BLOG TOUR: Hold my Hand by M.J. Ford

How long do you hunt for the missing?

A horrible vanishing act…

When a young Josie Masters sees a boy wearing a red football shirt, Dylan Jones, being taken by a clown at a carnival, she tries to alert the crowds. But it’s too late. Dylan has disappeared…

Thirty years later, Josie is working as a police officer in Bath. The remains of the body of a child have been found – complete with tatters of a torn red football shirt. Is it the boy she saw vanish in the clutches of the clown? Or is it someone else altogether?

And then another child disappears…

Claire's Review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Firstly, when this book arrived thanks to Avon books, it arrived in a box that played circus music as you opened and also contained a huge lollipop!

Hold My Hand, starts with an eight-year-old Josie, who visits the circus with her older brother. On a trip to use the toilet, she spots a young boy, in a red shirt being led away by a clown and is the only witness. Years later, she is now a police detective and receives a call when the remains of a child and a red shirt are found.

Wow, this book really sucked me in from the very beginning and kept me hooked page by page. The story is full or lost of twists and turns to keep you guessing. An amazing psychological thriller and quite scary in parts, but I loved it! Fantastical, well-written characters and dialogue and you truly don't want to put the book down until the very end.

An amazing debut and I will definitely be keeping my eye out for more books by M.J. Ford.

Excerpt

She dropped Ferman at the pub, turning down his offer to buy her a drink. Not only because drinking on duty was generally frowned upon, but because she still had to pick up a present for Paul.

She found a milliner’s just off Turl Street, and drove right into town before realising she had no cash for the meter. She parked on double yellows a hundred yards from the shop and hurried in. Amelia had texted her Paul’s size, and she selected a brown homburg without properly looking at the price. When the owner told her, she baulked, but paid out of embarrassment. It was a pittance to her brother, but she’d have to cut a corner somewhere else if she was going to make her monthly payments to Bright Futures.

When she got back to the car, a traffic warden was just taking a shot of her number plate.

‘Oh, come on!’ said Jo. ‘I was two minutes!’

The warden shrugged, made a few more notes, and stuck the ticket to her window wordlessly. She’d been in the same situation with Ben once, years ago, and he’d used the badge, but that wasn’t her way. Instead, she tore off the notice and threw it into the car like any other civilian.

Driving back out of the city, she went through some of her options. She knew she was overdrawn, but she still had credit. The immediate problem was this month’s rent though. If she wrote a cheque and the landlord tried to cash it straight away, it would bounce. As for the Bright Futures payments . . .

A bike swerved out in front of her and she slammed the brake and the horn at the same time. The young man riding, wearing a student’s gown, turned and smiled sheepishly.

BLOG TOUR: Love Among the Treetops by Catherine Ferguson

Can love flourish amongst the tree tops?

When pastry chef Twilight Wilson was a young girl, she would hide from school bullies up in the treehouse at the bottom of her garden in her family home in Sussex. It was her special place, and even as an adult she still loves it.

So when her family tell her they can’t afford to live there any more, Twilight is devastated. Not only will they lose their home – but the treehouse too!

She comes up with a plan to save the family home – she’ll start up a cafe in the treehouse! It’s a brilliant idea, and excitement builds as she starts planning the menus, with the help of Theo – a rather attractive man from the gym. But when former school bully Lucy finds out the plan, she starts plotting – and opens her own rival cafe in the village!

Can Twilight save her family home? Will her friendship with Theo ever be anything more? And who will win the cafe wars?

Catherine Ferguson is back in this hilarious, heart-warming read perfect for summer.

Excerpt

At eleven, I switch off the TV and head upstairs to my old room with the single bed and the complete works of J. K. Rowling dominating the bookshelves.

The house phone rings by the bed and I dive on it, knowing who it will be. No one else would call so late and expect me to answer.

It’s my old school friend, Paloma, who’s been in a state of high excitement ever since I phoned to tell her I was coming back to live in Hart’s End. Paloma always cheers me up, and we’ve been the best of friends ever since the day I discovered she was using the same trick as me to get out of PE at school – faking a twisted ankle. We both got away with it and spent the rest of the day trying to outdo each other on the hobbling front and escaping to the loos to squeal with laughter.

‘You’ve arrived!’ she cheers. ‘When can I come round?’

I laugh. ‘Not now. And not because I don’t want to see you, but because I’m planning on being fast asleep in about – ooh – three minutes.’

Paloma is very much a night owl, still full of life in the late evening when most people are drifting off in front of the TV. (Mornings, she resembles a creature from the deep. Silent but scary.)

‘I didn’t mean tonight. You must be absolutely shattered. How was your journey? Boring, I imagine.’

