Launch Day Blitz ~ HE'S SO FINE by Jill Shalvis ~ Giveaway

I am excited to be part of the Launch Day of He's So Fine by Jill Shalvis.  As my blog followers know, I am a huge Jill Shalvis fan.  It is bittersweet for me as this is also the last book in the Lucky Harbor series. Can't wait to see which town Jill Shalvis takes us to next and what group of hunky, sexy guys will be be introduced to.. I am always hoping that she takes on on a ride with some handsome cowboys or race car drivers.  A girl can hope, right?



He's So Fine
Lucky Harbor # 11
By: Jill Shalvis
Releasing September 30th, 2014
For Olivia Bentley, Lucky Harbor is more than the town where she runs her new vintage shop. It's the place where folks are friendly to strangers-and nobody knows her real name. Olivia does a good job of keeping her past buried, not getting too cozy with anyone . . . until she sees a man drowning. Suddenly she's rushing into the surf, getting up close and personal with the hottest guy she's ever laid hands on.

Charter boat captain Cole Donovan has no problem with a gorgeous woman throwing her arms around his neck in an effort to "save" him. In fact, he'd like to spend a lot more time skin-to-skin with Olivia. He's just not expecting that real trouble is about to come her way. Will it bring her deeper into Cole's heart, or will it be the end of Olivia's days in little Lucky Harbor? 


New York Times bestselling author Jill Shalvis lives in a small town in the Sierras full of quirky characters. Any resemblance to the quirky characters in her books is, um, mostly coincidental. Look
for Jill's bestselling, award-winning books wherever romances are sold and visit her website for a complete book list and daily blog detailing her city-girl-living-in-the-mountains adventures.




Book Blast ~ Excerpt and Giveaway ~ SKATING ON THIN ICE by Jami Davenport


Thanks for stopping by.  Today, FBL is participating in the Release Day Tasty Book Blast for SKATING ON THIN ICE by Jami Davenport. Jami Davenport is hosting a Tour Wide Giveaway for $20 Amazon Gift Card, Swag Pack and Backlist Romance from Jami. Follow the tour for your chance to win!

Skating On Thin Ice
Game On In Seattle # 1
By: Jami Davenport
Releasing September 29th, 2014
Self-Published


Jami Davenport presents Game on in Seattle, a new series featuring Seattle sports teams, hot men, and strong women.

He trusts his gut, she trusts her numbers, and neither trusts the other, as a billionaire's mission to bring hockey to Seattle clashes with his passion for the woman who holds his heart.

Ethan Parker, a billionaire determined to bring a professional hockey to Seattle, will stop at nothing to realize his dream. After signing an agreement to purchase another city's team, Ethan is anxious to make the move to Seattle, but a gag order by the League forces him to keep the sale a secret until the season ends, leaving him no choice but to go undercover as a consultant to study his team during the playoffs.

Lauren Schneider, Assistant Director of Player Personnel for the Giants hockey team, gets no respect from the team's testosterone-loaded staff. When Ethan bursts onto the scene, full of charm and genuinely interested in her opinions, she shares the team's weaknesses and discovers a weakness of her own--for Ethan. But when his true identity is revealed, and he starts cleaning house based on her unwitting input, his betrayal cuts deeply on both a professional and personal level. Bound by an employment contract, Lauren reluctantly moves to Seattle to work for the newly christened Seattle Sockeyes and her sexy, infuriating boss.

Lauren and Ethan must come to terms with their passions--for the team, for hockey, and for each other. Will their situation build a frozen wall between them, or will their love burn hot enough to melt the ice shielding their hearts? 
  
Lauren followed Ethan to the arena concourse. The Giants lost a heartbreaking game, and thinking about it made Lauren sick to her stomach.

Right now she should be thinking life didn’t get better than this. Despite their first loss, they were still in it, skating in their first playoff series in years; next to her stood a man who might well be the team’s savior, and he was an incredibly attractive man.

His eyes lit up with unbridled enthusiasm every time they discussed the team and its potential, almost as if he had a personal stake in the Giants, rather than being a hired consultant. She loved the interest he showed in all aspects of the team; hopefully, his employers shared his enthusiasm.

