Christmas at Twilight (Twilight, Texas #5) by Lori Wilde - Blog Tour, Review & Giveaway

Christmas at Twilight

Twilight, Texas # 5

By: Lori Wilde

Releasing October 28^th, 2014

Avon Romance

It's Christmas in Twilight, Texas. The Cookie Club is baking, the town is decorated, and Delta Force Operator "Hutch" Hutchinson has finally, reluctantly, returned home . . .

. . . only to get pepper sprayed by the delicious- looking stranger who's taken over his house. She says her name is Jane, and she immediately sets down ground rules. Top priority: no touching. For Hutch that isn't easy—he was wounded in action, but one part is still working very well.

Then Hutch learns the truth. Jane harbors a frightening secret—she's really Meredith Sommers, on the run from a dangerous ex-husband and desperately in need of the safety Hutch can provide. In that moment, he vows he'd do anything in his power to protect her. And as Christmas approaches, they discover that their love can conquer the past and overcome any obstacle—but what price will they pay?

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Twilight-Texas-Novel-ebook/dp/B00I7V3X2Q/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1408461643&sr=1-1&keywords=Christmas+at+Twilight%3A+A+Twilight%2C+Texas+Novel

B&N:  http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/christmas-at-twilight-lori-wilde/1118477575?ean=9780062310248

Kobo:  http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/christmas-at-twilight

iTunes:  https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/christmas-at-twilight/id814134806?mt=11

Her heart dropped into her stomach, heavy as an iron anchor. She thumbed a text to her housemate. U OK?

Raylene came out of the massage room and Meredith handed her a bottle of chilled water. “Be sure to drink lots of water to flush out your system.”

“Thanks, sweetie.” Raylene leaned over to tuck a hundred-dollar bill into the pocket of Meredith’s uniform. “You have a merry Christmas.”

“Wait, wait, Mrs. Pringle, this is too much,” Meredith protested, and fished the bill from her pocket. Shut up and take it. You can get Ben’s presents out of layaway with this.

Raylene folded her hand around Meredith’s. “Accept it, please. I know what it’s like to be broke at Christmas.”

“You?” It was Meredith’s understanding that Raylene and Earl Pringle were among the richest people in Twilight.

“Honey, I was raised on the wrong side of the tracks. It wasn’t until Earl’s family struck oil on their land that we had a pot to piss in. Go on. Take it.”

“What makes you think I need the money?”

“You’re a single mom renting a room from Ashley Hutchinson. ’Nuff said. Now let’s not hear any more about it.”

Meredith straightened. “While I do appreciate the gesture, please donate the money to the Christmas Angel charity that you’re a part of. Plenty of people need this money much more than I do. In fact, hold on a minute.”

She darted into the employees’ lounge, got her purse from her locker, and opened the worn brown wallet to find a twenty-dollar bill and sixteen ones. She gulped. She never kept a bank account—not since, well, never mind that—and this was all the money she had. But there had been times when she didn’t have a quarter to her name, and Friday was payday. She had groceries in the house, gas in the minivan, and probably six or seven dollars’ worth of coins on top of her dresser. She’d get by. Not so the mothers of children whose names were on the Angel Tree.

Resolutely, she plucked the twenty from her wallet and took it back to Mrs. Pringle. “Here, please add this to the fund.”

Raylene wrinkled her forehead. “Are you sure?”

“Absolutely. I just wish I had more money to give.”

“That’s so kind of you.” Raylene touched Meredith’s shoulder and looked at her with a mixture of sympathy and you-got-guts-girl admiration. “Are you planning on coming to our annual Christmas cookie swap this Friday evening? We’d love to have you join us. The party is at my house. I’ll e-mail you directions.”

Another great addition to the Twilight, Texas series! Sweet, romantic, emotional, and suspenseful - I couldn't put it down once I started. This can be read as a standalone, but if you're familiar with the previous books in the series, you get to catch up a bit with past couples.  Highly recommended!

Lori Wilde is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of over 70 works of romantic fiction. She is a two-time RITA award nominee, a four time Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice nominee and has won numerous other awards. She earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Texas Christian University and holds a certificate in nursing forensics. An animal lover, Lori is owned by several pets, and lives in Texas with her husband, Bill.

