#NewRelease Beauty in the Beast by Elyzabeth M. Valey #Excerpt

Beauty in the Beast (The Witches' Mischief 5)

Light will become shadow. Love will become hate. Good will become evil. The Darkness is here. There will be no escape.

Morgana Wiles has spent her life, alongside her mother, fighting against the arrival of the creature known as The Darkness. Unfortunately, neither of them were able to stop him and now he's here, ready to destroy all that is good in the world. Morgana must face him, but now that the time has come, she finds that things are not as simple. Her mother is gone, self-doubt is creeping in, and her visions are unclear. To make matters worse, a man with evil intent has entered her life and is bent on complicating her mission. Will she be able to resist him in time to fight The Darkness or will she succumb and become that which she despises?


Christopher Bexley is no gentleman. He enjoys trickery, deceit, mischief and above all seduction. Sexual intercourse is the greatest source of power there is or at least there was, until he heard about the Gem. Now that he has discovered there's a stone that can make him the most powerful magic user of all time, he must have it. The only problem is that the only other person that might know where it is, is a stickler for rules and being good. Morgana is too innocent for his liking, and there's only one thing he can do to change that: corrupt her.

Available at: Evernight Publishing ~~ All Romance Ebooks ~~ Bookstrand ~~ Amazon.com ~~ Amazon.uk

Author Bio:

Considered weird by normal standards – what is normal anyway?- Elyzabeth M. VaLey enjoys making up songs about mundane things, doodling stars and flowers on any blank sheet of paper, talking to her Lab whenever he feigns interest and coming up with love stories to make readers dream.

From contemporary to historical or fantasy, she enjoys writing stories about good and evil, love and passion and all that comes in between happy ever after.

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Excerpt

“Going anywhere, little one?” 

She stared at Christopher. His hair was all over the place, his robe open to reveal a chest smattered with dark hair. His eyes glistened deviously, matching his grin.

“Are you keeping watch over me, Mr, Bexley?” She crossed her arms over her chest, hoping that he couldn’t see her beaded nipples.

Christopher laughed.

“No such lucky, Miss Wiles. I thought I heard a noise and came to investigate.” He looked her up and down. Her cheeks burned. “I suppose you heard something, too, or you would have dressed more appropriately before coming out of your bedroom.”

She hastened to cover herself up. Sweat dripped down her back.

“Don’t do it on my account, I’m quite enjoying the view.”

Morgana scowled. Where was this heat coming from? “No. I couldn’t sleep. I’m waiting for Anne.”

“Are you? I haven’t seen her since we arrived”

She licked her lips. She needed a fan. Christopher shifted his weight and it hit her. It was him. His energy was like a hot ball of fire. Like an animal that had come from a hunt, or from a run. Primal. He took a step toward her. His robe shifted, revealing more of his chest. How would it feel to run her fingertips across his flesh?

“Yes.”

“Are you all right? You seem flustered.”

“I’m fine.”

Christopher raised his eyebrows.

“I’m fine,” she repeated. She tucked her hair behind her ears. “I’m just tired.”

“Maybe you should try and get some rest. If you can’t sleep, I’ll be happy to hold you.”

“Like you’re holding the woman in your bedroom? I think I shall pass down your offer, Mr. Bexley.”

He shrugged. “Your loss.”

He started to turn around but stopped. “You know, Miss Wiles, I don’t think your rejection sounded very convincing.”

Morgana stared at him. “I beg your pardon?”

Christopher’s eyes lit up as he sauntered toward her. Morgana backed up against the wall. He crowded her against it, placing his arms on either side of her head.

“You’re smothering me.”

“Good.”

“Mr. Bexley, this is—”

Christopher dipped his head so that she was staring into his eyes. They were the color of crushed pine needles. “Mr. Bexley this, Mr. Bexley that.” He gently grabbed her chin. Her heart skipped a beat.

