Monday, September 30, 2019

CHRISTMAS HOPE BY CAROLYN WARFIELD!






Christmas Hope
by
Caroline Warfield

Genre: Historical Romance 

Some wars must be fought, some loves must live on hope alone, and some
stories must be told. This is one of them.


When the Great War is over, will their love be enough?


After two years at the mercy of the Canadian Expeditionary force and the
German war machine, Harry ran out of metaphors for death, synonyms
for brown, and images of darkness. When he encounters color among the
floating islands of Amiens and life in the form a widow and her
little son, hope ensnares him. Through three more long years of war
and its aftermath, the hope she brings keeps Harry alive.

Rosemarie Legrand’s husband left her a tiny son, no money, and a savaged
reputation when he died. She struggles to simply feed the boy and has
little to offer a lonely soldier, but Harry’s devotion lifts her
up. The war demands all her strength and resilience, will the hope of
peace and the promise of Harry’s love keep her going?





Harry woke with a stab of fear. He reared up, groping for his rifle, afraid he had fallen asleep on duty.

 He sank back into the bed as awareness flooded in. No enemy lurked. He reposed in soft covers in an unfamiliar room, his clothes had gone missing, and he wasn’t alone. A small boy watched him steadily from the doorway. Memory flooded back—fleeing from Lens, frantic to get to Rosemarie.

He hadn’t deserted; he’d gotten leave or rather had it thrust on him with orders from Captain Mitchell to come back whole. He remembered a frantic journey, reaching her cottage, falling against the door, and not much else.

“You are dirty,” the boy said, approaching the bed. Harry ran a hand across the stubble on his face. It came away filthy.

“Apparently so. And you are tall, much too tall to be Marcel.”

The boy stiffened in offense. “I am Marcel. I am three.” He held up three fingers.

Before Harry could think what to say next the boy ran to the stairs shouting, “Maman, ‘arry is awake!”

His soldier’s instinct took stock of his surroundings. The room spread out under peaked roof beams. He doubted he could stand upright anywhere but the center of the room; it had only one way out, the direction Marcel had taken. He had slept in an actual bed. Rosemarie’s bed, it has to be. Did we share it? He thought not. If we had, I would certainly remember.

The blankets he lay in were worn and mended, but warm enough and clean—at least they had been until he lay in them. Since whoever took his clothing left his drawers and nothing else, he thought it best to stay nested where he lay. A tiny window at the peak of the roof let in a beam of light. It ap-peared to be slanted low in the sky. Does that window face east or west? Did I awake at dawn or sleep round the clock?

He could hear the boy talking with his mother and the sounds of pots and pans. Sharp awareness told him one more thing. Somewhere in this haven, fresh bread baked, sweet dough, he thought. His mouth began to water. With that, came the realization of gnawing hunger.

He debated what to do, undressed and feeble as he was. He envisioned Rosemarie fussing over her baking, and an even greater hunger overcame him, one he might do well to tame before he got out from the covers.

Her appearance in the doorway, his own vision of heaven itself, carrying a basin of steaming water, saved him the decision.

She put it on the little three-drawer chest against the opposite wall, along with the towel and rag she had over her arm.

“You’ll want to wash up,” she said. “I’m sorry we have no bathing tub. I found Raoul’s robe in storage,” she added, pointing to a purple robe draped over a trunk. The trunk, Marcel’s pallet at the foot of the bed, and a chest of drawers furnished the tiny room. She looked oddly shy, as if having him tucked in her bed with her late husband’s things nearby made her awkward.

Raoul. He had forgotten the husband, long dead now. The acid of pointless jealousy ate at him, and he could think of nothing to say. He sat up, letting the blanket fall to his lap, and her eyes dropped to the floor, but not before he caught the heat when she spied his naked chest. The jealousy fell away.

**Only .99 cents!!**



Caroline Warfield, Author

Award winning author Caroline Warfield has been many things:
traveler, librarian, poet, raiser of children, bird watcher, Internet
and Web services manager, conference speaker, indexer, tech writer,
genealogist—even a nun. She
reckons she is on at least her third act, happily working
in
an office surrounded by windows where she lets her characters lead
her to adventures in England and the far-flung corners of the British
Empire. She nudges them to explore the riskiest territory of all, the human heart.