A memory flashes into my head. Theo making his comment about celery being one hundred per cent not pizza and winking at me.

‘Actually, no, it was okay,’ I muse. ‘There was this bloke called Theo who helped me off with my case. Otherwise I’d have missed the stop.’

‘Theo, eh? Tell me more.’

Her tone is loaded with innuendo and heat floods into my cheeks. ‘Nothing to tell. He’s just … um … nice.’

‘Nice? Is that all?’

‘And quirky. He was reading a book about crochet.’

She laughs. ‘He sounds fascinating. And how’s your dad?’

‘Oh, you know. Putting on a brave face, I think. They both are,’ I say, relieved she’s dropped the subject of Theo.

‘Your dad is just the best. Remember he used to cut sticks of rhubarb from the garden and give us a little bag of sugar each to dip it in? We must have been about ten.’ She sighs. ‘Those were the days.’

I laugh. ‘Yeah, and when you crunched it, you felt like you were stripping the enamel off your teeth. And if you ate too much you were awake all night with a sore stomach. Those “good old days” had a lot to answer for!’

Paloma gets quite sentimental over her childhood, but as my own memories tend to feature a lot of Lucy Slater in a starring role, I much prefer to look to the future.

We decide to meet for brunch at eleven, and I switch off the light, feeling so much better for having spoken to her. Coming back to Hart’s End alone, without Paloma in my corner, would have been a whole lot more difficult …

BLOG TOUR: Perfect Death by Helen Fields

PERFECT DEATH

HELEN FIELDS 

The new release you need to read from the 2017 crime thriller bestseller.

‘Without doubt, this is one of the best detective series I have read.’ 

Woman’s Way Magazine

Your new addiction starts here: get hooked on the #1 bestselling series. Perfect for fans of Karin Slaughter and M.J. Arlidge.

There’s no easy way to die…

Unknown to DI Luc Callanach and the newly promoted DCI Ava Turner, a serial killer has Edinburgh firmly in his grip. The killer is taking his victims in the coldest, most calculating way possible – engineering slow and painful deaths by poison, with his victims entirely unaware of the drugs flooding their bloodstream until it’s too late.

But how do you catch a killer who hides in the shadows? A killer whose pleasure comes from watching pain from afar? Faced with their most difficult case yet, Callanach and Turner soon realise they face a seemingly impossible task…

Helen Fields is the crime name that EVERYONE needs to know about. 

Helen Fields studied law at the University of East Anglia, then went on to the Inns of Court School of Law in London. After completing her pupillage, she joined chambers in Middle Temple where she practised criminal and family law for thirteen years.

After her second child was born, Helen left the Bar. Together with her husband David, she runs a film production company, acting as script writer and producer. Perfect Remains is set in Scotland, where Helen feels most at one with the world. Helen and her husband now live in Hampshire with their three children and two dogs.

Extract Thirteen: Chapter 8, pp.47-48

‘Let’s start with this. I’m entirely convinced that George’s cause of death was carbon monoxide poisoning. There are no injuries or findings inconsistent with that, internal or external. The toxicology samples will be picked up from here tomorrow and sent away for analysis but I’ve done an alcohol test on his blood. He was sober. I don’t just mean below the driving limit. I mean there was no alcohol in his blood at all. When he made the decision to take his life, he did it entirely consciously.’

‘Something must have triggered it,’ Ava said. ‘You found no other signs of illness? Nothing that would cause him to lose hope sufficiently to believe suicide was the only way out?’

‘There are no tumours, his organs – even given his heart condition – are all in reasonable order. I phoned his GP. He’d had a comprehensive check-up recently, blood tests and all. Came back clear. The notes indicate that George was in good spirits, no problems with his mood, sleeping, eating, even his cholesterol was dropping. Apparently, he was planning a surprise holiday for his wife Glynis on their anniversary. The GP has been seeing them both for years. She’s as shocked as we are,’ Ailsa said.

‘So he drove to the coast, hooked a length of hose-pipe up to the back of his car and sat there dying, knowing Glynis was cooking dinner for him. He was stone cold sober, in spite of the empty whisky bottle in his car, with no known problems. For Christ’s sake, Ailsa, it makes no sense,’ Ava said.

‘I’m aware of that,’ Ailsa said. ‘There is the matter of the markings on the inside of his left wrist.’

She clicked the screen and produced a blown-up photo of the area. ‘It’s clearer in this photograph than to the naked eye because we’ve been able to filter out some of the colour. You can see here that the capital N was formed of scratches, making three separate lines. They are quite deep violations of the epidermis, consisting of multiple scratches along each line. The small c is formed of a single curve, repeated several times in the same place.’ She clicked again and the c came up magnified. ‘You can see here that at the top part of the curve, the scratch was so deep that it had begun to draw blood. It would have taken some effort to do that without a tool or implement.’

