Category Archives: BLOG TOUR

by Jennifer Reed/ bookjunkiez | July 12, 2016 · 5:00 am

DOMINUS GOD OF YULE

Dominus: God of Yule
Book 1 of the Sons of Herne series
Available on digital booksellers July 2016*
Blog tour special: Get it for only 99 cents during the Chillin’ in Summer tour (and follow the link in back of the book to receive Book 2 free!)

BUY LINKS:

Loving Lorayna could cost him his sacred power…

It is the time of Yule, and Dominus, god of the sabbat, should never have had to spend half the year nurturing the latest light bearer himself. Now, months of visiting Lorayna, present only as a whisper, has sparked a yearning inside of him that he cannot shake.
Lorayna has felt herself drawn to the pagan path by a presence she has been unable to resist. When she discovers her “holiday spirit” is in fact a mouthwateringly sexy god, she’s ready for whatever sabbat ritual he chooses. To her disappointment, his intentions are strictly hands-off.
Giving up her light is not as easy as surrendering to his will, however. Dominus is forced to break the rules and give into his urges before the Yule power consumes her from within. The ripples of their passion will alter many sabbat unions to come—and Dominus must defy his father, Herne, to follow his desires and prove to Lorayna that she was not merely another light bearer.

dominus god of yule

Excerpt:

Dominus thought of his last visit to Lorayna, how he had stood at her bedside, whispering ancient secrets while her hair spilled across her pillow and her round curves beckoned. His male need flared into a sharp ache at her beauty, and how he longed to plunge his fingers through that silken hair, run his tongue over every sultry dip and swell on her body. He never touched her. He could not. He had stayed overlong on that visit, for he knew the time had come—a time he both longed for and resented. The time when his visits to her, unwanted though they had begun, would be at an end. A lump in his stomach punctuated the thought.

A figure passed by the sheer curtain drawn halfway across the front window, and his pulse quickened.

Lorayna.

He heard the name dance through his thoughts, and try though he might, he could not wave it away. He typically preferred not to know the names of the women whose light he released. There was little point in it, for he would not see nor know anything of the females once his mission was complete. For their part, the women would know nothing of him, either. The majority of humans were blissfully unaware that their world sat tightly against a realm of immortals and magic, nor did they care to know just how much their gods were still at work to this day, walking the woods, tending to fields and lusty lasses, and generally keeping the balance of their worlds at peace.

Laughter rose to his ears, and he drew back instinctively behind the cover of trees. Humans would not see him while he wore the veil charm, rare few, anyway, but best not to chance it. The door to the cottage opened, and several people spilled out, happy and carefree and followed by a waft of alcohol that was apparent to his keen, supernatural senses. Then there she was, Lorayna, standing in the doorway with a wide smile that tightened Dominus’s chest. She wore a pure white sweater, oversized and yet clinging to her ripe figure, and while she chatted to her departing guests, she tucked a silken strand of dark brown hair behind one ear. Blue and silver bells tinkled on her earrings, jingling as she nodded and laughed. Her lips, painted pink and glossy, caught his eye, and he found himself staring at how they puckered and released with every syllable she spoke. Long, well-manicured nails had been painted to match.

His cock throbbed in earnest, already impatient with the guests who were lingering far too long at the threshold for his tastes. He was eager for their time together, yearning to see his months of attention to her physical and emotional well-being come to fruition.

One of the males leaned close to kiss Lorayna on the lips, and a swell of unpleasant heat rose in Dominus’s stomach. She was not his to own, of course, and he had no cause for jealousy. She would no doubt sleep with other men in the future, probably many others. But she had kept herself pure since May Day, because she knew deep in her subconscious that she was fated for no other until Dominus helped her birth the shining light he saw inside her even now. The sun’s energy pulsed from within, a bright, glowing force like a singular joy that was at the apex of its power. He alone would bring back that light, coaxing it from her in an explosion of climax. She would feel exquisite pleasure as she returned that energy to the universe, followed by a temporary sense of loss. She would move forward, however, unaware of her crucial role in the wheel’s turn of the coming year.

The overly attentive male turned to a man beside him and laid a suggestive kiss on him, complete with a sweep of the tongue while squeezing his ass. Dominus relaxed his fists. So, the male had other inclinations. Good.

“Try not to be a stranger,” the other male said with a flourish. “Make a New Year’s resolution to come out into the world more than once a month.”

“It’s not New Year’s yet,” she said.

“Before you know it.”