Yet, his level of enthusiasm and involvement didn’t quite fit, and niggling suspicions that things weren’t as they seemed prevented Lauren’s complete trust in the man, not that she trusted easily. She’d been burned too many times from family members to friends to lovers to one cheating husband. It made a girl cautious as to whom she granted that precious trust. Ethan would need to earn it by his actions and his words. For now, she’d enjoy looking at him, because that was purely a joy, and feeding him positive tidbits about the team and staff. That very team who’d lost its first playoff game by one goal.

“I want to see how the coach and team handle the loss,” Ethan said, grim determination etched on his handsome face.

“The coach doesn’t like anyone in the locker room directly after the game.”

Ethan gave her one of those looks which clearly said he didn’t give a shit what the coach did or didn’t like, but he’d damn well do as he pleased. Turning, he showed security his badge and headed down the tunnel with Lauren on his heels.

“Ethan, this isn’t a good idea.” The infuriating man kept walking, which really pissed her off. He barged into the locker room with her hot on his heels then stopped so abruptly that she bumped into his backside.

The players sat around the locker room on benches, heads hanging, frowns on their faces, and in various states of undress. Lauren had seen the men many times before in this situation, but this was sacred ground, and Ethan did not belong in here.

Coach Ferrar, fondly known as Coach Fur by staff and team alike, stopped mid-sentence and glared at the unwelcome intruders. While Coach wanted the Sleezers out of team ownership, he, like Lauren, didn’t exactly trust Ethan either, and even worse, he hated change. As Lauren saw it, the coach figured the devil he knew—the Sleezers—was better than the devil he didn’t, in the form of Ethan and his anonymous employers.

At the coach’s silence, every player glanced up, their gazes shifting from Coach to Ethan and back to Coach. They held their collective breaths, as if sensing a good fight in the making, and Lauren bet all the money was on Coach.

She glanced at Ethan, who didn’t seem the least bit affected by the coach’s laser sharp gaze. “Just pretend I’m not here.”

“It’d be better if you weren’t,” Coach Fur growled.

Ethan didn’t move. Instead he smiled as if Coach couldn’t possibly be referring to him.

“Look, I know we’ve been ordered to cater to you, and God knows we want the Sleezers out of ownership, but that doesn’t mean you can walk in here like you own the place. This is private business between the team and coaches.”

A muscle ticked in Ethan’s strong jaw, but his calm voice echoed through the silent room. “I’m examining all aspects of this team for the prospective owners, including the locker room atmosphere.”

The team captain, Cooper Black, muttered something to his buddy, Cedric.

“What was that, Black? You got something to say, say it so I can hear it.”

Coop’s eyes narrowed, and he met Ethan’s direct gaze with a challenging one of his own. “I said since when do owners—prospective or otherwise—give a shit about what goes on in the locker room as long as we win on the ice?”

“This group does. They’re very hands-on.”

“Great, just what I fucking need. Owners who think they can tell me how to coach.” Coach slapped his clipboard against his thigh, obviously beyond annoyed. Several of the guys nodded their heads in agreement.

“And me how to play,” Cooper didn’t seem impressed with Ethan or his billionaire employers.

“I’ve interrupted enough. I’ll fade into the background. Continue as if I’m not here.” Ethan wasn’t the least bit moved by their words, or put off. He just shrugged and took a seat as if he was one of the guys. Lauren wrung her hands and tried to think of a way to get him out of there. No one came into the locker room directly after the game. No one. Coach would have her head for letting Ethan in, as if she could have stopped him.

Ethan sat back as if he were in a movie theatre and the show was about to begin. Lauren wanted to throttle the man with her bare hands.

Realizing their unwelcome guest wasn’t leaving, the coach turned to his team. “It’s only game one. We know a lot more about our opponents than we did yesterday. We’ll get them tomorrow. That’s it, guys. Meet back here in the morning, usual time.”

He purposely didn’t say what time to keep Ethan out of the loop. The team stood, going back to their post-game routines. Ethan met Lauren’s gaze and raised a decidedly amused eyebrow.