‘Without a tool?’ Callanach asked. ‘You mean he . . .’

‘He used his right index finger. The scratched off particles of skin were found under the nail, sufficient to see without a microscope. Obviously, we’ve sent that for DNA testing but there’s really no doubt that he did this to himself.’

Claire's Review ⭐⭐⭐⭐

This is the third installment in the D.I. Callanach series. A serial killer on the loose in Edinburgh, and lots of personal life and work issues that have to be faced by Ava and Luc. I won't go into much detail for fear of adding too many spoilers.

Once again Fields has written an amazing novel that keeps you hooked the whole way through, with amazing writing for the genre and intricate plot development. I have read book two of this series previously but still haven't been able to read book one and I feel I may need to jump back in case there are any parts I have missed, however, you do not need to read previous books to be able to enjoy the story, as the cases are different in each book. I would, however, recommend that the books are read in order to enjoy the back story running through the books.

I have never been the biggest fan of crime novels, but this series has really sucked me in and I cannot wait to see what it next in store of Luc and Ava.

BLOG TOUR: Our Little Secret by Claudia Carroll

A sparkling story about what happens when you let someone into your life… but they turn out to want more than you’d bargained for!

Sarah Dee has the perfect life. A high-flying job in a law firm, a beautiful daughter and a house to die for. So how does she find herself looking in through the kitchen window while another woman enjoys it all?

When Sarah takes pity on a struggling young graduate who can’t get a job, she thinks she’s doing the right thing. She’s being kind, generous and helpful to others, as she always is. But as Sarah allows the younger woman into her home, her law firm and even her family, is there more to this pretty youngster than meets the eye? And could this be a good deed that goes further than expected?

Claudia Carroll does it again with an incredible new novel about what happens when your life becomes up for grabs…

AMAZON UK

Excerpt

Sarah

‘You have very good cuticles. Badly neglected though, I’m afraid. They just need a little bit of work,’ my beauty therapist said, her head of thick, glossy dark hair bend low over the nail station, uttered focused on her work.

‘I’m afraid I don’t get a huge amount of time to take care of myself.’ I smiled politely, flicking though that month’s Vanity Fair with my other hand. There was an article about Kate Middleton’s mother that I remember particularly wanting to read, for no other reason than to valet park my brain for the next half-hour. Exactly what I needed after that morning’s conversation/screaming match with Darcy, my teenage daughter. Not to mention the snippy tone my boss had taken with me in a meeting earlier that day to discuss a legal brief I wasn’t quite up to speed on. At least not yet, I wasn’t.

A little half-hour of pampering on a Friday lunchtime before the weekend, that’s all I was after. Something I hadn’t indulged in for years. In fact I think the last time I spent a bit of non-essential cash on myself was long before Darcy hit secondary school.

‘But it’s so important to make time for personal grooming,’ Lauren, my therapist, gently insisted with a sweet smile. ‘These little things matter. My mother always used to say you can tell anything you want about a person just by looking at the state of their nail bed.’

‘Yes, yes, of course,’ I chimed automatically, completely absorbed by the article in front of me.

Jesus, had Carole Middleton really made £30 million by the time she’d turned forty? And all from flogging little party bags? What was wrong with me anyway? Why couldn’t I come up with a home-based cottage industry like that, which would go on to dominate the Forbes index and put an end to all of my money worries?

‘Will you be taking any holidays soon?’ my therapist asked, interrupting my thoughts yet again.

Oh God, I groaned inwardly. Do we really have to have the holiday chat? Couldn’t this one sense I just wanted to pull a Greta Garbo and be left alone to my thoughts?

‘I wish. I can’t remember the last time I took a proper holiday,’ I replied, flashing her a quick smile.

‘Going out tonight, maybe?’

‘No, just back to the office shortly to catch up with a few things I need to sign off on, I’m afraid.’

‘And any plans for the weekend?’

Not unless you count frantically playing catch-up with work, bickering with Darcy and trying my level best to be civil to Tom when he comes over to collect her later on, then no, I thought.

BLOG TOUR: A Year of New Adventures by Maddie Please

A Year of New Adventures

It’s time for Billie Summers to have an adventure … but it might not be exactly what she expected.

Billie Summers has always been quite content in her little cottage in the Cotswolds, sure half the house hasn’t been renovated, but what’s the point when it’s only her! Working part-time at her uncle’s bookshop and planning 3-4 writer retreats with her best friend allows her to pay the bills. What more could anyone want?