“I just can’t believe it’s already over,” Dominus heard Lorayna saying to the two men who were now holding hands. “I’ve felt such a holiday spirit this Yule.”

She glanced over the man’s shoulder, looking straight at Dominus while those perfect nails raked strands of her hair smooth. “Of course. It just feels like it tonight, is all.”

He held her gaze, fully aware that she did not truly see him. At most, perhaps, she was aware of a by now familiar presence. As her dark eyes penetrated him, however, he began to wonder.

About the Sons of Herne series:

The god Herne has appointed eight of his most virile, headstrong sons as keepers of the pagan holidays. To honor their sabbat, each must join with a mortal female in a ritual to maintain the balance between worlds.

The Fates have conspired to grant the gods one thing they lack–a true union of male and female that will last beyond the fleeting passion of a sabbat joining.

Herne’s sons will wrestle with the conflict between sacred duty and their own yearnings, a struggle that will not only challenge their beliefs, but may threaten the success of rituals that must be observed lest the mortal and immortal worlds collide in chaos.

j rose allister

About the Author:

Rose Allister has penned over twenty-five novels and numerous short stories from her home in Southern California, including ten publisher bestsellers. She is a TV and movie buff, enjoys the bittersweet discord between obsessing over chocolate while striving for the benefits of a fresh, organically-influenced diet, and is a firm believer that daydreaming, people watching, and yes, chocolate are the greatest fuel for the writing imagination. That and coffee. Or coffee with chocolate stirred into it. She has more books in her to-be-read pile than she can ever hope to find time to sit and enjoy, but this never stops her from adding more.

Links:

Site: https://jroseallister.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jroseallister
Facebook: https://facebook.com/JRoseAllisterBooks
Goodreads: https://goodreads.com/jroseallister
Amazon Page: https://amazon.com/author/jroseallister

GIVEAWAY:

CHILLIN’ IN SUMMER BLOG TOUR GIVEAWAY!

I’m spending my birthday month giving away gifts during my blog tour! I have some fun magnets, an ebook giveaway from my Sons of Herne series, and one grand prize of a $25 Bath & Body Works gift card! Chances to win every day of the tour, July 11-31. Get the full details and sign up here! tiny.cc/ChillinTour.

Also, because I want EVERYONE to come away a winner, I’m offering a free gift on your own special day to all who join my birthday club. Sign up here: https://tiny.cc/JRoseBirthdayClubSignup

2 Comments

Filed under BLOG TOUR, BOOKS

Tagged as bringer of light, Dominus God of Yule, Gods, J Rose Allister, PARANORMAL ROMANCE, URBAN FANTASY

by Jennifer Reed/ bookjunkiez | May 25, 2016 · 5:00 am

Spotlight Tour – Carolyn Brown’s What Happens in Texas

Title: What Happens in Texas
Author: Carolyn Brown
Pubdate: June 6th, 2016
ISBN: 9781492638742

Carolyn Brown brings her unique voice to this tale of twin sisters finding love in a small Texas town

Cathy Andrews’s biological clock has passed the ticking stage and is dangerously close to “blown plumb up”. While her twin sister Marty thinks settling down with one man is just a waste of good cowboys, Cathy wants it all: the perfect husband, the baby, and a little house right there in Cadillac. But even as the town is laying bets on whose wedding will be next, Cathy doesn’t see happily-ever-after happening anytime soon.

Fortunately, Cathy and Marty have best friends who aren’t afraid to stir up a ruckus—and if it means Cathy’s got to bust out and set the town on its ear they’ll back her up—no matter how hot things get.

New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author and RITA Finalist, Carolyn Brown, has published more than seventy books. These days she is concentrating on her two loves: women’s fiction and contemporary cowboy romance. She and her husband, a retired English teacher, make their home in southern Oklahoma.

Buy Links:
Amazon: https://amzn.to/1OfZLrm
Apple: https://apple.co/1QTjmxl
BAM: https://bit.ly/1rwV7R7
B&N: https://bit.ly/1QTjsFl
Chapters: https://bit.ly/1SPXA3l
Indiebound: https://bit.ly/1ZjhVOO
Kobo: https://bit.ly/1WLJmSz

Rafflecoptor Giveaway: a Rafflecopter giveaway

An Excerpt:

If Prissy Parnell hadn’t married Buster Jones and left Cadillac, Texas, for Pasadena, California, Marty wouldn’t have gotten the speeding ticket. It was all Prissy’s damn fault that Marty was in such a hurry to get to the Blue-Ribbon Jalapeño Society monthly meeting that night, so Prissy ought to have to shell out the almost two hundred dollars for that ticket.