Author Links

Website: http://loriwilde.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lori-Wilde/126384860719020

Twitter: https://twitter.com/loriwilde

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/38217.Lori_Wilde

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A Bollywood Affair by Sonali Dev - Blog Tour, Trailer, Review & Giveaway

A Bollywood Affair
By: Sonali Dev

Releasing October 28th, 2014

Kensington

Mili Rathod hasn’t seen her husband in twenty years—not since she was promised to him at the age of four. Yet marriage has allowed Mili a freedom rarely given to girls in her village. Her grandmother has even allowed her to leave India and study in America for eight months, all to make her the perfect modern wife. Which is exactly what Mili longs to be—if her husband would just come and claim her.

Bollywood’s favorite director, Samir Rathod, has come to Michigan to secure a divorce for his older brother. Persuading a naïve village girl to sign the papers should be easy for someone with Samir’s tabloid-famous charm. But Mili is neither a fool nor a gold-digger. Open-hearted yet complex, she’s trying to reconcile her independence with cherished traditions. And before he can stop himself, Samir is immersed in Mili’s life—cooking her dal and rotis, escorting her to her roommate’s elaborate Indian wedding, and wondering where his loyalties and happiness lie.

Heartfelt, witty, and thoroughly engaging, Sonali Dev’s debut is both a vivid exploration of modern India and a deeply honest story of love, in all its diversity.

Advance Praise for A Bollywood Affair:

“Sonali Dev is a fresh new voice in romance. A child bride who’s all grown up, a sexy Bollywood director, and deeply-felt emotions that will keep readers turning the pages. A Bollywood Affair has it all.” –Susan Elizabeth Phillips, New York Times Bestseller

“Deeply romantic and emotional, with characters I fell in love with, A Bollywood Affair is simply unputdownable. It’s sexy, it’s dramatic, but most of all, it’s a sweet, hot love story that made me sigh and smile and want to read it all over again as soon as I turned the last page.” -Nalini Singh, New York Times Bestseller

Mili was in the middle of peeling the wrapper off her last remaining chocolate bar when she heard the knock. She took a quick bite and put the rest of it back in the empty fridge. Her stomach growled in protest. She hadn’t eaten anything all day. There were some noodles from Panda Kong in the fridge but she needed those for dinner.

Who could be knocking on her door? No one, and she meant no one, had ever knocked on that door in the four months that she had lived here. Except that one time those Jesus Christ people had stopped by and tried to give her a Bible. Another forceful knock. Too forceful. The Bible people had been too polite to knock this hard. Something about that knock made her defenses bristle.

It couldn’t possibly be Ridhi’s brother, could it? Ridhi had said they’d send him first.

Another knock.

Oh Lord. Oh Ganesha. Oh Krishna. What now? Ridhi was gone only about half an hour. If Mili let anything slip they would find Ridhi and Ravi before they got away. A complete tragedy-style ending to their love story. Mili could never let that happen. Never. Never.

She tiptoed to the door.

“Hello? Anybody there?” A deep, authoritative man’s voice shouted from the other side. A deep, authoritative Indian man’s voice. She looked through the fuzzy peephole. All she saw was a blurred outline of a large figure. Oh. Lord. She tiptoed backward and tripped over the shoes she’d left in the middle of the floor, and landed on her bum with a thud, knocking over the lone chair that stood in the middle of the room. Oh no, she had probably broken the one piece of living room furniture she owned.

“Hello?” the voice called again, sounding a little confused. He’d heard her. Oh Lord. She hurried to the balcony. No way was she going to be the reason for Ridhi taking on her monosyllabic-slash-near-suicidal avatar again. She leaned over the white spindle railing and saw her new bike on the bike rack just below her. It wasn’t much of a jump. Just about seven feet to the grassy mound below. She jumped.

She landed on her feet and then toppled headlong into her bike, which in turn crashed into the three other bikes next to it. Metal tore through her shirt and jabbed her shoulder. The crash made her ears ring. “Shh,” she hissed at the bike she was lying on and tried to straighten up.

Samir heard a loud crash. He ran to the open stairwell and leaned over the railing. Some sort of crazy creature with the wildest mass of jet-black curls was dusting herself off and trying to grab a fluorescent yellow bike from a jumbled heap. Was she stealing it? In her rush to pry it free she stumbled backward and her eyes met his. Something in the way she looked at him set alarm bells gonging in his head. His eyes swept from her panicked stance to the low-hanging balcony. Had she jumped? Damn it.

“Hey! Wait a minute. Are you Malvika?” he yelled at her.

Her eyes widened to huge saucers, as if he’d accused her of something truly heinous. Was she crazy? She had to be because before he knew what to do next she yanked the bike free, hopped on it, and took off as if he were some sort of gangster chasing her with a gun.