Follow the tour HERE
for exclusive content and a giveaway!





Sunday, September 29, 2019

SUNKEN TREASURE: LOST WORLDS!


Don't miss the Rafflecopter giveaway at the end of this post!


Sunken Treasure, Lost Worlds

The Risky Business Chronicles Book 1
by
Hep Aldridge

Genre: Action, Adventure 

His knowledge can make them all rich... or get them killed.

From the depths of the Atlantic off Cape Canaveral Florida, searching for
sunken Spanish treasure, to the Andes mountains of Ecuador chasing
the legend of a lost golden library, Dr. Colten X. Burnett
and the Risky Business team
 are on a quixotic adventure.
While trying to make an honest, well sort of honest living, searching for
remnants of the lost 1715 fleet, Risky Business Ltd. becomes
entangled in a mystery that covers two continents and may rewrite history.
The lure of uncovering a lost civilization, as well as the secrets it
holds, motivates the team on their dangerous journey into a
cosmological unknown.
-Sunken Treasure Lost Worlds is the first book in Hep Aldridge's action and 
adventure series about Dr. Colten X. Burnett and the Risky Business team
* Amazon


Hep Aldridge, Author

Hep Aldridge is a certified scuba diver, cave diver and amateur archaeologist whose
 main area of interest is Pre-Columbian cultures of the Americas.


He has led or been part of archaeological expeditions to Mexico and Honduras,
making discoveries that have been reported in National Geographic Magazine.




Follow the tour HERE for exclusive content and a giveaway!


Friday, September 27, 2019

SUNKEN TREASURE: LOST WORLDS!


Don't miss the Rafflecopter giveaway at the end of this post!



Sunken Treasure, Lost Worlds
The Risky Business Chronicles Book 1
by
Hep Aldridge

Genre: Action, Adventure 

His knowledge can make them all rich... or get them killed.


From the depths of the Atlantic off Cape Canaveral Florida, searching for
sunken Spanish treasure, to the Andes mountains of Ecuador chasing
the legend of a lost golden library, Dr. Colten X. Burnett
and the Risky Business team
 are on a quixotic adventure.
While trying to make an honest, well sort of honest living, searching for
remnants of the lost 1715 fleet, Risky Business Ltd. becomes
entangled in a mystery that covers two continents and may rewrite history.
The lure of uncovering a lost civilization, as well as the secrets it
holds, motivates the team on their dangerous journey into a cosmological unknown.
-Sunken Treasure Lost Worlds is the first book in Hep Aldridge's
action and adventure series about Dr. Colten X. Burnett and the Risky Business team
* Amazon


Hep Aldridge, Author

Hep Aldridge is a certified scuba diver, cave diver and amateur archaeologist 
whose main area of interest is Pre-Columbian cultures of the Americas.


He has led or been part of archaeological expeditions to Mexico and Honduras,
making discoveries that have been reported in National Geographic Magazine.




Follow the tour HERE
for exclusive content and a giveaway!


Thursday, September 26, 2019

CAROUSEL






The Carousel
The Wild Geese Book 7
by
Cynthia Owens


Genre: Historical Romance

Like the Wild Geese of Old Ireland, five boys grew to manhood despite
hunger, war, and the mean 
streets of New York

The War had left him blind to beauty…

Kieran Donnelly is a gifted artist who has sworn never to paint again. He
saw and did too many things during the war to extinguish the ugliness
that lies in his heart. But a chance to work with some of the most
magnificent paintings brings him close to the world he still
loves…and an extraordinary woman who sees his true heart.

Darkness couldn’t extinguish the light in her heart.

Blind from the age of four, Emily Lawrence yearns to experience the outside
world. When she hires Kieran Donnelly to catalogue her father’s
paintings, he offers her a glimpse at life outside her exquisite
home…and a chance for a future.

Can Kieran and Emily emerge from the darkness to find happiness and love?





“There are many different ways to see, Mr. Donnelly.” She tilted her head toward the fire and drew in a breath that swelled her soft breasts.

Kieran’s throat went dry.

“I can hear the crackling of those flames, smell the wood smoke as it chases away the early morning damp.” Her fingers reached out unerringly to stroke the mantel. “I can touch this stone, feel it warm and smooth under my hands.”

