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Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Week Blitz: In the Line of Duty by Carolyn Arnold @Carolyn_Arnold @RABTBookTours


BLURB



He devoted his life to seeking justice. But would she get any for him?

It was an ordinary day for police officer Barry Weir. It was the end of shift, he was tired, and he just wanted to get home to his wife and kids. But someone had other plans for him, shooting him down and forcing him to make the ultimate sacrifice.

When news of Weir’s murder reaches the department, it leaves Detective Madison Knight and every cop in the Stiles PD itching for revenge. It cuts Madison’s boyfriend, colleague, and Weir’s childhood friend, Troy Matthews, deepest of all, driving him away from everyone he loves just when they need one another the most.

With evidence pointing to a gang-related drive-by, Madison and her team investigate the town’s seedy underbelly in search of justice for their fallen brother. But the deeper they dig, the more convoluted the case becomes. Now they need to figure out if this was a random shooting as part of a gang initiation, a straight-up hate crime, or a targeted kill. But with members of the Stiles PD under attack, they have to do it fast…before more officers pay with their lives.    



PURCHASE

  ABOUT THE DETECTIVE MADISON KNIGHT SERIES 

Murder. Investigation. The pursuit of justice. Do you love trying to figure out whodunit? How about investigating alongside police detectives from the crime scene to the forensics lab and everywhere in between? Do you love a strong female lead? Then I invite you to meet Detective Madison Knight as she solves murders with her male partner, utilizing good old-fashioned investigative work aided by modern technology. 

This is the perfect book series for fans of Law & Order, CSI, Blue Bloods, Rizzoli & Isles, Women’s Murder Club, and Hawaii Five-O

Read in any order or follow the series from the beginning: Ties That Bind, Justified, Sacrifice, Found Innocent, Just Cause, Deadly Impulse, In the Line of Duty, Life Sentence (Bonus Prequel).   


Excerpt from In the Line of Duty, Chapter 4:

A life of sacrifice to the higher good was what Madison had signed up for. She’d defend the innocent and protect and serve if it took her life to do so, and she’d do it despite the way the media painted things to make officers look like the bad guys more often than not. They applied too much use of force to a situation, or they shot someone who wasn’t armed. Meanwhile, it wasn’t disclosed that the officer approached a subject in the dark of night and the subject was holding a bicycle pump extended in the fashion of a gun. The officer had to make a split-second decision that, if it had been a loaded gun, the officer or his backup would have been shot.

And rarely did the news share the stories of courage and bravery—how the actions of officers saved lives and put criminals behind bars. They never reported about the officers who resuscitated a woman who was clinically dead, saving her life while waiting on the local paramedics to show up. No—law enforcement always fell under the microscope of scrutiny and judgment, and yet she and her brothers put their lives on the line every day because it was what many of them believed they were born to do. Of course, there were some who viewed the job as simply that, but not her. Donning her badge wasn’t something she gave thought or consideration to each morning. It wasn’t an option. It was the same as putting on a pair of pants or brushing her teeth.



You’ve reached the end of the excerpt, but In the Line of Duty is available in e-book, paperback, and hardcover from popular retailers.


For the Love of Police

Police officers and departments are especially hot topics right now, whether it be in regards to police brutality or the use of excessive force. It seems there is a clear 

line between people who respect them and people who despise them. But how does that choice come to be?
We all make decisions based on information that comes our way, but what if everything we read in the media about police taking harsh action isn’t correct? What if these articles are missing key intel? Unless we were in an officer’s shoes, how can we really know what transpired?

All of us have played—or at least are familiar with—the telephone game. In this, it’s easy to see how a message changes as it moves down the line. The same, too, I would suspect, is the case when it comes to reporting. But that’s only one way that information can get garbled, making it uncertain and difficult to claim as truth. Reports are also often colored by the viewpoint of a source. If that source is prejudiced against the police, it will immediately taint his or her reaction to a situation; before knowing any facts, the police will be cast in an unfavorable light.

I’m not saying that police always make the right decisions; they are human, after all. There are even some corrupt cops. However, I feel that people need to appreciate that unless they are there, in the moment, there’s no way of truly knowing why a certain course of action was taken.