That is until Oliver Forest, the bad boy of the book world, turns up to one of her retreats and points out that Billie hasn’t done anything very adventurous. Couple that with her best friend falling head over heels and beginning to drift away from their Friday night wine and dinner plans, Billie is starting to wonder if it isn’t time she take control of her life.

So she starts a list: get fitted (properly) for a bra, fix up rest of house, find a ‘career’ and well, get a tattoo … Her life might just get the makeover it needs, too bad irritating and far-too-attractive for his own good, Oliver keeps showing up …

Because sometimes you need an adventure!

Amazon UK

Extract

It was the third writers’ retreat Helena and I had run and the previous two had gone like clockwork. There was no reason why this one shouldn’t have been just the same.

And then Oliver Forest turned up.

It was a dark, wet day in February and, believe me, his mood made it seem even bleaker.

It didn’t take long for things to go wrong.

It was ten-fifteen and people had been asked to turn up after eleven, so Helena and I were sitting with our feet up in the gorgeous kitchen of our rental house eating cookies out of the first batch I’d made; some of them had broken when I’d burned myself and dropped the baking tray.

Although she is my best friend, Helena is nothing like me. For example, she believes any meal taking longer than seven minutes in a nine-hundred-watt microwave is a waste of time. I love cooking and have been known to sleepwalk into the kitchen to make an omelette.

She has an immaculate and much-loved pale-blue Morris Minor called William, whereas I have a beaten-up old Land Rover, which isn’t called anything except rude names when it refuses to start. Actually, I’m petrified it needs a new cam belt, something that was mentioned in hushed tones last September when it had an MOT. I hope it wasn’t listening. I didn’t dare ask what a cam belt was, but it sounds expensive doesn’t it?

Even though it might be on its last legs, my car had more space than hers for all our provisions. I had removed the Tesco bag full of muddy shoes, a box of books to take to the local telephone kiosk library, and the cracked first-aid kit that now contained only a triangular bandage and a box of corn plas­ters. Still, if we’d met anyone with a broken arm and bunions on our drive down to the lovely house we’d rented for the retreat, we’d have been ready.

‘So I hope you’re going to tell me you’ve got your money back from Matt?’ Helena asked with an innocent air as I reached for another cookie.

‘Well no, but he promised he would sort it out,’ I said.

This was an ongoing conversation that had started before Christmas when Matt – my now very ex-boyfriend – had gone on our romantic holiday without me.

‘Oh for heaven’s sake, Billie!’ Helena said. ‘When are you going to toughen up with him? He owes you money! He nicked your towels! Why are you letting him get away with it?’

Claire's Review ⭐⭐⭐⭐

This is the story of Billie Summers who after splitting with her boyfriend, organises a writers retreat with her best friends, and meets Oliver Frost who expects the world to owe him. He is rude and one of the worst people to come on the retreat.

This book was a great easy read, and well written that you will sit down to read a few pages and still be there an hour later. A great summer read with some romance and humour thrown in.

BLOG TOUR: Beneath the Skin by Caroline England

Caroline England’s, Beneath The Skin is a tense and compelling read, exploring truth, friendships and betrayal.

No-one remembers your past. But you do.

‘Antonia, Antonia. My name is Antonia.’

It’s been her name for many years. But sometimes, like tonight, she forgets. Antonia has a secret. A secret so dark and so deep that she can barely admit it to herself. Instead, she treats herself to Friday night sessions of self-harm while her husband David is at the pub, and her best friend Sophie is drinking too much wine a few doors down.

Nobody close to her knows the truth about what the teenage Antonia saw all those years ago. No-one, that is, except her mother. But Candy is in a care home now, her mind too addled to remember the truth.

Antonia is safe. Isn’t she? The lies start small. They always do. But when the tightly woven story you’ve told yourself begins to unravel, the truth threatens to come to the surface. And then what’s going to happen?

BLOG TOUR & REVIEW: Scandalous by LJ Shen

Scandalous, the highly anticipated next standalone in the Sinners of Saint Series by LJ Shen is available NOW!

Scandalous by LJ Shen

Publishing Date: September 29th, 2017

Genre: Contemporary Romance

They call him The Mute for a reason.

Hard, cold and calculated, he rarely speaks.

When he does, it’s with disdain.

When he does, his words aren’t meant for me.

When he does, my stomach flips and my world tilts on its axis.

He is thirty-three.

I am eighteen.

He’s a single dad and my father’s business partner.

I’m just a kid to him and his enemy’s daughter.

He’s emotionally unavailable.

And I am…feeling. Feeling things I shouldn’t feel for him.

Trent Rexroth is going to break my heart. The writing isn’t just on the wall, it’s inked on my soul.

And yet, I can’t stay away.

A scandal is the last thing my family needs. But a scandal is what we’re going to give them.

And oh, what a beautiful chaos it will be.