Kieran’s gut clenched. Dear God, how would those hands feel stroking him into a flame of desire?

“And I can sense emotions, Mr. Donnelly. It’s…an atmosphere, I suppose. A mood. I can tell when someone is happy…or sorrowful…angry…or in pain.” A sudden mischievous smile lit her face. “I can see things in my own way.”

“What way is that?” He heard his own voice, hoarse with mounting desire.

She hesitated only a split second before extending one hand. “Let me show you.”

Kieran moved forward until he stood mere inches from her. Her hair smelled sweet, like apple blossoms. Her skin glowed like new milk. Her eyes were darker than he’d expected, like sapphires they were. Deep, gem-like.

Unfocused.

She reached out a tentative hand, and her fingers landed lightly upon a statue of an eagle in flight. She stroked the bird’s head, and Kieran’s skin prickled.

“My father told me this is an eagle.” Her voice poured soft and liquid through him. “He has a strong, proud head”—her hands slid down—“and sharp eyes.” Her lips quirked into a wry smile. “The better to spot his dinner.”

Kieran’s throat tightened. He couldn’t tear his gaze away from those long, elegant fingers, the shell-pink perfection of her nails.

“His beak has a tiny hook at the very tip of it. Makes it easier to tear at his prey. Yet his throat and breast are vulnerable.” A gentle, almost tender sweep downward. She stopped at the bird’s feet. “His claws are lethally sharp.”

**easily read as a standalone!**





Cynthia Owens, Author

I believe I was destined to be interested in history. One of my distant ancestors, Thomas Aubert, reportedly sailed up the St. Lawrence River to discover Canada some 26 years before Jacques Cartier's 1534 voyage. Another relative was a 17thCentury "King's Girl," one of a group of young unmarried girls sent to New France (now the province of Quebec) as brides for the habitants (settlers) there. My passion for reading made me long to write books like the ones I enjoyed, and I tried penning sequels to my favorite Nancy Drew mysteries. Later, fancying myself a female version of Andrew Lloyd Weber, I drafted a musical set in Paris during WWII.


A former journalist and lifelong Celtophile, I enjoyed a previous career as a reporter/editor for a small chain of community newspapers before returning to my first love, romantic fiction. My stories
usually include an Irish setting, hero or heroine, and sometimes all three!

I am a member of the Romance Writers of America, Hearts Through History Romance Writers, and Celtic Hearts Romance Writers. A lifelong resident of Montreal, Canada, I still live there with my own Celtic hero and our two teenaged children.




Follow the tour HERE
for exclusive content and a giveaway!



Wednesday, September 25, 2019

MOST ARDENTLY!



Be sure to enter the Rafflecopter giveaway at the end of the post!


Most Ardently
An
Austen-Inspired Christmas Collection
Genre:
Historical Romance


With
Stories by:
Sheena Austin,
Margo Bond Collins,
Debra-Ann Kummoung,
Sophie Bellabone,
Deborah E Pearson,
Charlene Johnson,
Susan Burdorf,
Claire
O'Dare,
Ivy Hearne


This is quite the season indeed for friendly meetings. At Christmas every
body invites their friends about them, and people think little of
even the worst weather. I was snowed up at a friend’s house once
for a week. Nothing could be pleasanter.” ~Emma



Join New York Times, USA Today, and International bestselling authors as
they share stories inspired by Jane Austen to fill your Yuletide with
love and joy.

From a Regency holiday in Austen’s own home to modern stories with a
supernatural twist, Most Ardently brings you the best of
Austen-inspired holiday fiction, including a haunted modern-day
Northanger academy dorm, a vampiric surprise at a holiday ball, a
contemporary dating-app-savvy Emma with a brand-new Knightley, a
surprise cast of zombies, and a demon set loose in Jane Austen’s
world. Mincemeat pies, Christmas puddings, Boxing Day and Twelfth
Night will never be the same again!

So light a Yule log, hang a kissing bough of evergreen and mistletoe,
and settle in for a long winter’s read as you reconnect with your
favorite Austen characters and settings in all-new new stories.

Scroll up and one-click to preorder this holiday collection now for the
special preorder price of only 99c!