“Don’t you think we should leave now?”

Ethan sighed and stood. He held the door open for her and she gladly exited from the locker room. As soon as they were in the hallway, she turned on him. “What the fuck did you think you were doing?”

“I told you. I’m evaluating the team and its operations.” His calm voice infuriated her even more, and she did have a bit of her father’s temper.

“And that includes invading the sacred sanctuary of the coach’s post-game speech?”

“It especially means that. I wanted to see how coaches and players handled the loss. How a team handles losing is more important than how they handle winning. Do they mope, do they get fired up, do they hang their heads in defeat, or do they immediately look to the next game and what they can do better?”

“They handled the loss fine, but they didn’t handle you fine.”

An advocate of happy endings, Jami Davenport writes sexy contemporary and sports romances, including her two new indie endeavors: the Game On in Seattle Series and the Madrona Island Series.  Jami lives on a small farm near Puget Sound with her Green Beret-turned-plumber husband, a Newfoundland cross with a tennis ball fetish, a prince disguised as an orange tabby cat, and an opinionated Hanoverian mare. She works in computer support in her day job and juggles too many balls, but she wouldn't have it any other way. 



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Tour ~ Exclusive Guest Post and Giveaway ~THE GOVERNESS CLUB: SARA & LOUISA by Ellie MacDonald




Thanks for stopping by, FBL is participating in the Tasty Virtual Book Tour for THE GOVERNESS CLUB: SARA & LOUISA by Ellie MacDonald, Sept 8th to Oct 17th, 2014Avon is hosting a Tour Wide Giveaway for Two Digital Sets of CLAIRE & BONNIE, The Governess Club Series Books One and Two. Tour Link


The Governess Club: Sara &The Governess Club: Louisa
The Governess Club book 3 and 4
By: Ellie MacDonald
Releasing September 2nd, 2014 and October 7th, 2014
Avon Impulse
  
See the SERIES on Goodreads

Sara

Sweet Sara Collins is one of the founding members of the governess club. But she has a secret… She doesn’t love teaching. She’d much prefer to be a vicar’s wife and help the local community. But this quiet mouse doesn’t want to upset her friends, and she resolves to help in whatever ways she can.
Nathan Grant is the embodiment of everything that frightens Sara. Which is why she can’t understand why the handsome but reclusive and gruff man is so fascinating to her. When Sara decides it’s time to take a chance and experience all that life has to offer, Nathan is the first person she thinks of.
Will Sara’s walk on the wild side ruin her chances at a simple, happy life? Or has she just opened the door to a once-in-a-lifetime chance of passion?

 
Louisa

Louisa Brockhurst is on the run - from her friends, from her family, even from her dream of independence through The Governess Club. But sometimes it’s easier for her to hide from those she loves in order to escape the secrets of her past.
Handsome but menacing John Taylor is a former prize-fighter turned inn-keeper who is trying to make his way in society. When Louisa shows up at his doorstep he’s quick to accept her offer to help - at a price. He knows that she’s hiding something and he can’t help his protective instincts around the beautiful woman.
Their attraction grows, but will headstrong, fiery Louisa ever trust the surprisingly kind John enough to tell him the dangerous secrets from her past that keep her running? Or will the power of her feelings scare her into running yet again?