Caroline's Review

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

This book!! Freakin' amazing! On a par with Vicious, for sure!! 

"Trent Rexroth was the silent hunter who would circle you for hours, striking when you least expected it."

Trent Rexroth, 33 years old, single dad, poor-boy-made-millionaire-good. Untouchable.

"She's stolen the attention and limelight purely by standing there, looking like she did."

Edie Van Der Zee, 18 years old, daughter of a millionaire but living hand-to-mouth, doing what she can for the ones she truly loves. Forbidden fruit.

"Whatever we were, we were toxic. A lullaby on a thoroughly scratched record that keeps hiccupping again and again on the line that you hate."

Two people who shouldn't have even noticed one another. An intense physical attraction, a mutual hate and disdain, a trainwreck of epic proportions waiting to happen that has the potential to ruin both their lives. 

"You're mine, and you hate it. You're mine, and I'm not a wave you can ride. I'm the f*cking ocean."

I couldn't put this book down!!! It was electric and seething with pent-up desire and dislike. It was an intensely sexual and raw read. Trent is dark, rough, and sinfully delicious. He's possessive, obsessive and, ultimately, selfless. Edie is strong but helpless, at her father's mercy, and on a path of impossible choices. Edie was a shocking, and not wholly welcome, surprise to Trent, and I loved how much she challenged him. She had an old head on young shoulders. 

This was such an enthralling read - I was so caught up in the story. A definite Top Read 2017 for me!

Excerpt:

Trent’s gaze cut to mine and stopped when his grays met my blues. The fading noise of Vicious barking at people to move along, and my father finally letting go of my arm to move toward Jaime and Dean—probably trying to gain both allies and sympathy—died down. “I don’t like you,” Rexroth whispered under his breath, his voice harsh. “I never asked you to.” I shrugged. “You won’t be working here.” His arm brushed my shoulder, but I didn’t think it was by accident. I let loose a sugary smile, scanning his face and torso for no other reason other than to taunt him. “Good, you’ll be doing me a favor. My father is the one forcing me to work here. He’s pissed I turned down five Ivy League colleges. Remind me, Mr. Rexroth—which top tier university did you attend for your degree?” The low blow was supposed to retrieve some of my lost dignity, but bile burned my throat, shotgunned from my stomach. Trent Rexroth was known in Todos Santos as an exhilarating success story, rising from the gutters of San Diego. He went to a shitty state college that accepted even the illiterate, working as a janitor on campus after hours. Those were given facts he’d recited himself in an interview for Forbes. Had I really just tried to make him feel less worthy because he wasn’t born with a silver spoon in his mouth? It made me sicker than wearing my mother’s designer garbs. Trent smiled, leaning into my body, into my soul. His smirk was more frightening than any scowl, frown, or grimace I’d ever seen. It threatened to tear me apart and sew me back together however he pleased. “Edie.” His lips were dangerously close to my ear. A delicious shiver moved down my spine. Something warm rolled inside of me, begging to unknot and flower into an orgasm. What was happening, and why the hell was it happening? “If you know what’s best for you, you will turn around and leave right now.” I elevated my head to meet his gaze and showed him my version of a grin. I was born and raised in a world of intimidating rich men, and I’d be damned if I go down like my mother—addicted to xanax, Gucci, and a man who paraded her on his arm for a short, glorious decade before keeping her solely for public appearances. “I think I’m going to go find my desk now. I’d wish you a good day, Mr. Rexroth, but I think that ship has sailed. You’re a miserable man. Oh, and one for the road.” I fished for a Nature Valley bar in my mother’s purse and plastered it to his hard, muscled chest. My heart slammed into my neck, fluttering like a caged bird. I hurried after my father as he glided down the vast, golden-hued hallway, not daring to look back. Knowing I’d started a war and arrived unequipped. But I also knew something else that gave me a surfer’s rush—if I could slam the final nail in my employment coffin and make Rexroth vote against me, I’d be off the hook. I had just the plan for it. All I had to do was act like a brat. Game on.

Read Today!

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Start the Series of Standalones Today!

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Vicious

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About LJ Shen:

L.J. Shen is an International #1 best-selling author of Contemporary Romance and New Adult novels. She lives in Northern California with her husband, young son and chubby cat. Before she’d settled down, L.J. (who thinks referring to herself in the third person is really silly, by the way) traveled the world, and collected friends from all across the globe. Friends who’d be happy to report that she is a rubbish companion, always forgets peoples’ birthdays and never sends Christmas cards. She enjoys the simple things in life, like spending time with her family and friends, reading, HBO, Netflix and internet-stalking Stephen James. She reads between three to five books a week and firmly believes Crocs shoes and mullets should be outlawed.

