New Release

BOOK FEATURE: “Chasing Memories”

December 14, 2015 Leave a Comment

“Chasing Memories” by Ellie Wade

Blurb:

What if you found him, the one who was put on this earth for you? He was your perfect partner, your soul mate. Your life with him was more than you could have ever hoped for. The two of you created an amazing family full of so much love.

I did. And it was everything.

Then, one day, I woke up, and he was gone. They were all gone.

I can’t accept it. I’m stuck in a reality that isn’t mine, aching for the life I lost, one that made up the very fabric of my soul.

How do I find my future when my past won’t stop pulling me under? I’m drowning, struggling to breathe in this existence where nothing makes sense. It might be crazy, and I might be as well.

But if you’d experienced the joy of a once-in-a-lifetime love, you’d be chasing memories, too.

**Buy “Chasing Memories”: Amazon-US Amazon-UK Amazon-CA Amazon-AU iBooks Kobo B&N

**About Ellie Wade: Ellie Wade resides in southwest Michigan with her husband, three young children, and two dogs. She has a Master’s degree in education from Eastern Michigan University and is a huge University of Michigan sports fan. She loves the beauty of her home state, especially the lakes and the gorgeous autumn weather. When she is not writing, you will find her reading, snuggled up with her kids, or spending time with family and friends. She loves traveling and exploring new places with her family.

**Contact Ellie: Website Facebook Twitter Goodreads Amazon Author Page Newsletter tsu Instagram

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Elizabeth Marx

December 3, 2015 3 Comments

About the author: Elizabeth Marx pens deeply emotional romances that take her readers on a roller coaster ride between desire and despair. Often described as hilarious, heartbreaking, and heartwarming, she’s not afraid to add a sprinkle of magical realism just when you think you know what’s going to happen. Because let’s face it, a happily ever after has to be earned.

Elizabeth resides in Chicago with her husband, girls, and two cats who’ve spelled everyone into believing they’re really dogs. After traveling extensively, she still says there’s no town like Chi-Town.

**Contact Elizabeth: Website Facebook Twitter

INTERVIEW

Describe your books in five words: Heartbreaking, Earnest, Alluring, Redeeming, and Tempting.

Tell us about your writing/editing/publishing process: I usually write about two titles a year. I write straight through version one and usually end up with three drafts, going through the manuscript evaluating different aspects: plot, description and settings, and then a line by line review of dialogue. By the third draft, I have a good idea what sort of image I think would represent the theme of the book so when I send the title to my editor I start working with my cover designer on the cover in conjunction with writing the blurb and other marketing materials. Once I get the book back from my editor I edit it and go through it at least twice. Then I send it to beta readers and copy editors for review, once I get those back I go through the manuscript for the final phases.

Salty or sweet? Sweet, salty, sweet, nah, both. LOL!

At what time of day do you think you work best? I usually wake up with an idea or two for whatever manuscript I’m working on. I usually get up and jot all these ideas down. I use different sized Post It notes so I can easily attach them onto pages in a manuscript. Then I write or do interviews or blog posts in the morning at lunchtime I usually spend some time working on Twitter. After lunch I’ll go back to either writing or organizing marketing, etc.

If you could meet any other author, who would it be? Easy, Jane Austen, she’s my favorite author and I’m a big history buff so I think I’d really enjoy a conversation with her. The first question I’d ask is who was the real Mr. Darcy? And what happened?

Do you have any writing rituals? My stories come to me in scenes, so I write the scenes I know and then I create a loose outline around that. I do a lot of writing in notebooks and notes on my phone. If something comes to me I always write it down, even if it’s the middle of the night in a hotel in Omaha and the only thing I have to write on is TP in the bathroom. LOL, seriously this happened to me in the middle of the night and I didn’t want to wake my kids looking for something to write on.

Is the social media a hinder or a help? Social media is a blessing and a curse. How else can Indie authors get word out about their work? Unfortunately it takes a lot of time to organize and schedule posting but once you get a system down social media can be very helpful. But there’s always a pull that we feel like we need to see what’s up on FB, who’s saying what, etc. The one great thing is the speed with which information is relayed, especially on Twitter.

What made you want to be a writer? I’ve always written, in grade school short stories. I won a city wide writing contest in 8^th grade and then in high school I wrote a lot of bad poetry and song lyrics and then during college more creative writing. I’ve always been very expressive, especially with words.

Hard/paperbacks or eBooks? I publish in paperback and eBooks and I read all three. Recently I’ve noticed that authors published by the big publishers, their hardbacks are within fifty cents of the eBook price of a title. I end up buying the hardcover even though I’m playing into their hands and keeping their business model alive, of course that’s their goal with their pricing strategy.