“You’ve been watching me, little one. Watching me and wondering about my energy. I can tell a woman’s, a witch’s curiosity, and you are dying to know what my energy feels like. Will it really make you feel more powerful? Will it hurt you? Is it what you need to defeat that dark thing you’re so afraid of? I don’t have the answer to any of that, but I can tell you the surge of power you feel when you share your body with another human being. It is amazing. Your powers will be heightened, and you will have the ability to be faster, stronger, and to learn things quicker.”

Morgana swallowed. She should get out of here now that she could, but she was mesmerized. Yes, she was curious, but she knew better than to be led on by a man like him. She took in a deep breath, determined to say something witty and be rid of him. Instead his scent curled around her. He smelled musky and masculine, different from anything she knew.

“I’m going to kiss you now, Morgana. I’m going to kiss you and show you an inkling of what this feels like.”

His lips mashed against hers before she could think to protest. Morgana froze. They were warm and soft. He pulled back a bit and kissed her again. Her eyes drifted shut. Christopher put his arms around her and pulled her closer. He took her bottom lip between his teeth and tugged. She gasped. Her heart hammered against her chest. Butterflies rushed throughout her body, touching her with their wings and making her fly. She wound her hands into his hair, the silky strands slipping against her fingers. His tongue wormed its way into her mouth, curling around hers. Sparks danced behind her eyes. She arched her back and moaned. She could feel the outline of his cock beneath his robe. Liquid fire rushed to melt between her legs. Her swollen nipples rubbed against the material of her gown, begging for attention. Energy crackled between them. She could hear it, feel it, and taste it in his kiss, in his touch. It was palpable. Christopher slid his hands down her waist, over her hips. She held her breath. He tugged her bottom lip between his teeth. She groaned, following his mouth even as he pulled back. He grasped her chin and tilted her head. Morgana opened her eyes. Christopher looked at her as if bewildered. His brow was furrowed and though desire still shone deep in his eyes, there was also something akin to amazement.

“What?”

He blinked and the moment was gone. His eyes lightened and he grinned mischievously. “There you have it, little one. The power of a kiss.”

New Release! Forever Devoted by Virginia Nelson #Excerpt

FOREVER DEVOTED
By Virginia Nelson




Links
Amazon | ARe | Bookstrand | Evernight | OmniLit | Audiobook

Robbie Jacobs is content being just one of the guys. For years, she’s run with her 'Pack', a group of rowdy boys she went to high school with, used to party with, and now leans on in times of trouble. She has a couple gal pals, sure, but none of them are as close as the Pack…
Gray Smythe has been the unchallenged leader of their group of friends for years. Stoic, determined, he’s managed to be there for them all through some crazy shit. But when Robbie, the only girl in their group, gets into a car accident, the line between friendship and lover suddenly gets a hell of a lot thinner.
He’s stubbornly determined to help her and love her, while she’s fighting to win back her body and her independence… Can Robbie believe Gray is actually Forever Devoted?
This is a previously published work. It has been revised and edited for Evernight Publishing.

