted sister delivers to his doorstep. He still hasn’t kicked his cancer, either, and Inessa wonders if falling in love with him is a blessing or a curse. 

Excerpt:

It really was pink. 

 Inessa Regan stared at the terse document she’d taken from the cream-colored envelope left on her desk. Sounds of the busy office outside her door faded, and blood rushed to her face until it was as florid as the paper in her hand. 

 She leaned against the desk, her breath sucked away. The words blurred through tears she couldn’t control. No matter how polite the language or painfully insincere the partners’ mild apology and explanation, the result was the same. After ten years practicing law with the firm of Venda and Spinelli, Inessa was out. Cold. 

A pink slip. 

 That burned her the most, took that punch in the gut and twisted the fist deep. Someone had gone to a lot of trouble to find a piece of paper that shade of rose in an office with sophisticated navy-on-cream stationery. Intentional, then. 

 Bet it was the young blonde bimbo Franco Venda hired. Inessa was sure old Franco’s wife hadn’t approved that girl. Back when Inessa, a nondescript brunette with thick thighs,  interviewed, the wife had chosen her as “non-threatening.” That’s me—proud winner of the Least Likely to Appeal to Anyone contest. 

 She’d started as a summer intern, although no spring chicken. Thirty-two years old, just out of law school, no husband, no children, no agenda other than paying back the obscene amount of money she’d borrowed to finish. She was grateful for the opportunity, worked long, hard hours, and would have stayed in the old brick building till she died. 

 Apparently, someone had a different idea. 

Author Bio:

Alana Lorens (aka Barbara Mountjoy) has been a published writer for over 45 years, including seven years as a reporter/editor at the South Dade News Leader in Homestead, Florida, after working as a server, a pizza maker, and a floral designer. She writes non-fiction, romance, adventure, and suspense novels.  

She is the author of the Pittsburgh Lady Lawyers series, which draws on her years as a family law attorney in the state of Pennsylvania. One of the causes close to her heart came from those years as well–the fight against domestic violence. She volunteered for many years at women’s shelters and provided free legal services to women and children in need.  

Alana resides in North Carolina, and she loves her time in the smoky blue mountains. She lives with her daughter, who is the youngest of her seven children, and she is ruled by three crotchety old cats, and six kittens of various ages. 

Author Links: 

Website http://Alana-lorens.com 

Facebook    https://www.facebook.com/AlanaLorens/ 

Goodreads   https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4829967.Alana_Lorens 

Amazon Author Page  https://www.amazon.com/Alana-Lorens/e/B005GE0WBC/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1 

Book trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEMtSxd6FQQ 

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/alana-lorens 

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/alanalorens.bsky.social 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexander_lyndi/ 

 

Tender Misdemeanors by Alana Lorens

Tender Misdemeanors

by Alana Lorens

Amazon Buy Link

Barnes and Noble Buy Link

Blurb:

Caryn Orlane has law enforcement in her blood; her father was a cop, and his father, too. She's a federal agent in northwest Montana, protecting the old forests and keeping the peace. 

Levi Bradshaw also believes in protecting the forests, but has a very different MO. He's the leader of a group of eco-warriors, determined to save the trees of the Bitterroot by legal—and illegal—means. Sometimes this means allying with anti-government groups with a dangerous separate agenda. 

When Caryn and Levi meet in the woods at gunpoint, their encounter ignites a spark of interest, despite operating on opposite sides of the law. When their worlds turn on them, they only grow closer. If they don’t work together, can either survive? 

Excerpt:

Watching over her shoulder, she missed a thick fallen log in her path and tripped over it, falling hard on the ground, her breath snatched away for a few moments. The impact knocked the gun from her hand, and she struggled to retrieve it as the dog came crashing through the brush. The Rhodesian Ridgeback landed squarely on her, still barking, its nails driving into her back, its hot breath in her ear. She expected to feel the sharp bite of teeth at any moment. Desperate, her fingers quested forward for the gun.  

A shrill whistle sounded off to her right. “Rosie, what have you got there?”  

The dog bounded off her. Caryn lurched for the gun, then shoved herself up into a seated position, holding her weapon in both hands. The person who had spoken appeared in her sights. Aware of the panting animal not three feet away, she couldn’t spare a look, her attention focused on the man.  

Nearly six feet tall (or was it just her perspective from the ground?), he stared down at her, seemingly in shock. Thick dark hair lay tousled across his brow, as though he’d just removed one of those ski masks. He wore a simple red plaid flannel shirt and denim jeans, with heavy nut-colored work boots. His build was athletic, and she guessed there was plenty of muscle under the fabric of his shirt and his padded black ski vest. He could have been a model in one of those outdoorsy catalogs, a perfect example of a rugged, handsome western mountain man.  