Louisa’s Anatomy
Louisa. Sometimes you just want to shake your head at her. She shoots herself in the foot so many times because she is just so damned stubborn! It blinds her to who her friends truly are and causes her to not see genuine help when it is offered.
I don’t really blame her. She had a rough go of it, had to make her way in the world as a matter of survival, leaving behind a body and a murder scene. It makes sense that she wouldn’t trust anyone.
This is something that made her story unique – instead of an actual physical opponent, it was her stubbornness, distrust and independence that was the villain of the story. Her strength was her downfall; she was her own worst enemy.
Right from the start of the series, I knew that Louisa’s story had to be unique, had to be different from the other books in the series. Did I accomplish that? Well, let’s look at it.
First off, in a series that gets its name from governesses, she doesn’t teach in her story.
Second, as I already mentioned, she is both the heroine and the villain in her story. Not really the anti-hero, that’s more a villain with enough redeemable qualities that you understand why they are doing what they are doing. Think of the recent Maleficent movie with Angelina Jolie. That character was an anti-hero. Louisa just gets in her own way of happiness.
Third, she is the fiercest of her friends. She stands up for herself and isn’t afraid to let people know it, isn’t afraid to tear a strip off a person, isn’t afraid to demand her due. In doing all these, she often sacrifices tact, which her co-heroines have in spades.
Fourth, her hero, John, has no connection to the nobility or a profession of authority. He was a boxer turned innkeeper. At one point, he actually had to be subservient to a lord in front of her. I knew that Louisa needed someone vastly different than what she was raised to expect because she had become so unique a woman in Regency England herself.
Fifth, she is a bit of a Sexual Mistress. Now, any failing of her part in that area is my fault; I have no experience in writing such a character and haven’t read too many stories that feature this sort of relationship. What I wanted to convey in this, however, was her need for control. She had complete control over the affairs she had before meeting John. She tried to control him as well, but it didn’t quite work out the way she planned. To her benefit, I might add, and she agrees with me.
Louisa is definitely unique. She definitely comes across as harsh. Does she change? Yes. She doesn’t necessarily soften, but she learns to listen, she learns to negotiate, she learns to compromise. The point being: she was willing to learn.
And that, I think, is her greatest strength.


Ellie Macdonald has held several jobs beginning with the letter t: taxi-driver, telemarketer and most recently, teacher. She is thankful her interests have shifted to writing instead of taxidermy or tornado chasing. Having travelled to five different continents, she has swum with elephants, scuba dived coral mazes, visited a leper colony and climbed waterfalls and windmills, but her favorite place remains Regency England. She currently lives in Ontario, Canada. The Governess Club series is her first published work.




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Tour ~Excerpt and Giveaway ~ WHAT I LOVE ABOUT YOU by Rachel Gibson




Thanks for stopping by today, FBL is participating in the book tour: WHAT I LOVE ABOUT YOU by Rachel Gibson, it runs from August 25th - Oct 3rd, 2014.  Avon is hosting a Tour Wide Giveaway for Two Print Copies of WHAT I LOVE ABOUT YOU, follow the tour for your chance to win.  Tour Link



What I Love About You
Truly, Idaho # 3
By: Rachel Gibson
Releasing August 26th, 2014
Avon Romance
  


New York Times bestselling author Rachel Gibson returns to Truly, Idaho, and to the fate of sexy SEAL Blake Junger

GIMMEE A B-R-E-A-K!

Ex-high school cheerleader Natalie Cooper could once shake her pom-poms with the best of them. But she's paid for all that popularity—her husband's run off with what's left of their money and a twenty-year-old bimbo named Tiffany. Leaving Natalie to manage a photo store and having to see some pictures she, well, really shouldn't.

GIMMEE A S-H-O-T!

Then she comes toe-to-manly chest with Blake Junger. Exiled to a remote cabin in Truly, Idaho, Blake wants nothing to do with anyone. Instead, he's determined to struggle with his demons and win—all on his own. But the last thing he needs is Natalie distracting him with her luscious curves and breaking down the barriers of his heart.

GIMMEE YOUR H-E-A-R-T!
Can be read as a standalone. Returns to Truly, ID and is about the second Junger twin, BlakeJunger.


Her pink mouth opened and closed like she was speechless. Then she waved a hand at the bottle of Johnnie and obviously found her voice. “Are you drunk?”

“No. Haven’t had a drop.” He wished he could blame his erection on Johnnie.

“Then you don’t have an excuse. You’re just a … a …” She paused to cover the girl’s ears with her palms. “A raging asshole.”

She’d get no argument from him.

“I heard that,” the kid said into her mother’s stomach.

“Come on, Charlotte.” She grabbed the kid’s hand and stormed off. He could practically see the steam shooting out of her ears.

So much for being the charming twin.

He shrugged, and his gaze fell to her nice butt.

Fuck it. Charming was for nice guys, and he hadn’t felt nice for a very long time.