Every author must have (a): Every author must have the ability to read people and understand what motivates them, it’s the key to writing memorable characters.

What do you want people to take away from your books? A sense of hope and that the power of love can and will conquer everything, even the worse loss.

What are you working on right now? The release of Just Close Enough is on Dec. 1, 2015 the second book in the Alabama Secret Series. In the small secretive town of Crossroads, a Russian playboy comes looking for revenge and what he finds is a young woman who can help him fulfill that goal, but he quickly realizes he can’t get close enough to her without falling for her.

I also have a new title coming at the beginning of next year: Tell Me Something Real. It’s a coming of age contemporary romance about two college students. A graffiti artist is trying to figure out if she wants to display her work in galleries or the side of brick building, while the heir apparent to a political dynasty is working his way through every girl on campus, until Kami asks him, “Tell me something real, something so real it hurts.”

**Buy “Just In Case (Alabama Secrets Series Book 1)” now!:

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**Buy “Just Close Enough (Alabama Secrets Series Book 2)” now!:

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**GIVEAWAY**

Leave a comment below with your email address with the reasons why you love Southern romances!

Your prizes: Elizabeth will give away an autographed copy of JUST IN CASE & JUST CLOSE ENOUGH to one winner U.S. residents only, and one pair of ebooks of JUST IN CASE & JUST CLOSE ENOUGH to an international winner.

**Giveaway ends on December 21st!

EXCERPT: “The Restoration of Otto Laird” by Nigel Packer

November 24, 2015 Leave a Comment

“The Restoration of Otto Laird” by Nigel Packer

Blurb: Retired architect Otto Laird is living a peaceful, if slightly bemused, existence in Switzerland with his second wife, Anika. Once renowned for his radical designs, Otto now spends his days communing with nature and writing eccentric letters to old friends (which he doesn’t mail). But Otto’s comfortable life is rudely interrupted when he learns that his most significant and revolutionary building, Marlowe House, a 1960s tower block estate in South London is set to be demolished.

Otto is outraged. Determined to do everything in his power to save the building, he reluctantly agrees to take part in a television documentary, which will mean returning to London for the first time in twenty-five years to live for a week in Marlowe House. Once Otto becomes reacquainted with the city he called home for most of his life, his memories begin to come alive. And as he mines his past and considers life moving forward — for himself and his building — Otto embarks on a remarkable journey that will change everything he ever thought he knew.

EXCERPT

CHAPTER ONE

It was not uncommon, these days, for Anika Laird to return from one of her morning trips to town to find her husband standing naked in the kitchen window. The first time it hap- pened she was mildly surprised; by now it had become the stuff of routine. She would catch a peripheral glimpse of Otto as she cycled up the pathway, but the oblique angle of her approach, and a remnant of brick wall standing just beyond the window, prevented a more detailed study as she pedalled round the side of the villa to the front door. Once she was in- side, the image that greeted her as she propped up her bicycle and paused in the kitchen doorway was always the same. Otto stood with his back to her, his pale buttocks luminous in the gloom, and stared through the window with a still intensity. Sometimes, during rain, she would discover him pressing his fingertips lightly to the pane, one arm stretched before him in an attitude of silent reverence.

Anika watched in fascination from the cinnamon-scented doorway. Otto’s ageing body was transformed by the quiv- ering half-light into something elegant and weightless: an elderly sea lion, moving through the depths. He never seemed to hear her enter the house, or wheel her creaking bicycle through the hallway, and so she would watch him quietly for minutes at a time, breaking the silence with a soft call of his name. Invariably Otto came to with a start, the rim- less spectacles (his sole attire) bouncing on the bridge of his nose.

‘Anika,’ he would say, turning without embarrassment, ‘such terrible weather we are having – you must be soaked right through. Let me fix some luncheon for you while you change.’

Then he would gather up his discarded silk kimono from the stone floor, pull it about his unusually tall frame and tie the strings firmly round his scarred belly, closing each episode with a decisive gesture that seemed to rule out any need for explanation.

Rubbing a towel through her hair before the bathroom mirror, Anika pondered this odd, recurring scene with her husband. It troubled her to find Otto staring into space like that, not least because the kitchen window had no view. It was the only room in the house without one. Positioned immediately beyond it, the crumbling section of wall – part of an old cottage that once stood upon the plot – effectively blocked any sight of the surrounding hills, save for a hint of open landscape through a gap where some bricks had eroded. Despite Anika’s protests, Otto had insisted on leaving the wall in place when overseeing construction of the villa some eight- een years earlier. This was done partly from a sentimental attachment to vernacular architecture, partly from a sensuous attraction to the rough mauve bricks, with their regular intervals of vivid moss strata.