At first, his warm brown eyes captured her interest.  But second, his quick movement brought a handgun of his own from behind him, perhaps tucked into his belt, and he pointed it directly at her. 

Author Bio:

Alana Lorens has been a published writer for more than forty years. Currently a resident of Asheville, North Carolina, she loves her time in the smoky blue mountains. One of her novellas, That Girl’s The One I Love, is set in the city of Asheville during the old Bele Chere festival. She lives with her daughter, who is the youngest of her seven children, three crotchety cats, and four kittens of various ages. 

Website: https://wordpress.com/page/alana-lorens.com/21 

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/AlanaLorens/ 

Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4829967.Alana_Lorens 

Amazon Author Page https://www.amazon.com/Alana-Lorens/e/B005GE0WBC/ 

Watch the exciting book trailer here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlVFvMZw0a0&t=63s 

 

Prophecies and Promises by Alana Lorens

Prophecies and Promises

by Alana Lorens

Historical Romance

Buy Links:

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Blurb: 

Tamsyn McKiernan thinks her dreams have come true. She’s engaged to a dashing Key West bachelor and finally in her widowed father’s good graces. But in her heart, she knows something’s wrong. She loves the ocean and the quiet pleasures of nature—so what does the aristocratic life she’ll lead truly hold for her?   

 

Mercenary captain Drake Ashton is neck deep in preparations for the Spanish-American War, running guns and other supplies to Cuban natives who want out from under their Spanish masters. He and his brother Freddie risk their lives daily, focused on saving his friends on the island. Nothing else matters but his mission. 

 

A chance encounter with a spiny sea urchin brings the two together, and neither of their lives will ever be the same again. 

 

Excerpt: 

 

The wine would go straight to her head soon, she knew from previous, infrequent consumption, so she must sip it slowly. One of them had to keep their wits. 

She felt the curious eyes of the crew, some shy, others bolder in their observation. Tamsyn smiled at them all. One broad, bullish man came forward with a blanket, which he spread on the deck. Drake clapped the man on the shoulder. 

“Good thinking, Chaney. A picnic it will be!” He gestured to Tamsyn that she should seat herself, which she did without hesitation. 

Within a few minutes, trays of food came up from belowdecks, chicken spit broiled with crispy skins, fruits and cheeses, Bahamian bread with a thick slab of butter. The men vied for the opportunity to serve her until Drake finally dismissed them with a laugh. 

“Cook has enough for all below. Go take your supper. We may have some business awaiting us yet tonight.” 

The men cheered and noisily went down to eat. The skinny cabin boy remained to serve his captain. Drake saw that the boy got a plate of food, then sent him away. “A few moments alone,” he whispered conspiratorially. 

“Just a few,” she said with a sad smile. “Then I must—” 

Drake held up a finger, silencing her. “Not a word of that now.” 

Tamsyn started to argue, then realized he would just cut her off again. It was right. What might happen in a minute, in an hour, would not be changed if she took the time to immerse herself in the joy and comfort of this time with Drake. 

The food smelled so good in the fresh night air, and Drake urged her to taste everything, from sweet melons to spicy chicken. It was simple fare, but it satisfied her more than any of the expensive delicacies that had been served at the Pickhams’ buffet. Surely it is the company which has improved my appetite. Drake’s dark eyes danced in the moonlight, and he often turned to her with a smile, perhaps wanting to say something but reluctant to break the spell they seemed to be under. 

But not yet, Mamma, not yet…Can you see me, Mamma? Tamsyn wondered silently. Can you see how happy I am? 

 

Author Bio 

 

Alana Lorens has been a published writer for more than forty years. Currently a resident of Asheville, North Carolina, the aging hippie loves her time in the smoky blue mountains. One of her novellas, THAT GIRL’S THE ONE I LOVE, is set in the city of Asheville during the old Bele Chere festival. She lives with her daughter on the autism spectrum, who is the youngest of her seven children, and she is ruled by three crotchety old cats, and six kittens of various ages. 

 

Author Links 

Website      http://Alana-lorens.com 

Facebook   https://www.facebook.com/AlanaLorens/ 

Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4829967.Alana_Lorens 

Amazon Author Page 

https://www.amazon.com/Alana-Lorens/e/B005GE0WBC/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1 

 

Bookbub:   https://www.bookbub.com/authors/alana-lorens 

 

Twitter:  @AlexanderLyndi 

 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexander_lyndi/