On one side was a table occupied by some chattering girls, cutting up
silk and gold paper; and on the other were trestles and trays,
bending under the weight of brawn and cold pies, where riotous boys
were holding high revel; the whole completed by a roaring Christmas
fire, which seemed determined to be heard in spite of the noise of
the others.” ~Persuasion


**Pre-order for only .99cents!!**




Sheena Austin is
the author of 
Returning to Mr. Darcy, Alexandria, Journey of the Heart, and
Disillusionments of the Heart
.
A lover of all romance, fantasy, cat whisperer, and Kermit obsessed, the author currently lives in Virginia with her boyfriend
and two cats. She is a Special Education teacher and aspires to win the lottery one day and to have a lifetime of pizza and cheez-its so
she would no longer have to cook or do the dishes ever again.





USA
Today, Wall Street Journal, and New York Times bestselling author
Margo Bond Collins
is a former college English professor who, tired of explaining the difference between "hanged" and "hung," turned to writing romance novels instead. (Sometimes her heroines kill
monsters, too.)
She also writes under the alter ego of Ivy Hearne.







Debra-Ann Kummoung

I fell in love with Pride & Prejudice when I read it in high school. Something about that time - the courtly manners of society, the clothing, and so many other things. Don't get me a wrong, I'm a
modern girl and wouldn't last a day without my modern conveniences, but I can still fantasize about that time period.


My husband is my inspiration for Mr. Darcy & Colonel Fitzwilliam (when the good colonel appears in one of my books). My husband has
the manners of Darcy but has been a military man like the colonel - so I got both in one man.






Sophie, whether with Kernstock or Bellabone
pen name, is from the land of thousands of lakes, home of Santa Claus, and technology giant Nokia, also known as Finland. At age 24 she was bitten by the publishing bug in her native tongue. The bug bit so fiercely that she made her mission to publish all her future stories to wider audience just year after. That she did, and now at 25 her first book written in English is in preorder. 
Born and raised with finnish sisu, and beaten in shape with sauna birch leaf brooms, Sophie writes Fantasy and Horror. No genre will be safe from her vigilant and witty writing style though. She will be providing all kinds of stories from short and sweet to long and gritty. None with romantic sub plot though. She focuses on platonic friendships, epic battles beyond tonsil fencing, and the endless ideas leading to world beyond imagination.

In short, her muse is obviously on drugs and needs intervention. Soon
she'll also add Sci-Fi/Dystopian into her fresh list of books and invites in new pen name to the Sophiesphere circle of things. 





Deborah E. Pearson found her love of Jane
Austen's work when she was 15 by watching the 1995 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice by Andrew Davies, Over the following years she
not only read Miss Austen's books multiple times but also read several fan fiction books, which led her to begin writing her own
Jane Austen Fan Fiction in 2010 as she wished to have a Darcy that fitted the way she saw him.





Charlene Johnson is a Waynesburg, Pennsylvania native. She went to Waynesburg High School and graduated Cum Laude from Waynesburg College with a Bachelor’s Degree in Liberal Arts. Currently lives in Sacramento, California where she spent the last 33 years working at Northrop Grumman. Books
have always been her passion. She started reading at an early age and progressed to full-length books by age nine. The first supernatural book series she read was Dark Shadows, and it sparked her interest in
all things paranormal, with a spicy touch of romance mixed in for good measure. She also started writing poetry in grade school and continues to do so today. 

Being an avid reader, the consummate daydreamer and an incurable romantic with a Cinderella complex, she started creating her own characters
and story lines because she realized she had her own stories to tell.
She is married to John, who believes she can do anything. She has a son, Ty; a daughter, Danika; and four beautiful grandchildren, Aries, Victoria, Maya, and Tobias. Besides reading and writing, she also enjoys photography, travel, music, and great movies.




Susan Burdorf is an avid reader,
photographer and lover of all things sparkly. Writing is a passion that is only quenched when THE END is written on the last page of a
manuscript. Nothing says home to her, though, like the presence of her family. Susan encourages you to correspond with her and is
available for public appearances at schools and conferences.










A librarian and researcher by day, Claire O’Dare
writes Regency and contemporary romances at night.












Follow the tour HERE
for exclusive content and two giveaways!

Giveaway #1 
Kindle
tablet ( 1 winner), Signed book (1 winner) , $20 Amazon (4 winners)

Giveaway #2
Enter
to win a Gift Basket of Austen-Themed Prizes!