Rachel Gibson lives in Idaho with her husband, three kids, two cats and a dog of mysterious origin. She began her fiction career at age 16, when she ran her car into the side of a hill, retrieved the bumper, and drove to a parking lot, where she strategically scattered the car’s broken glass all about. She told her parents she’d been the victim of a hit and run and they believed her. She’s been making up stories ever since, although she gets paid better for them nowadays.

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Release Day Book Blast ~ MISBEHAVIOR by Kathryn Kelly



Thanks for joining in on the Release Day Book Blast for MISBEHAVIOR by Kathryn Kelly, Sept 17th - 19th, 2014. Kathryn is hosting a Tour Wide Giveaway for $25.00 Amazon or B&N Gift Card, follow the Tour.

Misbehavior
Death Dwellers MC # 3
By: Kathryn Kelly
Releasing September 17th, 2014
Self-Published


Matthew “Val” Taylor, the Road Captain in the club, was introduced to sex at an early age. Saved from the streets by the club’s Enforcer and President years ago, Val now lives for women and the open road. Until the night the only woman he’s ever loved is almost killed. Val determines to change his ways and be the man Zoann Donovan should have and the father their son deserves.

Zoann has loved Val for a long time. Violence and bitter betrayal forces her to ignore her feelings and distance herself not only from the sexy RC, but her beloved brother, too. Until she discovers the truth. Can Zoann ever be forgiven for all the pain she’s caused? Will Val overcome his own demons and have a future with her and their son? Who will survive in an MC filled with lust and revenge, love and hate?

Warning: This is a tale of rape, murders, deception, heartache, lies, and infidelity. The road to redemption is a tumultuous struggle where only the strong survive and justice is served…Outlaw-style.

Kathryn Kelly is living her dream and writing books. Everyone who follows Kat on Facebook is well aware of her relationship with her mother. For those of you who are unaware, the following will offer you a taste. To live in peace, Kat acknowledges she is a mom, but prefers to keep her personal life private. In spite of her momma. Kat has always been an avid reader and still devours books in her spare time. She also enjoys football, socializing, music, eating, and jokes. In her head, she's the ultimate biker babe. In reality, she's an ordinary girl-next-door and a native New Orleanian.

Author Links



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Virtual Book Tour ~ Excerpt & Giveaway~ KISS ME, CAPTAIN by Gwen Jones

Thanks for stopping by as FBL hosts Kiss Me, Captain Book Tour. From August 18th to Sept 12th, Gwen Jones is touring blogs promoting her latest book in the French Kiss series. Avon is hosting a Tour Wide Giveaway for Three Winners to receive a Digital Copy of KISS ME, CAPTAIN.   Follow the Tour for your chance to win.

Kiss Me, Captain: French Kiss # 2
By: Gwen Jones
Releasing August 26th, 2014
Avon: Impulse


French billionaire Marcel Mercier loves women. And there's a string of broken hearts across two continents to prove it. But as CEO of Mercier Shipping, he's got more important things to worry about . . . like why the charter company he just purchased in the United States is suddenly the center of an international media firestorm.

Now that big, bad Mercier Shipping owns Captain Dani Lloyd's ship, she's sure her job is at stake. But she won't go down without a fight—even if it means chaining herself to the mast of the Esther Reed and refusing to set foot on shore.

The delectable captain and her newsworthy dramatics are a PR nightmare, but Marcel is happy to let Dani prove her skills on a weeklong sail to Boston. He knows no woman can resist him for that long . . . in fact, he's counting on it.

But Marcel's plan to seduce Dani backfires as sparks fly between the billionaire playboy and the passionate captain. Which leaves Marcel realizing that winning her heart is a challenge he can't afford to lose.
Gwen Jones has an MFA in Creative Writing from Western Connecticut State University and is an adjunct Assistant Professor of English at Mercer County Community College. Gwen is a fabulously talented and creative writer who mirrors the style of Nora Roberts with depth of character, intelligence and humor. She is currently working on another brilliant romance, with an expected completion in the Summer of 2013. She is a member of Liberty States Fiction Writers, The Romance Writers of America, and blogs at http://gwenjoneswrites.com.




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