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COVER REVEAL, EXCERPT & GIVEAWAY: Fervent by Claudia Burgoa

Title: Fervent

Author: Claudia Burgoa

Genre: Contemporary Romance
Cover Design: Hang Le

Release Date: October 27, 2017

Blurb

As a former Army Ranger who works for a high intelligence, private security company, I’ve seen my fair share of death, betrayal, and pain. 

I’ve lived them. 

I trust no one, only my brothers, and my best friend.

I wasn’t always like that. Everything changed the day my parents died and my nation was attacked. 

Since then, family comes first. Work is my mistress. 

Nothing else matters. 

That is, until she walked into my life.

Short dress, long, tanned legs, and honey eyes that make me weak. 

She’s chaos.

She’s sunshine and daffodils.

She’s loud.

She’s a fighter.

She’s a dreamer.

She’s everything I hate.

Why is it so hard to walk away from her?

ADD TO GOODREADS

Pre-order Links

AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU
B&N / KOBO / iBOOKS

Excerpt

Stretched t-shirt, dry blood and badass attitude looked good on him. That’s nothing compared to Harrison Everhart wearing a suit. His tall, broad, body wrapped in a dark gray is a site I want to photograph, frame and stare at it forever. He’s the type of man who behaves differently depending on the place and time. For the past five hours, we chatted pleasantly about our families. Nothing too superficial but nothing too intimate, either. If I had time to date, he’d be the kind of man I’d choose. Easy to talk to, funny, and a gentleman.

A refreshing touch from the guys who I hook up with when I have time to go out with my friends. Which lately it’s been never. Maybe I have time, but I don’t want to waste it by doing the same thing over and over again. Meeting a guy who has little social skills, only talks about himself, and by the end of the date is the only one who is satisfied isn’t great. I have my little friendly toys that to do a better job and I don’t have to listen to nonsense.

This would be a great subject for a sociology class; the interactions between humans, and how out of touch they are with one another that dating has become a joke. What happened to love letters? The chase is so much different now than it was back when my parents dated. I should quit the Bureau and go back to school. Finish my psychology degree, go into anthropology or sociology. I would enjoy doing that more than having to jump through hoops to show that I’m capable of more things than my superiors like to acknowledge. If anything, I can write a book with Mom’s letters and notes.

A manual on how it’s done.

“Everything okay?” Harrison asks when the service car stops, and the driver opens my door. “You’ve been quiet since we left the party.”

Define okay? My skin tingles every time you touch me. Your deep voice makes me shiver, and dancing in your arms was a bit torturous because everything inside me wanted you to touch more than my bare shoulders and my waist. But yeah, I’m cool.

“Your brother and Hazel never arrived at the party,” I comment, not disclosing that I’d like to find out how my fake future boyfriend kisses. “Gia wasn’t there either.”

 “I’m sorry about that. If you want, I can try to find out her whereabouts. My people can hack her phone and track her daily activities. He smirks and winks. “We can start stalking her.”

“Stalking?” I boom, laughing and covering my mouth when a couple walking close to us turns to glare at me.

“Yeah, that’s the word and you know what they say, ‘couples that stalk together stay together.’” He grins, his blue-crystal eyes shining with the post light.

That grin is addictive. I shouldn’t mind pretending to be with him while I’m working. A little fun on the side, some sexy times. Sex. I haven’t had that in a long time. So long that I can only remember what my toys can do for me. But I care. He’s a distraction. Each time he smirks, touches me or talks with the low-bedroom voice I want to jump him. That’s not only unprofessional but also illogical.

“Anything for the sake of the case, right?” My voice comes out a little throaty, needy.

He clears his throat, looking around and poking the elevator. “We should do this again,” he says, leaning closer to me.

“Technically, we have to do it again.”

Have I mentioned this is the best case I’ve ever worked on in my entire life.” He leans forward, kissing my cheek. His lips lingering close to my ear for one too many seconds. His musk-wood scent making my stomach flutter.

“Thank you,” I swallow hard, turning around and stepping into the elevator. “We can discuss our next move tomorrow.”

I poke the elevator, looking at the doors that start closing his gaze locks with mine.  His eyes darken, the intensity of that gaze makes me feel vulnerable, bare. I imagine my skin searing with the touch of his big hands. As the doors close, my phone rings. An incoming message. Unknown number reads the screen.

Unknown: This was the best first date I’ve had in a long time. Thank you.

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Author Bio

Claudia grew up with a childhood that resembled a caffeine-injected soap opera.

She lives in Colorado working for a small IT company, managing her household filled with three confused dogs, her geek husband, two daughters wrought with fandoms and a son who thinks he’s the boss of the house. To survive she works continually to find purpose for the voices flitting through her head, plus she consumes high quantities of chocolate to keep the last threads of sanity intact.