They were already passing around the crystal bowl to take up the voting ballots when Marty slung open the door to Violet Prescott’s sunroom and yelled, “Don’t count ’em without my vote.”

Twenty faces turned to look at her and not a one of them, not even her twin sister, Cathy, was smiling. Hell’s bells, who had done pissed on their cucumber sandwiches before she got there, anyway? A person didn’t drop dead from lack of punctuality, did they?

One wall of the sunroom was glass and looked out over lush green lawns and flower gardens. The other three were covered with shadow boxes housing the blue ribbons that the members had won at the Texas State Fair for their jalapeño pepper entries. More than forty shadow boxes all reminding the members of their history and their responsibility for the upcoming year. Bless Cathy’s heart for doing her part. She had a little garden of jalapeños on the east side of the lawn and nurtured them like children. The newest shadow box held ribbons that she’d earned for the club with her pepper jelly and picante. It was the soil, or maybe she told them bedtime stories, but she, like her mamma and grandma, grew the hottest jalapeños in the state.

“It appears that Martha has decided to grace us with her presence once again when it is time to vote for someone to take our dear Prissy’s place in the Blue-Ribbon Jalapeño Society. We really should amend our charter to state that a member has to attend more than one meeting every two years. You could appreciate the fact that we did amend it once to include you in the membership with your sister, who, by the way, has a spotless attendance record,” Violet said.

Violet, the queen of the club, as most of the members called it, was up near eighty years old, built like SpongeBob SquarePants, and had stovepipe jet-black hair right out of the bottle. Few people had the balls or the nerve to cross her, and those who did were put on her shit list right under Martha, aka Marty, Andrews’ name, which was always on the top.

Back in the beginning of the club days, before Marty was even born, the mayor’s wife held the top position on the shit list. When they’d formed the Blue-Ribbon Jalapeño Society, Loretta Massey and Violet almost went to war over the name of the new club. Loretta insisted that it be called a society, and Violet wanted it to be called a club. Belonging to a club just sounded so much fancier than saying that one belonged to a society. Loretta won when the vote came in, but Violet called it a club anyway and that’s what stuck. Rumor had it that Violet was instrumental in getting the mayor ousted just so they’d have to leave Grayson County and Loretta would have to quit the club.

Marty hated it when people called her Martha. It sounded like an old woman’s name. What was her mother thinking anyway when she looked down at two little identical twin baby daughters and named them after her mother and aunt—Martha and Catherine? Thank God she’d at least shortened their names to Marty and Cathy.

Marty shrugged, and Violet snorted. Granted, it was a ladylike snort, but it still went right along with her round face and three-layered neck. Hell, if they wanted to write forty amendments to the charter, Marty would still do only the bare necessities to keep her in voting standing. She hadn’t even wanted to be in the damned club and had only done it because if she didn’t, then Cathy couldn’t.

Marty slid into a seat beside her sister and held up her ballot.

Beulah had the bowl in hand and was ready to hand it off to Violet to read off the votes. But she passed it to the lady on the other side of her and it went back around the circle to Marty, who tossed in her folded piece of paper. If she’d done her homework and gotten the numbers right, that one vote should swing the favor for Anna Ruth to be the new member of the club. She didn’t like Anna Ruth, especially since she’d broken up her best friend’s marriage. But hey, Marty had made a deathbed promise to her mamma, and that carried more weight than the name of a hussy on a piece of paper.

The bowl went back to Violet and she put it in her lap like the coveted jeweled crown of a reigning queen. “Our amended charter states that only twenty-one women can belong to the Blue-Ribbon Jalapeño Society at any one time, and the only time we vote a new member in is when someone moves or dies. Since Prissy Parnell got married this past week and moved away from Grayson County, we are open for one new member. The four names on the ballet are: Agnes Flynn, Trixie Matthews, Anna Ruth Williams, and Gloria Rawlings.”

Even though it wasn’t in the fine print, everyone knew that when attending a meeting, the members should dress for the occasion, which meant panty hose and heels. Marty could feel nineteen pairs of eyes on her. It would have been twenty, but Violet was busy fishing the first ballot from the fancy bowl.

Marty threw one long leg over the other and let the bright red, three-inch-heeled shoe dangle on her toe. They could frown all they wanted. She was wearing a dress, even if it only reached midthigh, and had black spandex leggings under it. If they wanted her to wear panty hose, they’d better put a second amendment on that charter and make it in big print.