All the same, Otto’s choice of this particular window for his episodes of silent communion struck Anika as perverse. They had chosen this location specifically for its spectacular natural setting. Otto had designed their home with the greatest of care in order to maximise its potential. For anyone lucky enough to enter the Lairds’ hillside villa, the interior of the building never failed to draw gasps. It offered a dizzying profusion of light, glass and distant vistas; a three- dimensional frame through which to admire the pristine beauty of the Franco-Swiss borderlands. The blue hills of the Jura could be seen to the north; southward, the giant peaks of the Savoy Alps. Broken and discoloured as a dentist’s dream during summer, they were restored each year to a glinting perfection by the first winter snows. Underscoring this rampant geology was the wide expanse of Lake Geneva: implausibly blue when bathed in sunlight, impregnably grey when not. This, all of this, was available to the Lairds for moments of quiet contemplation; the same timeless land- scapes that had once inspired Voltaire, the Shelleys and Byron. Yet Otto – thinker, visionary, the avant-garde’s answer to Sir Christopher Wren – Otto seemed much happier with his piece of crumbling wall.

‘The inscrutability of genius,’ Anika told her reflection in the bathroom mirror.

In truth, she was not convinced by the term, but others had used it when describing her husband, so who was she to argue?

Wandering about naked, too. He must be losing his marbles. Thank God we don’t have neighbours for him to scare.

She thought of a Dutch phrase, and spoke it aloud.

‘Een gek. A crazy man. Whatever was I thinking?’

But she smiled to herself as she spoke.

Combing out the damp strands of vanilla hair, as long and striking now, when she was in her early sixties, as it had been when she first met Otto more than twenty years before, Anika glided from the bathroom to the south-facing lounge, paus- ing for a moment before its great wall of glass. An autumn breeze rippled the surface of the lake, while Mont Blanc in the distance lay truncated by the dark clouds troubling its heights, a legacy of the morning’s storm.

I could always knock it down, she told herself, thinking once more of the length of wall. One day when he’s off at a conference somewhere.

She would blame it on the bise, the brutal northerly wind that sometimes froze the lake-edge solid during winter, and could turn even the mildest spring days suddenly raw and hostile.

Otto entered the room, looking perplexed. He was carry- ing a tray laden with two mugs and a silver coffee pot. Setting down the tray on a low glass table, he retrieved a rolled-up magazine from the silk folds beneath his armpit, tossing it down with venom.

‘Unbelievable,’ he said, pausing to find a better word, before settling on the one he had already. ‘Quite unbelievable.’

Recognising the masthead of The Architectural Eye – Otto’s last remaining link, via monthly subscription, to a profession he had once helped to shape – Anika searched out her glasses in the pocket of her bathrobe and slid them onto her nose. The contours of the masthead sharpened before her as she picked up the magazine.

‘What’s upset you?’ she asked.

‘Page five, bastards,’ said Otto, whose habit of compressing two separate thoughts into a single phrase was familiar enough to Anika for her not to take offence. The expletive, she realised, wasn’t directed at her. She found the page and absorbed the headline.

MARLOWE HOUSE TO GO.

‘One of yours,’ she said.

‘They want to demolish it, buggers,’ said Otto.

There was a pause. Anika was browsing through a mental scrapbook of Otto’s landmark buildings, but she couldn’t place Marlowe House with any certainty. She took a chance.

‘London.’

He nodded.

‘The concrete tower block south of the river. The one that looks a little off balance?’

‘That’s the one,’ he replied, somewhat testily.

Built in the early 1960s, Marlowe House had been one of Unit 5’s defining achievements. Anika remembered Otto once telling her it had won a major architectural prize.

‘And what’s their reasoning?’

‘People don’t like living there, apparently. The local news- papers have been campaigning for years. Finally they have their wish. The plan is to knock it down and replace it with private apartments. Stupid arseholes, the lot of them.’

Otto bent angrily to pour out the coffee. He struggled to tailor his movements to the task in hand, spoiling the delicate operation with a spill and a low muttering.

Anika was reading the article.

‘But I thought it was listed,’ she said, looking up at him above the frame of her glasses.

‘They listed its twin, Taylor House, the building out west. But not Marlowe House. It was always the more problematic of the two. The wrong part of London. Social problems and poor maintenance. No fashionable young people to buy up the apartments and trumpet their architectural value. Still consists almost entirely of local-authority tenants, as far as I’m aware. Damned shame we never tried for a listing, though. It’s much the better building.’