EXCERPT
The room smelled like rubbing alcohol and, strangely, old feet. Tapping on the window, Gray forced himself to resist the urge to stare at her, as if he could will her back to herself with just his eyes. Gazing at her wasn’t going to wake her up, and no matter how many of the doctors insisted she could hear him, he knew better. His Robbie wasn’t in there, not yet. He wasn’t going anywhere until she was back, though.
The door swung open with a nearly silent swishing of air, and he snapped his attention that direction in time to see Rowdy and Twinkles shove their way into the room. “She up yet?” Twinkles demanded.
“No.” Unable to continue resisting, he looked at her tiny form shrouded in a sheet and wired by tubes to various electronic devices keeping her alive. For someone who was such a huge part of his life, she took up a frighteningly small portion of the hospital bed. “Still not responding, but if one more doctor comes in here and tells me how to treat her, I’m going to scream.”
“What do you mean, how to treat her?” Twinkles’ face crunched in annoyance.
“What to say, what not to say, how to touch her … they’re driving me nuts. They don’t even know her.” Gray gritted his teeth together, suppressing a wave of an indescribable emotions. None of the nurses knew her, not like he did, so having them tell him how to behave grated on his already frayed nerves. If she’d just wake up…
“She’s going to be okay, right, Gray?” Rowdy might be the biggest and loudest of the Pack, but he’d always been their gentle giant. As Rowdy stared down at Robbie’s prone form, Gray would swear the big guy’s eyes were tearing up.
“She’s going to be fine. Better than ever. You know our girl—she’s a hard-ass.”
Gray wished he believed his own words.
“Hey, Short Stuff, be great if you woke up and rejoined the land of the living. Promise to only harass you a little about your grand act of stupidity. Come on, gal, get back to us.” Twinkles squeezed her hand, and the machines beeped on. The three of them stood there, in silent vigil to their fallen friend, before Rowdy broke the tense moment by clearing his throat.
“You need anything, buddy? You look almost as bad as she does.”
Twinkles abandoned the bedside to clap a hand down on Gray’s shoulder.
“I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.” He’d not been sleeping, other than dozing in her chair. Her family wasn’t here—pretty normal for their group—and he refused to have her wake up alone and scared. “Get back to your wives and kids. I got this. I’ll call you the moment she wakes up.”
“Take care of you, too, asshole.” Rowdy gave him a halfhearted playful shove before they both vanished back into the hallway. If Gray knew his boys, they’d stop at the nurses’ station before they left. Probably flirt a little––see if they could weasel out more nuggets of information about Robbie’s status.
But they had families to get back to. Gray…? Didn’t. Back in school, he’d accepted the fact his alcoholic father didn’t have time for him and that nobody gave a fuck what happened to him. He’d accepted he was a worthless piece of shit from the wrong side of nowhere, bound for a great and glorious future either working in a factory or some other job he’d hate just to afford booze like his old man. But then he’d met Robbie.
Her family wasn’t any better than his. Her father spoke with fists, not words, and her mother had been cowed into silence long before Robs was old enough to understand the way the world worked. She’d been a scrawny little thing, looking more like a stray kitten than a girl with her dandelion fluff of hair sticking out at odd angles because she’d cut it herself. And they’d adopted each other, become the family both needed so desperately. Eventually they’d picked up Rowdy and Twinkles, two other kids in need of someone who cared, and they’d all stuck together in a way only people bonded by real need would understand.
Robbie, though, she’d been the first. She wasn’t just his best friend. She was family in every sense of the word.
And now, because of one bad choice, she lay on a hospital bed and might never wake up.
Dropping into a chair, he rubbed a hand hard over his face as if he could shove all the worry back inside physically. He should have stopped her—he’d known that asshole Jason had drunk too much to drive, and he’d known Robs had drunk too much tequila to be logical—but he’d let her go. What if he’d stopped her? Sure, she’d have been pissed off, but she’d have gotten over it. Shit, he could’ve bodily hauled her out of that bar and into a cab…
Should’ve. Could’ve. Would’ve.
None of it stopped the damned beeping or the too-slow rise and fall of her chest. But wait: Were those beeps faster than a second ago? Was that a good thing or a bad one? Should he call a nurse?
Leaning close to her, he studied her face, searching for anything. A twitch, a move, any change.
Had her eyelashes moved? Even a little?
After watching her so closely that his eyes began to tear up from not blinking, he leaned back. No, nothing. Still the same. Still she slept and didn’t respond. He moved back to the window and resumed his tapping. She’d wake up soon.
She had to.

Renn Faire Romance!

#Evernight | #Amazon | #Nook | #Kobo | ARe | OmniLit | Bookstrand

(Links will be updated as it goes live!)

They pretended to be lords and ladies, but their love became all too real....