God Almighty, but she’d be glad when her great-aunt died and she could quit the club. But it looked like Agnes was going to last forever, which was no surprise. God sure didn’t want her in heaven, and the devil wouldn’t have her in hell.

“One vote for Agnes,” Violet said aloud.

Beulah marked that down on the minutes and waited.

Violet enjoyed her role as president of the club and took her own sweet time with each ballot. Too bad she hadn’t dropped dead or at least moved to California so Cathy could be president. Marty would bet her sister would get those votes counted a hell of a lot faster.

There was one piece of paper in the candy dish when Beulah held up a hand. “We’ve got six each for Agnes, Trixie, Anna Ruth, and two for Gloria. Unless this last vote is for Agnes, Trixie, or Anna Ruth, we have a tie, and we’ll have to have a runoff election.”

“Shit!” Marty mumbled.

Cathy shot her a dirty look.

“Anna Ruth,” Violet said and let out a whoosh of air.

A smile tickled the corner of Marty’s mouth.

Saved, by damn!

Agnes was saved from prison.

Violet was saved from attending her own funeral.

The speeding ticket was worth every penny.

2 Comments

Filed under BLOG TOUR, BOOKS

Tagged as Carolyn Brown, Carthy Andrews, contemporary romance, Marty, The Blue-Ribbon Jalapeno Society Jubilee, What Happens in Texas

by Jennifer Reed/ bookjunkiez | May 10, 2016 · 11:22 am

HADRIAN’S RAGE BLOG TOUR

Hadrian’s Rage
By Patricia Marie Budd
PRESS RELEASE
Once an oasis in a world of destruction, the nation of
Hadrian risks falling into disarray over its government’s
persecution of heterosexual relationships, in this standalone
dystopian sequel by gifted Canadian writer.
What if accepting yourself meant being rejected by
everyone you knew?
The nation of Hadrian is close to breaking point. After fifty years as a
relative oasis at the heart of a world polluted by disease and despair,
the death of Todd Middleton — a 16-year-old who dared to disregard
the laws prohibiting straight relationships and natural reproduction
— has moved many of Hadrian’s citizens to question the country’s
rules governing sexual equality.
These draconian laws have played an important part in keeping Hadrian prosperous and secure for decades. In
response to the Middleton incident, the government only furthers its anti-heterosexual laws to reassure
conservatives who fear their lives are being threatened. The backlash is severe, plunging the country into violence
as people attack those perceived to be abnormal and a threat to Hadrian’s stability.
A small group of activists band together to combat the rage and hate that surrounds them. When Hadrian’s last
surviving founder, Destiny Stuttgart, joins their side, it sends a searing message of solidarity to the long
persecuted heterosexual minority, and a stark warning to Hadrian’s pro-gay conservatives. The ensuing chaos
threatens to drag Hadrian into a civil war. But will those promoting the heterosexual agenda go too far, reversing
what Hadrian has accomplished, fracturing and catapulting it into the madness seen across the rest of the planet?
Hadrian’s Rage by Canadian writer Patricia Marie Budd is the arresting second novel in her Hadrian Series, in
which she explores the importance of human equality and the extent to which we will intellectualise and accept
the status quo in order to safeguard our own social interests, even if others are hurt in the process. By turning our
cultural and political norms upside down, Budd forces us to reevaluate our perceptions, our prejudices and our
treatment of those who are different. Inspired in part by the current Russian government’s controversial anti-gay
policy, her message is one of education, tolerance and acceptance, reinforcing our mutual right to live in peace,
regardless of our religion, race or sexual preference.

About the author: Patricia Marie Budd was born and raised in Saskatchewan, Canada. She studied mime in
Toronto and continued her theatre studies under the mentorship of Phillip Gaulier in London. Budd has taught High
School English since 1991, having been passionate about writing since early childhood; she has written for the
stage as well as novels, with her one act play produced in The Rhubarb Festival’s Special Event in 1984. She lives in
Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada. Patricia Marie Budd has previously written three novels, A New Dawn Rising,
Hell Hounds of High School and Hadrian’s Lover. Hadrian’s Rage (published by Clink Street Publishing May
2016) is available to buy online from retailers including amazon.co.uk and can be ordered from all good
bookstores. Visit www.patriciamariebudd.com for more information.