He became lost in memory then, an increasingly common occurrence during recent years. Unlike most of his work, scattered around the world and rarely visited by Otto after completion, Marlowe House was a building he had observed for many years at first hand. This came about by chance, rather than design, as its distinctive profile could clearly be seen from the stands at the Oval cricket ground, a place where Otto, a keen follower of the game, had spent many a spare summer day during his three-and-a-half decades in England. Consequently, during quieter moments in matches, or in the blissful afternoon reverie that usually followed a teatime scotch, he would find his attention wandering from the field of play, over the gasworks and across the skyline, before coming to rest upon Marlowe House, its lines in the lower- ing sunlight as crisp and elegant as a well-timed shot to the boundary.

**Buy “The Restoration of Otto Laird”: Amazon Barnes & Noble Books-a-Million Indi Bound

About author, Nigel Packer: Nigel is a former journalist, whose eclectic writing career spanned from music reviews for the BBC to a reporting officer at the International Committee for the Red Cross. He received his BA in Archaeology from the University of York and an MA from Leiden University. Nigel lives in London and The Restoration of Otto Laird is his first novel.

**GIVEAWAY**

Enter to win a copy of “The Restoration of Otto Laird”

(US residents only, please)

**Click HERE to enter to win!

AUTHOR FEATURE: Brea Brown

October 12, 2015 7 Comments

About the author: Brea Brown lives in Springfield, Missouri, with her husband and three sons, but her international support network stretches as far as Australia. She’s an administrative assistant at an environmental consulting firm for forty hours a week and a writer all the other waking hours of the week not taken up by motherhood, wifedom, reading, and watching Netflix. (That leaves a surprisingly large number of hours, believe it or not.) Her published novels are Daydreamer, The Secret Keeper Series, Plain Jayne, Quiet, Please! Let’s Be Frank, and Let’s Be Real (Books 1 and 2 in the Nurse Nate Trilogy). Her twelfth book, Out of My League, releases October 13, 2015 (tomorrow)!

**Contact Brea: Email Website Facebook Pinterest Twitter

INTERVIEW

Describe your books in five sentences: The one thing all of my books—whether standalone or series—have in common is that they don’t take themselves too seriously. Even when I’m addressing serious themes, like adoption, divorce, or even death, my characters are navigating those issues in amusing ways, reminding us that fiction is fun, and fictional people—mine, anyway—always figure it out. Real life is hard. It’s important to me that readers recognize their own lives in my stories and characters, but I also want to provide an escape. It’s no spoiler to tell you my books end happily; it’s how the characters get to that happily-ever-after that keeps readers turning the pages (hopefully).

When did you know you were a writer? I’ve known I was a writer since I was a little girl and tried to mimic my favorites: Beverly Cleary, Judy Blume, and E.L. Konigsberg. Most days I still don’t feel like an author, but I have a dozen books out there that say otherwise. I’d say the first time it felt real to me was when a cashier at a store recognized my name on my debit card and asked me if I was the same Brea Brown who wrote The Secret Keeper. I still can’t believe that happened!

Tell us about your writing/editing/publishing process: I try to publish two books a year. That means I’m constantly juggling projects. One will be in the resting phase, between drafts, while I’m putting the finishing touches on another for publication, and another is in the brainstorming/honeymoon phase. I typically have three projects going at any one time. It keeps me busy and is definitely never boring!

Salty or sweet? My stories are the Crunch-n-Munch of the literary world. They’re a good mix of salty and sweet, and they stick with you for a while after you set them down. Continuing the comparison, I also recognize that means there’s no great nutritional value in my stories, but they’re a delicious treat. I just hope I don’t give people cavities (or a stomachache).

Is the social media a help or a hinder? Big help! I’ve connected with so many readers on Facebook, and sometimes social media is about the only marketing I have the time or energy (or inclination) to do. Without it, I’d be sunk. Plus, nothing brightens my day more than a chat with a reader about books, food, and just life in general. Follow me! (My links are provided somewhere in here.)

What is a typical day like in your home? Uh… crazy? I have a kindergartner, a sixth grader, and a freshman in college living under my roof, and both my husband and I have full-time jobs outside of the house. ’Nuff said?

Do you have any writing rituals? Because life is so hectic, I have a strict weekday writing schedule. I get up at 4:30 a.m., make a cup of coffee, and write until it’s time to wake up the two youngest kids for school at 6:30. Those two hours are my sacred writing time. Most of the time, especially when I’m in the zone, I resist checking social media and keep my head down, writing or editing (or whatever else I’m doing at that stage of the process). Usually, I’m too tired to multi-task, anyway, and nobody else in the house needs my attention at such an early hour, so it’s the perfect time to focus.

Where do you see yourself in five years? Still cranking out books and getting more ideas than I know what to do with, I hope. Maybe with a few more readers, but if not… that’s okay, too. I love the readers I have and don’t take a single one of them for granted. They are the sweetest, most supportive, most loyal people on the planet!