As a result of my own respect for law enforcement, I have dedicated In the Line of Duty to all the fine men and women who serve or have served, and in memory of those who have made the ultimate sacrifice. While most of us would run from gunfire, they run toward it. That right there is enough to warrant my respect. Just imagine what the world would be like without police. In two words, utter chaos.

--Carolyn Arnold

Author of In the Line of Duty (Detective Madison Knight series)


Author Bio


CAROLYN ARNOLD is an international best-selling and award-winning author, as well as a speaker, teacher, and inspirational mentor. She has four continuing fiction series—Detective Madison Knight, Brandon Fisher FBI, McKinley Mysteries, and Matthew Connor Adventures—and has written nearly thirty books. Her genre diversity offers her readers everything from cozy to hard-boiled mysteries, and thrillers to action adventures. 

Both her female detective and FBI profiler series have been praised by those in law enforcement as being accurate and entertaining, leading her to adopt the trademark: POLICE PROCEDURALS RESPECTED BY LAW ENFORCEMENT™. 


Carolyn was born in a small town and enjoys spending time outdoors, but she also loves the lights of a big city. Grounded by her roots and lifted by her dreams, her overactive imagination insists that she tell her stories. Her intention is to touch the hearts of millions with her books, to entertain, inspire, and empower. 


She currently lives just west of Toronto with her husband and beagle and is a member of Crime Writers of Canada and Sisters in Crime.   


Connect with CAROLYN ARNOLD Online: 




And don’t forget to sign up for her newsletter for up-to-date information on release and special offers at http://carolynarnold.net/newsletters.




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Blitz: Romance and Erotica Reader Appreciation Giveaway @XpressoTours

Welcome to the Romance and Erotica Reader Appreciation Giveaway!

We’re so glad you stopped by! A lot of great authors are giving away a HUGE Amazon Gift Card to one lucky Romance and/or Erotica reading fan! (Yes, we check, and only true romance book worms qualify to win! But there WILL be a winner, which will be publicly announced in the Facebook Party HERE on December 2nd!

VIEW BOOKS FROM THE SPONSORS HERE!

Here are a couple of sneak peeks from the EPIC Romance and Erotica Group with Rebecca Hamilton!

Deep Focus: Young Hollywood Book 1 by Madisyn Ashmore

I laid my head back across the couch and kicked my feet up over his strong thighs. My foot brushed across his lap as I stretched. I felt the hardness already forming in his pants, his bulge pressing towards me.
“Your parents, do they still live there?”
My chest tightened. I hated telling this part of my life story because of the pity it elicited from friends and strangers alike.
“My parents died in a car crash when I was fourteen. I went to live with my aunt after that. We’re not close.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
“No, It’s okay. I was sort of a wild teenager, so I don’t blame her. But anyway, we don’t really keep in touch much anymore.” I paused. “Like I said, it’s complicated.”
He rubbed the soles of my feet and traced his fingers along my calves. My muscles relaxed against his firm touch. As he drew circles on my skin, an intense warmth washed over my body.
“I think LA is the place where outcasts, misfits, and lonely people come to find their soul.” He breathed the words like the they were meant for only himself. He looked surprised when my soft voice echoed a reply.
“Was that true for you? Did you come to Los Angeles searching for your soul?”
He thought quietly for a moment before his husky voice deepened. “I came here running. Running away from a past that…” His voice broke off. “I came here searching, and to start a new life.”
“And did you?”
“I found that money wins a lot of friends, but not the kind that you can count on forever. I’ve had a lot of women keep me warm at night, but none that would’ve stayed if all this vanished.” He gestured to the expensively decorated room around us, an ornate display of his opulence and wealth. For the first time, I saw the crack in his facade and the real Oliver Tate emerged.
“What was your life like…before.” I paused, choosing my words carefully. “Before all this.”
“Not now, Scarlett. It’s long and boring and not worth discussing.” He shifted on the couch and breathed a heavy exhale.
There was still so much about Oliver Tate I didn’t know. With every detail I discovered, a thousand more secrets loomed in the distance. I wanted him to release to me and tell me every broken and damaged part of himself. I could take it. I could take it all.
He laid back, his youthful face glistening with a mist of perspiration. I ran my fingers down the front of his shirt, slowly unbuttoning him, exposing his ripped abs, slick and steamy. His fingers gripped my arm, pulling me up to his face as he sucked and kissed my delicate lips.
I ran my hand along his pants, the heat spreading from his dark denim. My fingers grasped the stiff metal zipper, his rock hard warmth burning into my touch. He swelled as my hand grazed him…