Lady Daffodil Davola grew up traveling Renn Faires with her family. She’s not ashamed of living life off the grid, content with her world and the bawdy band of misfits and wanderers who share it with her. She doesn’t seek the approval of the outside world…not even from the one man who ever made her want something more.

Gregory Wilder grew up in a family obsessed with politics, determined to become movers and shakers. He remembers a fluke visit to a medieval faire and the girl he met once upon a time. After a messy divorce, he’s determined to find her and see what if…

Assigned to play King and Queen, they have to work together for Knight’s week, like it or not, because Daffy’s father insists. Can they make it through a week without killing each other, or will they end up falling back in love?

This is a previously published work. It has been revised and edited for Evernight Publishing.

Q&A with Loralynne Summers! Spotlight on In Self Defense #NewRelease #Evernight

IN SELF DEFENSE

by  Loralynne Summers

BLURB:

She fell in love—in self-defense…

            The last thing that Sarah wants in her life is a relationship. Her track record was horrendous, and the last guy she’d dated had beaten her mentally and physically, landing her in the hospital. Almost a year later she’s back on her feet, thanks in no small part to her best friend Jason. Trouble is, lately she wants more than a friendship with Jason, and it scares the hell out of her. And then he kisses her…

                                                          

His offense may hit a brick wall…

Jason has been in love with Sarah for longer than he’ll willingly admit to. Since bringing her home from the hospital, she’s grown into a strong, secure, confident woman. After seeing how perfect his best friend really is, he can’t get her off his mind. He’s convinced her feelings match his, and decides to go for it, only to scare her away.

Can best friends become something more? Or will she stay hidden behind her defensive wall?

INSPIRATION FOR THE STORY:

The story opens to Sarah mowing the lawn on a hot, humid day. And that’s exactly what I was doing when the idea first took root in my brain. My neighbor across the street arrived home on his Harley, and BAM! The whole opening scene was there in my head. I couldn’t type fast enough. There is a large part of my relationship in this story. Jason has some of my husband’s mentality, mostly in how he treats Sarah. I often tell my husband that I don’t deserve him, he is way better to me than I am to him! As for Sarah, I too fell in love with my best friend after leaving an abusive relationship. Thankfully, mine never reached the level of physical abuse, but the signs were all there, and it was only a matter of time. As in the story though, I was quite afraid of my feelings for my husband, because of how close our friendship was and I was terrified to ruin it.

EXCERPT:

“Why are you carrying me fifty feet?” Sarah asked.

“Because I can. Because I’d be a jerk to make you stumble around on those shoes when you could fall and get hurt. But mostly because it’s my fault they’re broken in the first place.”

“Jason, I’m the one who gave Alex a roundhouse kick to the head in these things.”

“And you have no idea how proud I am of you for that. Doesn’t change the fact that I wasn’t there to protect you when he showed up, and I should have been.”

She sighed, settling her head on his shoulder. “It’s okay,” she whispered. If he could beat the shit out of himself, he would. It had been eating away at him from the moment she’d thrown herself at him and wouldn’t let go.

He wanted to kick the ass of every one of their friends, too. Most of them didn’t know who Alex was. But that knowledge didn’t stop him from wanting to knock their heads off for letting Sarah fight him. Hell, it was a good thing for Alex that Jason had been in the bathroom when it all went down. Otherwise, the police would have pulled him off Alex’s bloody, beaten corpse. He owed that asshole. Not just for the beating that had landed Sarah in the hospital, but also for the months it took to put her back together, physically and emotionally.

“What’s the code for the alarm, Sarah?” He’d never asked her what it was after showing her how to change it. He wanted her to feel completely safe from everyone when she was in the house, including him.

“Sarah?” He tilted his head back to look down at her. In the dark, he couldn’t see her blush, but assumed she had when she turned and buried her face into his chest before mumbling a reply. “I didn’t hear you, baby. Tell me again.”