Since becoming an author, what have you learned most about yourself? I’m more perseverant than I thought. I always kind of saw myself as a strong starter and a tough talker but wasn’t big on follow-through. Well, you can’t be the author/publisher of twelve published novels if you don’t stick with projects until the end. I’m genuinely surprised every time I finish writing a book and see it out there for people to buy and read.

Every author must have (a): Fortitude. You can have all the talent in the world, but if you don’t have the drive to finish a job and do it well, you’ll eventually find some other, easier way channel your energy and amuse yourself. You have to be resilient. On any given day, that means starting over when a project isn’t working, dusting yourself off after a bad review, isolating and improving the weaknesses in your writing, or getting up at 4:30 a.m. when you’d rather stay under the warm covers. But you have to be self-motivated.

What do you want people to take away from your books? Good people can prevail. And you don’t have to be perfect to be a good person who’s worthy of your happily-ever-after. Also, finding humor in everyday life is essential. One of my favorite compliments from readers is when they tell me I’ve made them laugh out loud, especially in a public place or next to a sleeping spouse. Laughing is my favorite.

Can you tell us what you’re working on now? Let’s Be Friends, the third and final book in my Nurse Nate Trilogy is due out in the spring, so I’ll be hitting rewrites and edits on that one pretty hard after the holidays.

I’m also in the middle of writing the first draft of another book (a standalone… I think), but I don’t even have a title for that one yet, and I still have no idea how it’s going to end, because… that’s how I roll. I will say it takes place in a sleepy northeastern U.S. town, is chock-full of cringe-worthy moments, and includes a lot of death jokes. But… that’s all I’m going to say for now.

And releasing tomorrow (GULP!) is my twelfth novel, Out of My League, the first book in my Underdog Trilogy:

Maura Richards has a plan for her life—it involves not having a plan. From biding her time at a long-term temp job to ending relationships before they get too serious, Maura’s only commitment is to being noncommittal.

When she meets Jet Knox, the starting quarterback of her beloved hometown football team, she dismisses their encounter as a thrilling brush with celebrity she can drag out at parties for a few years, and nothing more. Jet has other ideas. He’s someone who’s made a living setting—and scoring—goals. Wooing Maura is his latest objective.

Everyone in Maura’s life seems to have a take on her relationship with the All-Pro QB, but with so many swirling opinions, rumors, and doubts, Maura must rely on the judgment of the very last person she feels she can trust: herself.

**Click HERE to pre-order “Out of My League” now!

* * * * *

**Click HERE to check out all of Brea’s books!

BOOK EXCERPT: “Up To I Do”

September 30, 2015 1 Comment

Blurb: Emerson Sinclair, twenty-seven year old hotel heiress, has said yes. With just over a year to plan her extravagant, over the top nuptials to Logan Worthington, it’s all hands on deck with the wedding plans. A Sinclair marrying into the Worthington family is the talk of their small New Hampshire town, and ideas include filming the wedding for a TV segment. But as the items get checked off the list, plans start to go … not as planned. From not getting a designer dress to a selfish bridesmaid and unaccountable best man, Emerson is afraid her wedding will be more a joke than anything.
When both her mother and sister seemingly begin to lose interest in her wedding plans in favor of their own personal lives, Emerson fears her big day will turn into the forgotten wedding. With the pressure to pull off a beautiful and elegant event that everyone expects from their respectable families, Emerson starts to forget the reason why she is saying I Do in the first place.

EXCERPT

Chapter Nine

MyWeddingPlans.com Status Update: Nearly lost a bridesmaid today. #needaredo #redhotmess

The day of the bridesmaid dress appointment felt similar to picking out my wedding dress. Once again, Mom, Grams, Milly, Sienna, and the rest of the bridesmaids gathered at the house for breakfast. Delilah had even made the trip down once again, and we were going to have a sleepover at Milly’s that night with the three of us. I couldn’t wait.

Once we were finished eating, we were off in the limo once again to the bridal shop where I had purchased my dress. I had to put my foot down on this. Evie (and also Honor and a tad bit of Tatiana if I’m honest) pushed for a New York trip to find the bridesmaid dress, throwing out all these top-notch shops filled with designer dresses. But . . . if I couldn’t have a designer dress, why would my maids wear one? I had finally come to terms that I had my dream dress and it just happened not to be a big name designer. I couldn’t handle if the other girls had one. The men were wearing Vera Wang for God’s sake. Cut me a little slack here.

Once we arrived at the store and were greeted warmly by Sandra, the owner, she ushered us to the back and I sat on the throne—a big fluffy red chair reserved for brides. Milly handed me scorecards that she had made so I could rate each dress from 1-10, and Sandra explained what would happen. We had fifteen minutes to walk around the store and grab dresses, then the fun would begin. Pretty simple.