Cadence by Lisa Swallow

The ensuite door clicks open and Jax appears. Naked. Almost. A white hotel towel is slung and knotted low around his hips, barely reaching his knees, but aside from that… naked.
Naked. My breath disappears. The word won’t leave my head; and if I closed my eyes, I’m damn sure the image of his firm, muscular chest glistening with water wouldn’t leave either.
Relieved my mouth isn’t hanging open, I attempt to switch on the snarky Tegan who was about to give him a mouthful. Jax runs a hand through his damp hair and I’m distracted by the drops of water on his lips as they curve into a sheepish smile.
“Oh, hey, Tegan.”
Hey, Tegan? I clear my throat and tear my look from his mouth. “Why haven’t you left yet? You have a shower in your own room!”
Jax’s lips purse with confusion. “Uh. Waiting for you. I wanted to talk to you about last night. I woke up in your bed, but you weren’t there. I know I was drunk but…” He stares at my gym gear or more precisely how the purple gym vest and black pants hug my curves. “I’m damn sure I’d remember if I’d been naked with you.”
The darkened look in Jax’s eyes reflects exactly what’s happening in his imagination. I remain focused on his eyes. Do. Not. Look. At. His. Body.
My eyes drifts downwards and I fight against lingering on the solid abs and the light trail of hair disappearing into the knotted towel. Has he tattoos any lower than where the blue stars are inked on his skin at the edge of the towel?
I blink away the image. “Last night, you stood me up, then barged into my room in the early hours, whined for a bit before you passed out on my bed. Way to impress a girl.”
Jax tips his head towards the bed. “Could’ve been worse. Or better, depending on which way you want to look at the situation.”
I focus hard on not staring some more at Jax, or acknowledging I’m suddenly less pissed off and more aroused. “You should be so lucky!”
Jax steps towards me. “One day I think I will be, we agreed.”
I look directly into Jax’s eyes, so I can’t be tempted by his mouth — or any other part of him in touching distance. “Put some clothes on.”
“Or you could take yours off?”
I want to retort; but unsure whether my voice will fail and give my state of mind away, I clamp my mouth closed.
Jax inches closer and I back up. “Come on, Tegan, I can see in your face what you’re thinking.”
“I doubt that.” I swallow. I should turn and walk away, but memories of the way Jax kisses leads to temptation for more. “Get dressed.”
Jax sticks his bottom lip out, turns his back, and approaches the bed, hands going to the edge of the knot securing the towel. Before I get a view of his ass to bank with the other images, I spin around and leave the room.
“Nice try!” I call and Jax’s response is laughter.



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Book Blitz + #Giveaway: Threat: A Blood Riders MC by Tia Lewis @authortialewis @XpressoTours


Threat
Tia Lewis
(A Blood Riders MC, #1)
Publication date: October 3rd 2016
Genres: Adult, Romance



As V.P. of the Blood Riders MC, Drake is used to calling the shots, getting his way, and sleeping with every biker groupie within reach. When he meets Nicole, her feisty, headstrong beauty pulls him in, even as his instincts warn him she’s hiding something.

Nicole is determined to learn who killed her father, a detective who was investigating the Blood Riders. When the chemistry between her and Drake becomes much more, she’s caught between her desires and her desperate need for answers.

Then her search turns deadly, and Nicole has to put everything on the line―and trust that the man she’s fallen for will forgive her betrayal. Will he come to her defense … or will his eyes be the last thing she ever sees?


br-series

EXCERPT:

I didn’t like the way his eyes traveled over my body. Like I didn’t have clothes on at all. I fought the urge to cover myself with my hands. Don’t let him see how he gets to you. No matter what I did, I couldn’t get the image of him shattering a man’s jaw out of my head. I noticed his big hands and wondered at the damage they could do when curled into fists.
“What are you thinking about?” he asked. His voice was just loud enough for me to hear it, but low enough that many of the others didn’t.
“Nothing,” I cleared my throat.
“I see you looking around.”
“So? I’ve never been here before, have I?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know. It seems like you’re taking notes with your eyes. Something like that.”
“I’m not.”
“You sure about that?”
“Don’t you have something better do to than to bother me? I didn’t come here for Twenty Questions.” I stood, walking toward the bar—but to the other end of it. A girl was standing there, pouring drinks and uncapping cold beers for the guys. At lunch time. Classy.
“I was stupid and forgot to get something to drink. May I have a glass of ice water?”
The girl smiled. She looked a little rough, like a heavy smoker. Her skin was wrinkled and dry, there were yellow stains on her teeth. But it was a friendly smile, just the same. “Sure thing. I’ll give you a bottle. How about that?” She reached into the cooler and pulled out a semi-frozen icy cold water bottle for me. I thanked her, uncapping it to take a sip right away.
“Who are you, really?” I glanced over to find Drake staring at me just as he had been before. So I was going to be his project. He wanted to know all about me. Damn, he was dangerous.


Author Bio:
Want to be kept up to date on new releases? Text LEWIS to 31996 or go to: www.NextBookRelease.com 
Tia Lewis is a romance author from the Midwest who writes about smart, sexy, sassy women and hot, possessive alpha males. Her favorite bad boys to write about include sports players, mafia, bikers, billionaires and the bad-ass next door. You can find her cooking, reading, or traveling when she’s not busy working on her next release. 


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Book Blitz + #Giveaway: Our Options Have Changed by Julia Kent & Elisa Reed @jkentauthor @XpressoTours


Our Options Have Changed
Elisa Reed & Julia Kent
Publication date: October 5th 2016
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance


Having it all is a fantasy, right?

Chloe Browne knows all about fantasy. Fantasy is her job.

And she’s very, very good at what she does.
As director of design for the O Spa chain, a sophisticated women’s club that is trending its way into being the Next Big Thing, Chloe’s ready to take on the world.

One baby at a time.
Her home study’s done, and she’s about to adopt, a thirty-something single mother by choice. Who needs to put her life on hold for the right guy when the right baby is waiting for her?

Besides, talk about fantasy.

The right guy?

Pfft. Right.

And then in walks Nick Grafton, with those commanding sapphire eyes and wavy blonde hair and a sophisticated mouth that only smiles for her.

He’s perfect.

But the last thing Nick wants is to start fresh with a new baby as his college-age kids fly the coop. A single father for more than fifteen years after his wife walked out on her family, Nick finally tastes freedom.
But he likes the taste of Chloe more.

* * *

Our Options Have Changed is a full-length standalone contemporary romance, the first in the On Hold series by New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Julia Kent and journalist-turned-fiction-writer Elisa Reed. It is a loose spinoff from Julia Kent’s Shopping for a Billionaire series, with cameo appearances from favorite characters.

**BONUS ALL-NEW NOVELLA** from Julia Kent’s New York Times bestselling Shopping series! Read Shopping for a Billionaire’s Honeymoon. This 100-page bonus comes at the end of Our Options Have Changed. When Shannon can’t get workaholic Declan to give her the sexy honeymoon time she wants, she takes matters into her own hands — with hilariously disastrous (or disastrously hilarious?) results.



EXCERPT:

O is a twenty-first century club for sophisticated women. A fourth space for women of a discerning taste.
Home is the first space. Work is the second space. Third spaces are locations like coffee shops and malls.
O is the fourth space. The space where you can arrive. Rest. Relax. Indulge. Be someone you can’t be in the other three spaces.
Based on our membership rates, we’re onto something. Our investors are, shall we say, pleased.
O does have a public presence, thanks to our retail environments. In Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, and soon in New Orleans, sophisticated consumers can spend hours—and hundreds of dollars—browsing our selection of “elegant accessories for intimate pleasure.”
That’s right—sex toys. That’s what the masses call them. Except at O, we cater to a clientele that doesn’t want to be one of the hoi polloi. They want to be unique. In the know. Enlightened and cosmopolitan on the surface.
But a wildcat down…below.
Which makes a Grade C unacceptable. No one wants to be average.
Especially down below.

text2-onhold1-kent-reed


Author Bio:
New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author Julia Kent writes romantic comedy with an edge. From billionaires to BBWs to new adult rock stars, Julia finds a sensual, goofy joy in every contemporary romance she writes. Unlike Shannon from Shopping for a Billionaire, she did not meet her husband after dropping her phone in a men's room toilet (and he isn't a billionaire). She lives in New England with her husband and three sons in a household where the toilet seat is never, ever, down. 