She cleared her throat and took a deep breath. “I said, it’s your birthday.”

Christ, could he feel more like a dick? If he needed another clue about her feelings, he was a moron. It was a bit ironic, though.

“Wanna know a secret? My alarm is set to your birthday. Kinda funny, huh?” He set her down to dig her keys out of his pocket. “You gonna let all the cold air out, or are you coming inside?” She stood where he’d left her on the porch. Shaking herself, she followed him into the house and he reset the alarm for occupancy, locking the door behind them. “You go ahead and shower. I’ll make popcorn, grab us some beers, and see what I can find to watch.”

“Sure. Can you help me with the boots? My hands still feel all shaky.”

“Yeah, of course. Here.” He fell to the floor in front of her, sitting on his heels and dying a little more inside. This was so not how he’d pictured the night going just a couple of hours ago. He wanted to be peeling these off because she wanted him to, not because she needed him to.

She rested her hands on his shoulders and placed one foot on his thigh. He ran his hands along the supple leather, up and over her calf. He swallowed hard, tamping down his baser emotions. She didn’t need that kind of bullshit from him right now.

Slowly, he pulled the zipper down and slid the boot from her. Lips parted slightly, her breathing grew shallow and rapid. Unable to stop himself, he massaged her foot for a moment before he gently lowered it to the floor. Eyes locked, he pulled her other leg forward and repeated the procedure. Her lids fluttered, a soft moan escaping her when he gently worked his hands up her legs, kneading both calves at the same time.

“Jason…” she whispered, her hands sliding to the back of his neck.

He rose to his knees, conscience be damned. There was no denying the hunger in her eyes, or the tension filling the room. She leaned into him, his hands continuing to massage their way up the backs of her legs until they held her ass firmly. Both breathing hard, they froze, a hair’s breadth separating their lips, hesitating to cross the final line that would end their friendship and start something new.

Q&A with Loralynne Summers

Q) How did you come up with the story?

            I was mowing the lawn! It was a hot and humid day, and then my neighbor came home on his Harley, and suddenly the story was there in my head! I liked the idea of my hero being a bit unconventional. While a good guy at the core, he’s a biker and a bit rough around the edges.

Q) Do you have any writing habits?

            I am a total pantser. I don’t plot, I learned quickly that if I tried to make the characters do what I thought should be done, the story sucked and wouldn’t flow. As soon as I gave my muse carte blanche, things went much more smoothly! So I do what I’m told now. Some stories I need complete silence to write, others I have to have music playing. And the music varies depending on the story, and sometimes even what part of the story I’m writing.

Q) How much real life do you put into or influences your books?

I’ve noticed that in most of my heroes there is some part of my husband, be it mannerisms or other little quirks. In one story my hero is total freak about a specific car, which is all my husband. There’s a bit of myself in Sarah, and a big part of the start of the relationship between my husband and I in Sarah and Jason’s. I too fell in love with my best friend after leaving an abusive ex. My husband is very much responsible for the sense of self-worth and self-esteem that I now have today. He put me back together emotionally, just as Jason did for Sarah.

Q) Any upcoming projects?

            I have a paranormal series of full-length novels that I’m working on, a fantasy of undetermined size that I currently view as my Dark Tower (by Stephen King) – I don’t think it will ever be done, but I keep plugging away at it in bits and pieces here and there, and the story currently screaming the loudest in my head is a contemporary ménage, likely novella length, that I hope to finish soon.

 

AUTHOR BIO:

As a child, Loralynne was always the student getting in trouble for talking in class and at home for making things up. Combining her ability to go on and on and her flair for storytelling, she naturally grew up to be a writer. Originally planning to write fantasy, her muse had other plans. Once she opened herself up to the whims of her muse, she couldn’t type her first sex scene fast enough and now writes romance. Loralynne lives in Upstate New York with her husband, cats, and growing family. You can friend her on facebook or follow her on twitter under LL_Summers