On her mark, the lot of us scattered like marbles on a wood floor, on the hunt for the perfect bridesmaid dress. I managed to pull two, getting overwhelmed quickly by all the choices. How would I ever find one? Maybe each girl could wear a different dress in the same color. Would that be too busy? Did I care? Why was I here? Couldn’t I have made Katrina handle this on her own? But no, she probably would have been sucked into going to New York as well. It was better I was here and in control.

“Time!” Sandra stood in the middle of the floor, and I realized then that we were the only people in the store, which I had to think was unusual for a Saturday morning. I wondered if Mom had reserved the space solely for us. That was sweet and a necessity I hadn’t even thought of because I wasn’t sure I could concentrate if a bunch of other bridesmaids were traipsing along the aisles.

After handing my choices over to Sandra and taking a seat at the throne, I waited anxiously for the girls to come out. Each was coming out first in a pick of their own, and I was curious to see what each girl’s style was going to be. Milly was the exception. Since she was my maid of honor, I was going to let her off the hook for trying dresses on. I figured we had enough girls around. She had thanked me profusely that morning for the favor.

“Got your scorecards at the ready?” Sienna asked me, her eyes bright. As the countdown to the big day got closer, Sienna seemed to be more and more in her element. I think Mom was relieved she was taking some of the pressure off her, especially with the pageant taking up more time than she expected it to.

I held up the thick cards that Milly had clearly put a lot of time into. “Ready to roll!”

Sandra cleared her throat and started listing off the designer names and the dress features. Honor was in a strapless dress that fell to the knee, with a belted waist and crumb catcher top. Delilah’s dress also featured a crumb catcher top (these two were so alike it could be scary) but hers had no belt and was less structured than Honor’s. Tatiana had a long strapless dress with a keyhole in the chest area—a little too risqué in my opinion. Evie . . . Evie. Evie was in a short hot pink dress that dipped low in the back, nearly to her crack, and her boobs were pushed up so high I was sure a nip slip was going to happen in the store. How in the world that was a suitable bridesmaid dress for anyone was beyond me. I couldn’t even look at her.

“Gabby’s dress is my favorite out of this group,” I said, my eyes immediately going to her soft chiffon dress with delicate straps and a ruched bodice. It fit her well and looked so pretty and feminine. And to be honest—a crumb catcher scared me. Even the name was just plain weird.

“You have a little diversity here with styles and even lengths,” Sandra said, standing by me. “Let’s focus on Honor and Delilah first, since they are similar. Do you like the crumb catcher top?”

I held up a scorecard with a 4 on it. “Sorry, ladies. I think those tops are weird.”

“Emerson!” They both screeched, looking at one another and laughing. Milly joined in from her perch on the chair next to me.

“I bet this would look great in your wedding,” Delilah said, patting Honor on the arm, who I think turned a little pale at that. “Or yours, Milly. And I can’t wait to hear all about this Miles tonight!”

Milly blushed as we all—even Grams and Sienna—hooted at her. “Yeah, yeah, let’s get back to the task at hand. So nothing fashion forward for the bride. No crumb catcher. Got it.”

“How about Tatiana’s? What do you think of a long dress?” Sandra asked.

I flipped through my stack and held up a 7. “I like this one more, but I’m not sure about long. Most of the pictures I’ve been pinning are short.”

“Long tends to work better for more formal weddings,” Mom said as her cell phone started to ring, piercing through the quiet store. “My gracious, my apologies. I thought I turned the ringer off.” She fumbled in her Prada for her phone, looking at the screen and frowning. “It’s the pageant. Again. Third call this morning. I’m sorry, let me just step outside quick and I’ll be back in a shake.” She rushed outside without even grabbing her coat, and I stared at her retreating back, frowning. For someone who was donating her time and efforts to the pageant cause, she sure was pretty invested in that event.

Shaking my head, I focused again at the task at hand. “Let’s keep it long then,” I said. “I like the idea of a more formal wedding, so if that will help with the pictures, let’s do it. And it’ll be September, so not like the girls will be overheated or anything.”

“Long it is,” Grams confirmed.

“Let’s move to Gabby’s,” Sandra suggested.

“I thought you didn’t want chiffon,” Milly said, remembering a conversation we had in the past about bridesmaid dresses.

“I didn’t think I did, but seeing it on her, it looks really good. I especially like how it’s tight in the middle. I think it would be really flattering on everyone.” I eyed the dress, liking it more with each passing second. I held up a 9. “This is a serious contender.”

Sandra cleared her throat. “And how about . . . Evie’s?”

Everyone was silent. “No,” I said simply.