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BLOG TOUR: The Little Bakery on Rosemary Lane by Ellen Berry

Extract Sixteen from Chapter Four, pp 65-67

With Serena and Kate at her side, she milled around the studio in a flurry of kisses and hugs; Sean’s crowd were an affectionate and demonstrative bunch, forever greeting each other with cries of delight. As Roxanne had expected, she knew almost everyone here. ‘Daniella, hi! Sadie, hi, sweetheart! Angelo – so lovely to see you . . .’

‘Oh, you look stunning, Roxanne,’ enthused Jarek, a hairdresser she worked with regularly on shoots. ‘What a fabulous dress! Is it vintage?’

‘It is, yes . . .’

‘You always find the most perfect thing . . .’

She thanked him and moved on. Make-up artists, hairdressers, models, photographers, stylists, PRs and agents . . . they were all out in force, filling the studio with chatter and boisterous laughter as the music grew louder and more champagne was swigged. It wasn’t long before Roxanne began to feel quite light-headed. She was drinking too quickly, trying to shake off the stress of her meeting with Marsha. She really needed to slow down. One more glass wouldn’t hurt, though, and she’d be sure to eat plenty and drink some water.

She took another glass of champagne from a tray and went in search of food to soak up the fizz. Bypassing the seafood bar, where piles of oysters glistened on ice, she made her way to the Indian street food stall where a glamorous young woman with her hair tucked into a crisp white hat was handing out paper cones of puffed rice. ‘This is bhel puri,’ she explained. ‘Would you like some?’

‘Ooh, yes please – it looks delicious.’ Roxanne tucked into her cone with a wooden fork, noting that the light and spicy rice was proving especially pleasing to the fashion crowd, most of whom tended towards the determinedly skinny. Roxanne, who had settled at around a size twelve, feared for their bones sometimes. Sean’s agent, Britt Jordan, looked as if she might snap. Even her back – which was entirely visible in a tiny grey sheath of a dress – looked starved, with all the nodules visible. You could actually count the vertebrae. Roxanne was sick to death of carb-avoiding these days. She tucked into a second cone of bhel puri and washed it down with her champagne. Who could blame her? It had been a horrible day, the sort that needs its rough edges smoothed by something chilled and delicious, and this particular vintage was doing the job extremely well.

‘Hey, Rox, you’re looking good, darling!’ Britt had glided over towards her.

‘Thanks, Britt. So are you. Isn’t this great? I hear you had quite a hand in the organising . . .’

‘Oh yes, I had to, or we’d have been sitting in the pub with a dish of dry-roasted nuts.’ She laughed huskily. ‘But he’s loving it, isn’t he?’

The two women glanced over to where Sean was holding court with a group of younger men and women by the DJ booth. Everyone was laughing and sipping champagne. ‘I think he is,’ Roxanne said with a smile, genuinely happy to see him enjoying himself.

Britt turned to her. ‘All that not wanting a big fuss . . . it’s all show, isn’t it? Who wouldn’t want a gorgeous party like this?’

Claire's Review ⭐⭐⭐⭐

This story follows the life of Roxanne, a fashion editor in her late forties working in London. After issues at work and the man she’s dating having commitment issues she decides to take a sabbatical and visit her sister Della, back home in Yorkshire. 

This story was very different to what I expected and didn’t focus on the bakery as much as I thought it would. Roxanne was a fantastic character and it was great to see her change throughout the story and adapting to life in Yorkshire.

This was a very warm and easy to read book, well written and perfect for reading curled up with a blanket in the evening. 

After reading this I also found out that there is a previous book focusing of Roxanne’s sister Della and I will definitely have to go back and read where it all began.

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NEW RELEASE & REVIEW: CowSex by Lesley Jones

RELEASE BLITZ

Title: CowSex

Author: Lesley Jones

Release Date: September 29, 2017

Genre: Romantic Comedy - Standalone

BLURB

When you add two strangers to a cabin, in the middle of a snow storm, the obvious happens...

CowSex.

When Essex lifestyle blogger and fashionista, Gracie Elliott crash lands into the life of Colorado mountain man Koa Carmichael, fists, chemistry and sexual banter ensue. After sharing some sweet, emotional as well as laugh-out-loud moments, they find it impossible to deny that they might have just discovered what neither of them knew they were looking for.

CowSex, sometimes all you need is a little bit.

Julie's Review

⭐⭐⭐⭐

I blooming well laughed my socks off whilst reading about Koa and Gracie.

Really enjoyed being dragged back to my Essex-girl roots, made me chuckle more than a few times, what with the wonderfully crazy but familiar words of this author's world, and that of surprise and wonder from the Americans in this story, on hearing these crazy English words.