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NBTM + #Giveaway: Meadows Shore Series by Eva Charles @GoddessFish


Meadows Shore Series
by Eva Charles
GENRE: Contemporary Romance

BLURB:


Prepare to fall in love with the Claytons and Harringtons and their rich Portuguese heritage. A Wedding at Meadows Shore is the first book in the series. In it, you’ll meet the family and visit their beloved Meadows Shore nestled along the moody Atlantic in the charming seaside town of Fair Harbor.

It all begins with Sophie’s story, where she discards the past and learns to trust herself and others. The series follows the lives of her sisters and cousins while they, too, sort through their baggage and fall in love. Travel with them on their romantic journeys, stopping in rural Minnesota, New Orleans, and other enchanted places along the way.

They are wealthy and powerful, but suffer pain and loss much like the rest of us. Even great privilege can't shield them from those experiences. But despite their wealth and power, I think you'll find them approachable and down-to-earth—or as Cole Harrington would say: “We put our pants on one leg at a time, same as everybody else.” 

There's an old Portuguese adage, "the rooster crows loudly, but it’s the hen who’s in charge.” And so it is with the Claytons and Harringtons: strong women, alpha males, and of course, Avó Angelina, the family matriarch who keeps them all on their best behavior. 

Bem vindo à família, Welcome to the family!





Excerpt from A Wedding at Meadows Shore:

His voice took on a husky, seductive quality. “The women I date aren’t interested in my body, Sophie. What interests them is how I pleasure their bodies.”

She stared deep into his icy blue eyes and snickered.

Max never missed even the smallest of details. They were often the difference between success and getting your hat handed to you. Tonight, he noticed Sophie’s eyes betray her, even as she mocked him. Her pupils were dilated, the rich, whiskey-colored irises nearly overtaken by black. I have her attention.

Embolden by her body’s reaction, he took a step closer. He was so close that if she’d been breathing, her breath would’ve warmed his skin. “I can bring much more to your bed than my father does. So…much…more…” He drew out the words, emphasizing each in a voice that oozed sex. “And though I’m not an easy man to impress, I’m sure you’d have no trouble persuading me to finance your agency. None at all,” he drawled.

Neither of them spoke for a long moment, maybe two. The air was charged. The silence dangled between them like a ripe peach, fragrant and swollen, tempting the weakest among them to reach for it first.

“What do you think?” he asked softly, ending the silence.

While waiting for her response, a calculated kind of wait, he resisted the urge to lift his hand and run his fingers through the strands of hair that’d come loose, softly framing her face.

“I think you really are an ass.”

With that, she turned and walked away. Leaving him to gape at her magnificent back. 


My Ten Favorite Places

Most of my very favorite places to visit are either steeped in history and art, or made special by the people who live there. Italy is over-represented in the list because we recently traveled there, and the memories are so fresh. It was also my first trip to the country, and I’m still swooning, forgive me.

Boston, Massachusetts and Charlottesville, Virginia are my very favorite places to visit, because my sons live there. While it’s always wonderful to have them home, there’s something magical about visiting them, and seeing the local sights through their eyes.

Rome, Italy-The Ruins of the ancient city are truly a sight to behold, and it was humbling to stand in the midst of what was the greatest ancient civilization, where Caesar once marched triumphantly. I also loved wandering around the Villa Borghese and the Galleria in central Rome, where there are several stunning Bernini sculptures, including The Rape of Persephone, which is my favorite piece. But one of my most memorable Roman experiences was having dinner at Nonna Betta, in the Jewish Quarter, on the Sabbath. We ate a delicious dinner outside, and watched as the sleepy Quarter sprang to life after sundown.

Costa Rica—I loved Manuel Antonio’s pristine beaches where the monkeys came down to play almost every afternoon, and zip-lining through the rainforest. But my favorite part of the trip was Julio, who drove us over narrow windy roads, up and down mountainsides, from one end of the beautiful country to the other. On our last day, he invited my family to his home to meet his wife and young son. He was the highlight of our trip—my kids still talk about him.