Evie stomped a foot. “But, Emerson, this color is gorgeous! And not to diss any of these other top-notch dresses, but this one really is the best.” Her tone dripped in sarcasm.

I raised a brow. “No,” I said again. “I’m not even going to touch on how hideous that dress is—no offense, Sandra—or how inappropriate it would be for not only my wedding, but the majority of weddings that take place. Now go back, pick a dress that is actually suitable, and come back. Or leave. I honestly don’t care which.” I folded my arms and stared at her.

She wavered under my glare—I saw it. “Fine.” She flounced away and everyone stood frozen to their spots, not sure of what to say.

Sandra cleared her throat. “Well, um, a successful first round. Let’s head back into the dressing room and I’ll do one of your picks, Emerson, along with picks from the others in the group.” Sandra ushered my maids away and I leaned back in the chair, replacing all the score cards and gearing up for round two.

**Check out the “Up To I Do” book links: Amazon Barnes & Noble Kobo Goodreads

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**About the author: Samantha March is an author, editor, publisher, blogger, and all around book lover. She runs the popular book/women’s lifestyle blog ChickLitPlus, which keeps her bookshelf stocked with the latest reads and up to date on all things health, fitness, fashion, and celebrity related. In 2011 she launched her independent publishing company Marching Ink and has three published novels – Destined to Fail, The Green Ticket and A Questionable Friendship. When she isn’t reading, writing, or blogging, you can find her cheering for the Green Bay Packers. Samantha lives in Iowa with her husband and Vizsla puppy.

**Keep in touch with Samantha: Instagram Facebook Twitter Youtube

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**GIVEAWAY**

**Click HERE to enter to win a $25.00 Amazon Gift Card!

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**Click HERE to see other stops on Samantha’s Chick Lit Plus Blog Tour!

BOOK FEATURE: “Sky Watcher”

September 11, 2015 2 Comments

Title: Sky Watcher
Author: Ella Emerson
Publisher: Booktrope
Cover Artist: Chelsea Barnes

Meet Allison Singleton, Single, alone. Her husband had left her after years of marriage, and she is destined to be alone for the rest of her life. At 35, she is afraid to hop back into the dating scene, as she knows there aren’t too many options at her age. She has labeled men her age into two categories: Taken, being the first. Everything left over, being the second. The second group is, the men who are so dreadful no woman has snagged them up yet. This is her dating pool. That is until she meets the hot lawyer, Gavin McDermott, on a blind date. Who may just be what she is looking for. He offers her a job she never expects, and she accepts to try new things. It is here she discovers, herself, how to be happy and maybe love. But, after tragedy strikes will everything be as it seems? Will the happiness she is searching for be a ploy?

About The Author:

Ella Emerson lives in Florida with her husband and three wonderful children. When she isn’t writing you can find her watching movies or playing games with
her children. She loves to read, write and eat pizza. A true lover of the beach, she enjoys the sun, surf, sand and sea. She also is a huge fan of the
cinema and enjoys crazy 80’s chick flicks. She was raised a military brat, and has seen her fair share of the world. She loves using her own experiences
and turning them into lovely romantic tales.

In high school she discovered her love for reading, and even had one of her poems published in a national magazine. She continues to read, write, review
and hopefully she can become an inspiration to her own children, as well as others.

Author Links:

Come and Follow her on Bloglovin:http://www.bloglovin.com/ellaemerson

Teasers:

RELEASE DAY: “First & Goal”

September 9, 2015 2 Comments

“First & Goal” by Laura Chapman

Set your lineups and pull out the old game tape—football is here. This year, you can experience fantasy football vicariously through (or commiserate with) Harper Duquaine in First & Goal by Laura Chapman.

What begins as a way to make nice with her new co-workers soon becomes an obsession for Harper as she navigates the ups and downs of managing a fantasy football team. Add in a pair of meddling brothers, a crew of quirky colleagues, and a league-mate who makes her toes curl, and Harper’s football season has plenty to keep her interested.

This new romantic comedy is now available from Marching Ink on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo. Join in the fun and cheer Harper on as she takes on the old boys club.

If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. Then beat them.

Blurb: When Harper Duquaine’s no-nonsense approach to work unintentionally ruffles the wrong feathers at her new job, she joins her co-workers’ fantasy football league to prove she can hang with the guys. Only problem: she doesn’t know a sleeper from a keeper (or any of the other lingo thrown her way).

Embroiled in a world of lineups, stats, and trades, Harper’s quest to make nice topples when her competitive streak emerges. And her promise to herself that she’ll be a strong, independent woman and leave the drama and heartache behind is seriously tested when she catches the attention of her two biggest competitors: J.J., a local celebrity determined to win a fantasy championship, and Brook, the mild-mannered coach who seems too good to be true. Both threaten her resolve to remain single… and, more importantly, her chances at winning the prize pool.