I loved their initial meeting, the crazy and wacky meeting of two very different people, but with a chemistry so off the charts, but so believable. I think this could happen in the real world without a doubt.

Gracie is someone I definitely could be close friends with, that may be because she reminded me of me for the most part.

Lesley's writing brings you in and you get to experience first hand the thrills and spills of a couple becoming acquainted with one another.

I thought both sets of friends were pivotal to Gracie and Koa making it happen. The exses were both crazy bonkers women, but their loss was most definitely Gracie's gain.

I adored Gracie - she was out to get her head cleared out, but intending to make a whole new life.

Koa, at first, I thought was an arse, but once he finally worked through his emotions, he was the sweetest guy you would ever want to meet.

This book had it all - love and happiness, fun times, and some hilarious situations that you wished you could see for real.

Was I imagining the weirdest of things with the title? Yes I was, but in reality a lovely romance, set in a beautiful part of the world.

I'm not sure if everyone will get the cockney, Essex humour, but it certainly kept me turning the pages, 

A great 4* read, and I am happy to say my Lesley Jones cherry has now been popped!!

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EARLY REVIEWS OF COWSEX

I was blown away with the beauty of this. So funny and so real. I love a page turner but more than anything I love feeling all churned up and not knowing what's round the corner.

***********

I will go on record and say this is my No.1 book of the year! So funny I got a head, cheek and belly ache from laughing/smiling so hard...

***********

When you wake up smiling then start laughing out loud just thinking about the scenes and the lines. Yes this book does that. One of funniest Books I've read this year!

**********

EXCERPT

“He scoops ice out of a drawer in the freezer and wraps the tea towel around it before heading back towards me and placing his makeshift ice pack gently on the back of my wrist.

“Hold this in place,” he orders. I do as I’m told—with a lot of concentration, this is something I am occasionally able to do.

I continue to watch him as he repeats his movements from earlier, only this time he slides the ice pack under my wrist.

He then proceeds to retrieve what I assume are a couple of painkillers from a pack he takes from the pantry. He hands them to me, and I put them in my mouth before accepting a bottle of water he pulled from the fridge.

“You drugging me?” I question.

“Yep. They’re magic pills that stop you from talking, but they only work on beautiful girls. Not sure if you qualify.”

“Oh, and he’s a fucking comedian as well as a first-aider. What other skills can you impress me with, Cowboy?”

He scratches at his beard and gives his head a slight shake. “You have a smart mouth for a little-bit, anyone ever tell you that?”

All the time.

“And you should quit with the cussing. It doesn’t become you.”

“Fuck you.”

“Charming.”

We stare at each other in silence for a few seconds, and I feel a bit mean for being rude. He didn’t have to help me out with my arm, but he did, and he did it with a gentleness that surprised me.

“So, where’d you learn the first-aid skills?”

“Played a lot of football, got a lot of injuries, learned how to fix myself up.”

“By football, I assume you mean that game where men wear lots of padding, run along carrying a wonky ball, knock other men out of the way until they reach a line, where they then proceed to throw down the wonky ball and score a point, or a goal, or something similar? Would that be the game you’re referring to?”

He folds his arms across his chest and leans back against the worktop opposite where he sat me.

“It would be the game that’s played something like the way you described that I’m talking about, yes.”

I nod and then shake my head. “Always puzzled me why you would call that football when so much of the game is played with the hands. The foot and the ball, rarely actually coming into contact.”

“Well, what would you call it?”

“Big men that are scared of getting hurt, so they wear lots of padding while they run, ball.”

“Now who’s being a comedian?”

“I’m female, so it’s comedienne.”

“What’s the difference?”

“We’re actually much funnier.”

That earns me a smirk, and I swing my legs while sitting on the worktop, basking in the satisfaction that I’ve almost made him smile.”

Lesley Jones (c) 2017

AUTHOR BIO

Lesley Jones was born and raised in Essex, England but moved to Australia in 2006 with her family. Her first book, Saviour, was published in 2013 and she quickly gained a reputation as a writer of gritty, down to earth characters, involved in angsty and emotional plot lines. Carnage, her third novel, has won a number of awards for ‘Best Ugly Cry’. Her readers love the fact that she can switch her stories from hot and steamy, to snot bubble ugly crying, followed by laugh out loud moments, in the space of a few sentences. She has declared that the very best part of her job is meeting her readers and has travelled the world a number of times over the past few years to do exactly that. When not writing, she has admitted to being a prolific reader, getting through around four or five books a week. She is a fan of trashy reality TV, listening to music, watching her son play football and enjoys a glass of wine… or three.

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