He ran down the stairs, taking almost the entire flight in one leap, and saw her desperately peddling away from him. The rickety piece of shit she was riding wobbled and teetered, looking even more unstable than she did. She turned around and gave him another terrified glance. What was wrong with the woman? Just as she was about to turn away again the bike’s handle jerked at the most awkward angle as if it had a mind of its own and she went hurtling into a tree at the end of the street.

“Holy shit!” He ran to her.

By the time he got to her she was lying on her back, her butt pushed up against the tree trunk, her legs flipped over her head like some sort of contortionist yoga guru and the bike intertwined with her folded body. Through the tangle of hair, limbs, and fluorescent metal he heard a sob and a squeak.

“Hello? Are you all right?” Leaning over, he lifted a long spiral lock off her face. It bounced against his palm, soft as silk.

One huge, almond-shaped eye focused on him.

“Teh thik to ho?” he repeated in Hindi. He had no idea why he’d spoken it or why he had used that rural dialect he now used only with his mother, but it just slipped out.

The tangled-up, upside-down mess of a girl, looking at him from behind her legs, literally brightened. There was just no other way to describe it. Her one exposed eye lit up like a firework in a midnight sky. He pushed more hair off her face, almost desperate to see the rest of that smile.

“You can speak Hindi,” she said, her surprisingly husky voice so filled with delight that sensation sparkled across his skin.

For one moment the almost physical force of her smile and the uninhibited joy in her voice stole his ability to speak.

She squinted those impossibly bright eyes at him. “Sorry, is that the only line you know?”

“What? No, of course not. I know lots of lines.” Wow, that must be the stupidest thing he’d ever said in his life.

She smiled again.

He gave his head a shake and forced his attention on her mangled situation instead of that smile. As carefully as he could he pulled the bike off her. “Can you move?”

She bit down on her lip and tried to push herself up. But instead of her body moving, her face contorted with pain and tears pooled in her eyes.

He dropped down to his knees next to her. “I’m sorry. Here, let me help you.” He ignored the absurd shiver of anticipation that kicked in his gut as he reached for her.

No man had ever touched Mili like that. Ridhi’s ridiculously handsome brother wrapped his arms around her and tried to ease her into a sitting position. Pain shot through her back, her legs, through parts of her body she wasn’t even aware she possessed, and all she could think about was the warm bulges of his arms pressing into her skin. So this was what a man’s touch felt like.

Yuck. She was an awful pervert. You’re a married woman, she reminded herself.

But then he gave her another tug and she forgot her own name. Pain buzzed like a million bees in her head. She tried to be brave but she couldn’t stifle the yelp that escaped her.

“Shh. It’s okay. Let me look at that.” He propped her up against his chest and reached out to inspect her ankle. His face faded and blurred and then came back into focus. His skin was almost European light and his hair was the darkest burnt gold. If he hadn’t spoken Hindi the way he had, she might have mistaken him for a local.

He touched her ankle and she was sure something exploded inside it. She sucked in a breath and her head lolled back onto his chest. A very bad English word she had heard only in films rumbled in his chest beneath her head, which suddenly weighed a ton. Her stomach lurched. She heard a pathetic whimper. It had to be her. He didn’t look like the whimpering type.

“Shh, sweetheart. Try to breathe. There, in, then out.” His breath collected in her ear. His voice had an almost magically soothing vibration to it. He slipped a cell phone out of his pocket. “Is there anyone I can call? We need to get you to a hospital.”

At least that’s what Mili thought he said, because her ears were making funny ringing sounds. She leaned back into his wall-like chest and tried to focus on his face, which started spinning along with the fading and the blurring. “Snow Health Center is around the corner. I can walk.”

“Right,” he said. “Or why don’t you ride your bike?”

She was about to smile, but he made an angry growling sound and scooped her up in his arms. How could a flesh-and-blood body be so hard? Like tightly packed sand, but with life. The buzzing in her ears was a din now and she had to fight to keep her eyes open. He jogged across the parking lot to a very shiny action-film-style car.

“I’m going to put you in the backseat, okay?”

She nodded. As long as he kept talking to her in that soothing voice of his, she didn’t care what else he did. “Your car is yellow,” she said. “Just like my bike.”

He grinned and laid her down on the backseat of the roofless car so slowly, so very gently, she felt like she was made of spun sugar. Her ankle hit the seat and she felt like a sledgehammer on an anvil. She dug her fingers into his arm to keep from screaming. He didn’t pull away. He just kept talking in that magical voice until finally he faded out. The last thing Mili remembered was asking him to put her bike in the rack. No, the last thing she remembered was his smile when she asked him to do it.