Frightening Facts in Stephen Emmott’s Ten Billion,

by pmb

I learned some really frightening facts from Stephen Emmott’s short non-fiction, Ten Billion. This book is not a sci-fi dystopia about the future. It is a fact based look at what is fast becoming our dystopian future. We will reach the unsustainable population of ten billion in just under thirty years. Emmott has even projected the deadly number of twenty-eight billion by this century’s end. I will, by that point, fortunately, be dead, but your children and grandchildren will not. Right now the planet’s resources are insufficient for supporting ten billion people, let alone twenty-eight billion.

When I was writing my dystopian sci-fi novel, Hadrian’s Lover, one of the criticisms I received was the overly large population I created for sometime in the 22nd century. Well, Stephen Emmott just justified that seemingly absurd number in his book, Ten Billion, by pointing out that “by the end of this century there will not be ten billion of us.” Rather, he goes on to say, “There will be twenty-eight billion of us.” I was eight billion short of this projected mark! The planet simply cannot sustain such a radically high number of humans. Emmott rightly warns us that we are “in an unprecedented emergency.”

A radical shift, he writes, needs to occur in the mindset of the business world in order for us to effectively combat the damage we are continuing to inflict upon our planet. “The rules of business,” Emmott explains, “urgently need to be changed, so corporations compete on the basis of innovation, resource conservation, and satisfaction of multiple stakeholder demands, rather than on the basis of who is most effective in influencing government regulation, avoiding taxes, and obtaining subsidies for harmful activities in order to maximize the return for just one stakeholder-the shareholders.” Like Emmott, I do not believe this will ever happen.

And yet, we must act. That is the key message Emmott addresses explicitly and implicitly on every page of his book. We are the problem and we must be the solution. If nothing is done then a crisis of pandemic proportions will be upon us. For, as Emmott evidences in his book, “there is no known way of feeding a population of ten billion.” Prior to this statement he pointed out that since 1980 world population has grown by a billion every decade (pp 25, 29, 32). This suggests that by 2020 we will be at eight billion, hitting the nine billion mark by 2030 and the impossible to sustain ten billion by 2040 (or sooner). I could still be alive, just turning 80. If not luckily lost in a stupor of dementia, I may well have the misfortune of being cognizant of our species final descent into madness.

This book is rife with examples of the irony of human action and inaction. One example given is what he refers to as the “irony of ironies”. Apparently “it takes something like four liters of water to produce a one-liter plastic bottle of water.” This, Emmott aptly describes as “completely unnecessarily” and goes on to call it “Water wasted to produce bottles-for water.” And, this is only one of the many examples of how we are overusing our planet’s limited fresh water resources. “In short,” as Emmott succinctly puts it, “we’re consuming water, like food, at a rate that is completely unsustainable.” Wow!

According to Stephen Emmott, there are three key reasons why the demand for food is growing (beside the obvious population growth): 1. People are eating more in developed countries, 2. People are consuming more meat than ever before, 3. Eating, particularly in wealthier countries, has become a pastime (Pages 70 & 71).

So, what are we to do? If we continue down this miserable trek as Emmott feels certain is exactly what we will do then all the dystopian fiction written predicting an apocalyptic future may become all too haunting true. Maybe we’ll wise up as a species sooner rather than too late and take Emmott’s advice in this book.

Purchase Emmott’s book on Amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345806476/ref=cm_cr_ryp_prd_img_sol_0
-pmb-

Comments Off on HADRIAN’S RAGE BLOG TOUR

Filed under BLOG TOUR, BOOKS

Tagged as blog tour, dystopian, Hadrian's Rage, Patricia Marie Bud, Stephen Emmott

by Jennifer Reed/ bookjunkiez | · 5:00 am

Gone From Me Blog Tour With Excerpt

GoneFromMe72web

Gone From Me Synopsis:

Their life was a fairy tale—until it all came tumbling down.

Hearts of the South, Book 10

Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent Amy Bennett isn’t sure when her own Prince Charming went AWOL from their marriage, but she’s certain of one thing. She wants him back. She and Rob had it all: law-enforcement careers they loved and each other. Yet somehow he’s wound up sleeping on the couch and emotionally beyond her reach.

Rob is trying to put the pieces back together, but battling his own demons while starting over in a small-town sheriff’s department is pushing him—and his marriage—to the breaking point.

His very first missing person’s case threatens to end anything but happily ever after for the families involved. Then a young man goes missing too, and the pressure has Rob reaching for the nearest lifeline. The one that’s dangling by the barest of threads—his wife.

And though Amy’s grip is strong, her love may not be enough to keep Rob from slipping away.