Civil War Battle Fields, U.S.—Antietam is my favorite, perhaps, because it was my first. It was a long time ago, but I’ll never forget it. A burly park ranger guided us through the battle from Miller’s cornfield to the West Woods, bringing it to life. His descriptions were so vivid, I could almost smell the gunpowder and hear the dying wails outside Dunker Church. This extraordinary experience instilled in me a love of history that I’ve kept all my life.

Casanova di Ama, Italy—A tiny gem tucked in the Tuscan countryside. We enjoyed a wine tasting with a spectacular multi-course meal prepared by Daniela, in her home, set in a picturesque vineyard. She epitomized a warmth, generosity, and hospitality that words can’t begin to describe.

My back porch in the spring—There are few things that make me as happy as sitting on the back porch on a sunny, spring morning with a cup of coffee. Looking out over the woods while birds, of every imaginable color, fly tree-to-tree searching for a place to nest, or just playing and serenading me with joyful tweets. It’s always an amazing gift after a long, harsh New England winter. One that even a city-girl can appreciate.

Florence, Italy—The entire city is an open-air art museum, and everywhere you look there is some amazing piece of work to admire. Even non-descript churches are filled with magnificent paintings and sculpture, and merchants make their homes above the street-level shops where they craft fine, leather shoes and belts. I loved sitting with my husband at the edge of the Arno in the evening, eating gelato, and imagining a time when Michelangelo visited the Medicis, just steps away from where we sat.

The ocean—I’m partial to the Atlantic, but any ocean, whether or not there’s a beach, will do. I grew up a few blocks away from the ocean, spent lazy days as a teenager slathered in baby oil on the beach, and wiled away the evenings, kissing behind the seawall. I love everything about it, although these days I prefer, early morning and evening walks, to sunbathing.

Toledo, Spain—An ancient city where Christianity, Judaism, and Islam coexisted peacefully for centuries. Can you imagine? My favorite El Greco painting The Burial of the Count of Orgaz hangs in a church there. The highlight of the trip was when we visited a ceramic tile shop, owned by the same family for generations. After chatting about the religious history of the tiny city, the owner took us to a backroom with a staircase that led to five floors hidden underground, some of which were not accessible to us. It had once been an underground, “apartment complex”, caves really, where Jews lived after being banished from Spain. It was so unexpected, and mind-blowing.

Meadows Shore in Fair Harbor, Massachusetts—Yes, it’s a mythical place straight out of my imagination—well almost. The town of Fair Harbor is actually a composite of a few of the towns along the Southeastern Massachusetts shore. I cherry-picked the best of each, my favorites, and put them all into one charming little town. Meadows Shore is the childhood home of those loveable and meddlesome Claytons and Harringtons, where the days are filled with love, laughter, loyalty, and lots of mouthwatering food. Come visit, we’ll set a place at the table just for you!


AUTHOR BIO:

Eva Charles is the author of the multi-titled Meadows Shore Series chronicling the lives and loves of the Clayton-Harrington family. She invites you to visit their beloved Meadows Shore, nestled in the charming seaside town of Fair Harbor, where you’ll enjoy love, laughter, loyalty, and an abundance of mouth-watering food, Portuguese style.
After being a confirmed city-girl for more than thirty-five years, Eva moved to beautiful western Massachusetts in 2014. There, she found herself living in the woods with no job, no friends (unless you count the turkeys, deer, and coyotes roaming the backyard), and no children underfoot, wondering what on earth she’d been thinking. But as it turned out, it was the perfect setting to take all those yarns spinning in her head and weave them into a romantic tale.

When she’s not writing, trying to squeeze information out of her tight-lipped sons or playing with the two cutest dogs you’ve ever seen, Eva’s creating chapters in her own love story.


Giveaway:

$75 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC
 



Follow the tour and comment; the more you comment, the better your chances of winning.


Book Blast + #Giveaway: Brooklyn Heat by D. James Eldon @djameseldon @GoddessFish




Brooklyn Heat
by D. James Eldon
GENRE: Crime Fiction


BLURB:

When a little girl is found brutally murdered, veteran NYPD homicide detectives Hiro Masimoto and Ryan Sullivan are determined, against all odds, to solve the case.

In the midst of the worst heat wave in New York City’s history and with personal and professional pressures mounting, the detectives pursue the mother’s ex-boyfriend and former criminal, Nick DeSantis.

But DeSantis, a two-time felon, has skipped town and the detectives struggle to collect enough hard evidence to extradite him before he slips completely out of their grasp.