Amazing debut!  It is beautifully written, full of emotion, chemistry and romance.  I could not put it down once I started.  Although the story has been done before, it has never been done like this.  The traditional aspects of Indian culture give it a different twist.  I suggest you have a box of tissues handy when reading.  This book should go on everyone's to read list.  Highly recommended!

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Sonali Dev’s first literary work was a play about mistaken identities performed at her neighborhood Diwali extravaganza in Mumbai. She was eight years old. Despite this early success, Sonali spent the next few decades getting degrees in architecture and writing, migrating across the globe, and starting a family while writing for magazines and websites.

With the advent of her first gray hair her mad love for telling stories returned full force, and she now combines it with her insights into Indian culture to conjure up stories that make a mad tangle with her life as supermom, domestic goddess, and world traveler.

Sonali lives in the Chicago suburbs with her very patient and often amused husband and two teens who demand both patience and humor, and the world’s most perfect dog.

Find Sonali Here: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

Gypsy Hunted by Andrea Drew - Book Blast, Review & Giveaway

Andrea will be awarding a $20 amazon gift card to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.  Follow the tour by clicking on the banner above, comment daily to increase your chances!

Reluctant psychic Gypsy Shields—she prefers the term "intuition consultant"—finds herself in trouble when, on her way home from a blind date, she interrupts a kidnapping in progress. She attempts to intervene, and her heroics are repaid with a collision between the attacker's van and a brick wall. She awakens in the hospital, paralyzed on her left side and unable to speak. This also means she's unable to share her vital information as a witness. Fortunately, she is able to use her telepathic connection with her niece to throw a line out to a police detective she knows: Connor Reardon, her blind date.

Connor will do anything to protect Gypsy, and he listens to her claims of psychic power willingly, as he's concealing certain powers of his own. Nor are they all he's concealing. Gypsy senses a part of her new ally's mind is closed to her—what she cannot know is that Connor suspects the kidnapper is someone close to him, and the kidnapping victim holds secrets that will tear through Connor's department, putting careers and lives at risk. Including Gypsy, still in hospital and vulnerable as the attacker turns his sights on her once again.

Can she use her powers to track down the perpetrator and prevent her own murder?

Amazon

As a telepath, I pick up on feelings and instinct more than most. Other people like to call me a psychic medium, but I’m not really comfortable with the label.  Apart from the fact that I do it for love, not money, I’m sure once someone learns I’m a telepath they conjure up images of dodgy fraudsters on stage at mass events, feeding grieving families what they desperately need. I’d rather not expose myself to more ridicule than necessary. My abilities happened almost by accident—apparently my grandmother was ‘fey,’ as my mother enjoyed mentioning.

I was sure the pinging, nagging doubt had something to do with Aaron’s home life. “What about you, Gypsy? What do you do?” Connor relaxed his posture, the glass poised before his mouth. He had taken on a different look, probably from the wine, or even better, from unfulfilled lust.

“I write business plans. I’ve also been told I have pretty damn good intuition.”

That seemed to spark Connor’s interest.  He pulled at the other earlobe.

“Oh yeah? What does your intuition tell you about me, then?”

“That you seem like a nice enough guy.”

Connor moistened his lips, which quivered with what I suspected was amusement as he sat legs wide apart

“And?”

“And you’re fishing for compliments that I’m not going to give you just yet.”

Connor threw his head back, indulging in a belly laugh. The rich, throaty sound filled me with pleasure. A smile I couldn’t suppress burst through.

“That’s a fair call, Gypsy, fair call.”

The silence was a comfortable one, our shared joke establishing the early threads of friendship. 

Solid debut!  Interesting, mysterious and suspenseful.  Moves at a nice pace and the characters are likeable.  Looking forward to more good things from Andrea!

Andrea Drew has been a commercial copy writer and resume writer for over a decade.

She's written for celebrity stylists, assisted business coaches and start-ups, written grants for not for profits, delivered marketing presentations to business owners, and attends Australian writing conventions.

Her self-published book "Pro Resumes Made Easy" has been downloaded over 40,000 times.

Andrea has one husband (more than enough), three kids, a pet rock (her daughters not hers), and a house in the suburbs, where she's hard at work on the second novel in the Gypsy series.

Email her at andrea@andrea-drew.com.

Gypsy Hunted her first fiction novel (her first suspense thriller set in her home town of Melbourne Australia) is available for pre-order on Amazon prior to release on October 28 2014.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/drewwriter

GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/andreadrew

 

Blog: http://andreadrewauthor.wordpress.com/

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Mistletoe & Kisses Anthology - Cover Reveal

RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 4TH 

Six of your favorite contemporary romance authors bring you six memorable holiday stories. 