With a slew of conflicting advice in her real and fantasy worlds, Harper must figure out how to play the game and come out a winner.

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**Get your copy of “First & Goal” now: Amazon Barnes & Noble Kobo

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**About author, Laura Chapman: Laura Chapman is the author of First & Goal, The Marrying Type, and Hard Hats and Doormats. Her work appears in Merry & Bright, A Kind of Mad Courage, and a forthcoming Christmas anthology from Marching Ink. A native Nebraskan, she loves Huskers and Packers football, Netflix marathons, and her cats, Jane and Bingley. Laura is currently in pursuit of a fantasy football championship while penning her next novel.

**Contact Laura: Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube Goodreads Blog Website

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Check out Laura’s other books:

“The Marrying Type”: Amazon Barnes & Noble Kobo Marching Ink

“Hard Hats and Doormats”: Amazon Barnes & Noble Kobo Marching Ink

BOOK FEATURE: “Chasing Happy”

September 2, 2015 Leave a Comment

“Chasing Happy” by Ann Lee Miller

Blurb: After an epic fail in the hetero world, Ash Jackson heads cross country to Arizona to figure out his bisexuality and make peace with himself and God.

Nashville Star Samma Templeton’s music career bankrolls her future husband’s political campaigns. But she throws up before every concert and feels relegated to an item on the senator’s calendar.

When Ash moves into Samma’s apartment building their childhood friendship resurrects, and Samma must choose between promoting a political agenda that will benefit millions or following her heart. Ash must face his inner demons for the girl who was his past and feels like his future.

CHAPTER TEASE

Ash rolled his pickup to a stop in front of Dad’s house, his body logging every one of the 2,138 asphalt miles between New Smyrna Beach, Florida, and Gilbert, Arizona. The last decade dissipated with the crackles of the engine, and he was twelve, sitting on the tiled roof in the middle of the night dishing truths to neighbor-girl Samma because he didn’t like dares. Still didn’t. Maybe that was why he was here.

His gaze flicked to the Taco Bell-inspired design of the house Samma grew up in—like the rest of the tract homes on the street. His lips tugged into a smile—the first since Florida. She’d escaped the house with its passel of siblings, he-who-must-be-obeyed father, and remote mother. Back then, she’d had three inches on him, and now she was a Nashville Star runner-up and a lucrative recording contract above him.

He focused on Dad’s house and his jaw clenched. The sixty-four ounce tea in his gullet pushed him out of the truck. He sucked hundred-degree September air into his lungs. Every pore of his body remembered the feel of empty heat on his skin as he walked through the streetlight halo and across the gravel yard. His feet halted on the cement slab, knuckles coming to rest on the door without knocking. Touching the house where he’d lived two summers of his boyhood. Touching his father’s life.

A puff of air scraped sun-dried Bougainvillea blooms across the step, their fuchsia hue oddly preserved in the porch light.

He fisted his hand and knocked against the metal door he and Samma had run in and out a dozen times a day.

Pain spiked from his knuckles, slicing away the ghostlike state where he stuffed Dad between visits and e-mails. All he had to do was keep his emotions packed away long enough to get a job. Should be easy. He’d been doing it for years.

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**About author, Ann Lee Miller: Ann Lee Miller earned a BA in creative writing from Ashland (OH) University and writes full-time in Phoenix, but left her heart in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, where she grew up. She loves speaking to young adults and guest lectures on writing at several Arizona colleges. When she isn’t muddling through some crisis-real or imagined-you’ll find her blogging memoir at AnnLeeMiller.com. Over 100,000 copies of Miller’s debut novel, Kicking Eternity, have been downloaded from Amazon.

**Contact Ann Lee Miller: Ann’s Website Ann’s Facebook

**Find Ann’s books: Amazon Barnes & Noble Goodreads

NEW RELEASE: “Freak Out”

August 20, 2015 1 Comment

Title: FREAK OUT

Author: Ella Emerson
Release Date: August 20th

Synopsis:

As we fell in love with Freak in the prequel, Find out where Freak and Chelsea’s story takes them in this complete standalone novel.

Have you ever met someone who turned everything you knew inside out? That’s what it was like when Freak Phillips and I really met for the first time.

This roller coaster ride he had me on was making me question myself. Making me do things I had never dreamed of. So out of character, so unlike me.

Better yet, I was liking it.

But, little did I know what he had in store for me was unlike anything I could have ever imagined.

Freak wasn’t exactly what I had envisioned. Furthermore, could I picture myself with him in a relationship?

Wild, exciting, and completely deranged come and fall in love with the mystery that is Freak Phillips.