With a cast of outlaw characters and more twists and turns than a coiled spring, Brooklyn Heat delivers a taut thriller of the highest caliber.


Excerpt:

“Hey, Detective,” Pete Dugan says, looking exhausted and nervous.

“What’s up?” Masimoto asks, stepping further into the hallway, glancing at the black nameplate on Dugan’s chest and scratching it in his pad.

“Well, my partner Jimmy and I responded to a call. Someone heard screaming at this address. When we get here, nothing’s happening. We ring the bell, knock, but nothing. Neighbor who called was outside. She had a key. We enter, announce. Nothing. Not a sound. Jimmy, ya know, he dives right in. I take upstairs, he’s down here.” Dugan stops, looking around like a lost child.

“So, where’s he now?” Masimoto asks quietly, noticing Sgt. Cappalleri standing next to him.

“Basement. With the lady. I tried to go down there, but he bit my head off. I never seen him like this. Scared the fuck out of me.”

“The lady, she have a name?”

“Neighbor who let us in said Lisa and mentioned a daughter. Jimmy said there were two downstairs. One dead, one in shock. I just saw him and the lady.”

“You check the rest of the house?”

“Yeah, empty.”

“OK,” Masimoto says jotting all this in his pad. He notices Sgt. Cappalleri looking through the mail on a side table to their right. “You call the M.E.?”

Dugan shakes his head. “Just the paramedics and you.”

The Sergeant holds up a few letters. “All these are addressed to a Lisa Serrano, probably your lady in the basement.”

“Thanks,” Masimoto says.


AUTHOR BIO:

D. James Eldon is a poet, novelist, and short-story writer from New York City. His work has been published online and in print, in the US, Canada, and Europe, in both English and French.

His debut novel, All The Way Gone, the first of the Brooklyn Homicide Investigations, is available as an ebook and paperback in English as well as paperback in French (under the title Sur Le Fil).

The latest Brooklyn Homicide Investigation, Brooklyn Heat, is available now in both ebook and paperback.

And, in 2017, look for the third Brooklyn Homicide Investigation, The Pope’s Guard.

Author Links:


Brooklyn Heat Purchase Links:


The new paperback version of Brooklyn Heat is available at Createspace


Use the coupon code - 9NYHU7HL at checkout and get 20% off the retail price (the paperback through CreateSpace retails for $15.99, the discount is $3.20, so the final price is $12.79). The discount will remain in effect through October.


The ebook retails for $4.99 and remains unchanged.


Giveaway:

$20 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC
 



Follow the tour and comment; the more you comment, the better your chances of winning.


PROMO Blitz: The Best of Families by Harry Groome @HCGroome @RABTBookTours


Contemporary Fiction
Date Published:  May 2016

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The Best of Families is the revelatory midlife memoir of a Philadelphia socialite, Francis Hopkinson Delafield. Uncomfortable with the mores of one of the city’s oldest families, Fran begins his story the summer after he graduates from prep school, when he dutifully marries his pregnant French Canadian girlfriend only to have her disappear within months of their marriage. Disillusioned and angry at the whole world, Fran quits college and enlists in the army. He is badly wounded in a war that no one seems to know or care about, and upon returning home from Vietnam, he is confronted with navigating the roiled waters of a second marriage while both his parents and his wives hold secrets that alter his life forever.



Praise for The Best of Families:

“With wit and compassion, The Best of Families captures perfectly the floundering of WASP society at mid-20th century. Trapped in the empty rituals of an upper crust that is well past its sell-by date, young Fran Delafield struggles to free himself from family and tradition. Love, the war in Vietnam and fatherhood turn out to be his path to an authentic life, and his salvation. Harry Groome interweaves romance and tragedy in this lively, evocative novel.” — Rebecca Pepper Sinkler, former Editor of the New York Times Book Review

“…a heartfelt, captivating read, packed with familial politics and strife.” — Kirkus Reviews
 “A wonderful, fascinating, tragic and ultimately redemptive story that begs to be told.” — Ellen Lesser, author of The Shoplifter’s Apprentice

“Not only is The Best of Families a page-turner, but the story truly moved me, and haunts me still.” — Chase Twichell, author of Horses Where the Answers Should Have Been: New & Selected Poems

 “…a great read that makes a convincing and timeless case for the power of the individual—the power to build your own happiness out of the unwieldy materials you’ve been handed.” — David Ebenbach, author of Into the Wilderness

“One of the great pleasures of life is a good book that tells a story so compelling that when you put the book down, you can’t wait to pick it up again. For me, The Best of Families is such a book…(it) blew me away with its believable razor-sharp dialogue and compelling plot…” — Len Lear, editor, the Chestnut Hill Local



Excerpt

My Family; Our Story

Mark Twain once wrote, “In Boston they ask, how much does he know? In New York, how much is he worth? In Philadelphia, who were his parents?”