**Secret Santa by Jennifer Benson

**Coming Home by Rebecca Brooke

**Christmas Wish: A Holiday Novella by Danielle Jamie

**Christmas Stalkings (Bullet 4.5) by Jade C. Jamison

**Finding Sadie: A Prequel by Brandace Morrow

**Wrap Me In Your Love by Lisa Survillas

Proceeds from the first two weeks sales will be donated to Legacy X where the mission is to create a place where people find their true self, define what their purpose is and a place where we inspire them to leave a legacy they are proud of. Legacy X was founded by Justin Smith, drummer for the Las Vegas headlining group Recycled Percussion.

Secret Santa by Jennifer Benson

Tonight is the night of the office holiday party and Olive Harper, a paralegal for a New Jersey law firm, was put in charge of the planning. To her surprise, a new employee has been hired at the firm and has brought his brother, Murphy, as his guest. When Scott wakes up on a strange couch in a strange house, he is curious and concerned until he is greeted by the beautiful woman whom he met last night at an office holiday party. Instantly intrigued by her long night shirt and knee high socks, neither Murphy nor Olive could know where a chance meeting at an office holiday party could take them, but thanks to a Secret Santa, they are about to find out.

***************************************************************************************************************************************************

Coming Home by Rebecca Brooke

Tanner Marano has finally found the girl of his dreams and after lots of hard work and heartache, Danielle is finally his. Now all he wants to do is make her his wife, but with meeting his parents and deployments, Danielle is more nervous than ever.

Danielle Renton went through immense heartache only to be brought back into light by Tanner. He is her own knight in shining armor. Yet there is a secret she's keeping for fear it will push him away.

When Tanner comes home with everything be as he left it?

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Christmas Wish: A Holiday Novella by Danielle Jamie

Callie Greenwood’s life has never been easy. Her father up and left when she was six and her mother passed away from breast cancer when she was just thirteen, leaving her grandparents to raise her. But since her grandfather passed away and her grandmother was put into a nursing home, she’s been on her own.

Desperate for love, Callie foolishly settled for the cliché bad boy, thinking he would change his ways for her. Sadly, she learns the hard way that life doesn’t care how bad you have it, and that you can’t make someone love you. When Callie needs Jase the most he abandons her, just like her father did sixteen years ago.

Determined to not spend the holidays alone, Callie decides to spend the holidays at her Aunt Ella's bed and breakfast in Lake George, New York.

Little does she know that everything for her will change when she checks in to the quaint town at Christmas. Callie expected to spend two weeks sipping cocoa by the fire place, listening to Bing Crosby and spending time with her Aunt. The last she ever expected was to meet the handsome but mysterious Brody O’Reilly...

This Christmas heartbreak, secrets, and romance will collide making it a holiday she’ll not soon forget.

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Christmas Stalkings (Bullet 4.5) by Jade C. Jamison

Val, Brad, and the kids decide to take a short but needed winter vacation to get away from it all and enjoy each other’s company, but one thing is stopping them from relaxing like they should. Since fronting her new band Val Hella, Val has discovered the darker side of fame—she has a stalker, one who seems intent upon stepping up his game to get what he wants, and the ruin of their vacation becomes the least of their worries.

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Finding Sadie: A Prequel by Brandace Morrow

**Can be read as a stand alone novella**

*Intended for readers 18+*

A Los Rancheros novella

At fifteen, I took on the role of Popper out of necessity, forgetting the person I was. That's when I became the lead singer of a grunge metal band.

Now at twenty-two I'm cocky, a pessimist, and violent. My shrink is even fed up with me, suggesting I try something radical to appreciate the value of life.

She gives me a card that leads me to him, and ultimately I find . . . me.

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Wrap Me In Your Love by Lisa Survillas

After realizing the marriage to her first ever boyfriend was too good to be true, Isabella files for divorce and leaves their life in California for the home of her youth in Chicago. Upon her arrival, she reconnects with her cousin and best friend Daniel, who has been taking care of her parents’ home since they passed. 

When Daniel enlists the help of his friend Taylor, who Isabella had a childhood crush on, will she be forced to face the pain of rejection again, or will Taylor see what he has missed all these years?

PROMOTIONAL EVENTS FOR MISTLETOE & KISSES 
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Jennifer Benson

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 Rebecca Brooke

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Danielle Jamie

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Jade C. Jamison

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Brandace Morrow

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Lisa Survillas

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