As a Philadelphian I’ll answer that provocative question this way: My name is Francis Hopkinson Delafield Jr.—Fran to most everyone—and I was born into one of the city’s oldest families, a family of Social Register–registered blue bloods who were born on third base but thought we’d gotten there by hitting a triple. Without a doubt, we Delafields are a nest of good old-fashioned WASPs: unimaginative, out-of-touch, sporting Bermuda shorts, bow ties, and Capezios…well, the list goes on and on, but I think old Mr. Twain would get the picture. And, although it goes well beyond what he asked, of course we’re all products of private school educations. Every entitled one of us.

What’s more, having learned how my connection with my parents—I don’t know the proper term for it: biological, cultural, spiritual, genetic?—has shaped my life, I understand why my sister, Heather, always says that everything that takes place in our parents’ circle of friends is tribal. And over time I’ve gotten a better grip on why it’s easier for them to stay rooted in the past than to face the changes the future might bring, certainly the kind of changes that I’ve forced my parents to accept.

Heather also was the person who thought it would be a good idea for me to confront my past rather than sweep it under the rug the way I do most things. Write it all down, is what she said—hence this midlife memoir, or whatever you might choose to call it. She thought it might help me understand, maybe even help me forgive, a lot of what’s happened in our family, and from this I guess you can tell that, as uncomfortable as parts of this will be for me to tell, Heather thought it might heal some old family wounds, maybe even help me learn some things I needed to know.

So to begin, a little bit of background.

In 1941, just before my father went off to the war, we moved to 1212 Poor Richard’s Lane in Chestnut Hill, to a cinderblock-and-glass house that Dad had designed and which Mom and he have ever since referred to as “Twelve-Twelve,” as if it were a Newport mansion or a building of similar historical significance. With the 23 trolley clanking up and down its cobblestone main street, Chestnut Hill, both fashionable and unhurried in its pace, could easily have been a Hollywood set, even a Norman Rockwell Saturday Evening Post cover. It was there that Mom saw our family as members of the “impoverished aristocracy” and viewed herself as one of Philadelphia’s grandes dames. And, after the war, it was where she and Dad entertained their well-heeled friends, rolling back the worn rug in the living room and drinking and smoking and dancing into the wee hours of the morning to the big bands—Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw—as though they never again would have a care in the world.

But Twelve-Twelve is more than just a place where my parents entertained. It’s where Heather and I grew into our teens, doing pretty much everything that was expected of us. Maybe even a little more. Heather was a high-honor student, president of her class, and captain of the field hockey team at the nearby girls’ school. I started at the local day school for boys but, after eighth grade, went away to the Episcopal School in New Hampshire, just like my grandfather, father, and Mom’s brother, my uncle Robert Peltier, had before me.

I think that’s enough history and will begin my story in 1955. I was eighteen, had just graduated from Episcopal, and was on my way to a summer job in Quebec with my closest friend, Potter Morris. As you will see, this trip, as brief as it was, set the cornerstone for all that follows and altered my life forever. Please know that many of the revelations that I uncover here—several of which my family have jealously kept secret from the outside world—may come as a surprise to you because a number of them aren’t exactly what you’d expect of a family like mine.

Francis H. Delafield, Jr.

September 1968


About the Author

Harry Groome is the author of the novels Wing Walking and Thirty Below and the award-winning Stieg Larsson parody The Girl Who Fished with a Worm. Harry was a finalist for the William Faulkner Short Story Awards and has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. His short stories, poems, and articles have appeared in dozens of magazines and anthologies, including Gray’s Sporting Journal, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Descant, and Detroit Magazine. He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and holds an MFA in Writing from the Vermont College of Fine Arts.

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