Product Warnings

Contains a husband who’s holding too much in, and a wife who’ll do anything to get him to let go, even meet him halfway on their last piece of common ground—in bed. Also: cop bonding between cops who talk like cops.

EXCERPT

Numb. All he felt was numb, which was crazy because he should be hurt, jealous, enraged. Rob’s friend—make that former friend—had one hand buried in Amy’s hair, an arm about her waist, and his lips hovered over, not quite touching, Amy’s mouth. Jake was about to kiss Rob’s wife, and all the emotion Rob could dredge up was irritation at not being able to feel.

The lack of feeling bugged the hell out of him, as it had for weeks now.

A fat drop of rain splattered on his shoulder, and the chilly spray across his neck broke him free from the paralyzing trance. He stepped off the curb into the parking lot as Amy wedged her palms against Jake’s shoulders and shoved hard.

“What are you doing?” Amy, at least, was angry, fury dripping off each syllable. She brought her fisted hands up and took a firm step back. She lifted her chin, thick brown hair sliding over her shoulders in a glossy fall.

“Amy, baby, wait.” Jake reached for her, and she knocked his hand aside. “We need to talk—”

“You’re insane.” Another step backward, but with her body shifted so she could spin if he lunged at her. Rob had witnessed that stance often enough when they’d been rookie agents, training together. Capable and strong in more ways than one, Amy could handle herself.

The door behind him swung open, a group of laughing diners spilling from China Garden. Peals of merriment blended with the splashing fountain and the plopping of raindrops on asphalt. Amy and Jake both glanced toward the newcomers. Rob read their expressions as they registered his presence—Jake’s smug triumph, Amy’s horror.

Rob strode forward, feet automatically carrying him toward the train wreck that had been one of his closest friendships since college. Jake had always been a little of a self-centered whiner, but they’d been buddies, sharing similar interests. Hell, how had Rob missed that one of those interests had been Amy?

Maybe he was further gone that he’d thought.

“Rob…” Amy’s voice held a nervous tremor that probably only someone who knew her the way he did could hear. She was actually scared, which made no sense. He’d never hurt her. Jake appeared frightened as well, a hint of fear warring with the challenge in his gaze.

He cataloged that away and stopped next to Amy. Hands tucked in his pockets, he rocked back on his heels. “Ready to go home?”

Surprise flared on both their faces. Yeah, his reserve was probably the epitome of anticlimactic. Amy’s shock quickly morphed into eager relief. She pulled at his arm and slid her hand into his, her fingers as chilly as the rain falling in earnest now, plastering their clothes to skin. “Yes.”

“Okay.” He didn’t tighten his own fingers around hers, but steered her toward his truck. He yanked open the passenger door and helped her inside before jogging around to the driver’s side. Water dripped from his collar, his shirt clinging like a clammy hand. In the passenger seat, Amy twisted the hem of her own soaked top. The Ford’s cloth interior would be toast after this.

He didn’t care about that either, even though his dad would spin in his grave over Rob letting this happen to his beloved pickup.

“Rob? I don’t know what you saw, but it isn’t what you think.” Amy’s quiet voice barely cleared the noise of the engine and rain. He shifted into drive and pulled into the steady stream of traffic on Ashley Street. Why the hell had they agreed to come all the way over here for dinner? At least an hour’s drive back to Chandler County, in the rain, with this conversation hanging over them.

Oh, yeah. Because it would be fun to meet up with Jake and their old college friends at China Garden, to relive the good times and celebrate his new job at the same time.

What a crock.

“What do I think, Amy?” He turned right to skirt around Valdosta State. He could take the back roads through Moultrie, cut at least ten minutes off the drive.

“I… He was trying to kiss me, not the other way around.”

“I never said I thought that.” He rested his wrist on the wheel, waiting for the red light to turn green. Traffic bunched around them, leaving him with a sensation of being cornered and trapped. He rolled his shoulders. “I don’t know what led up to it, but it was pretty plain you weren’t looking for what he was offering.”

“Nothing led up to it.” Distress and annoyance lingered in her voice. “One minute he was asking about us moving to Chandler County, the next he…he grabbed me.”

He nodded. The light flared green, and he pressed the accelerator.

“Aren’t you angry?”

“With you?”

“With Jake.”

He considered that while he navigated the bottleneck near the interstate exit. Traffic eased around them as he crossed over I-75 and headed out of town on the two-lane blacktop. “I don’t know what I am.”

“Wait a minute. You walk out of that restaurant, find Jake with his hands on me, and you don’t know what you are?”

Now she was mad at him, too. Great. “Amy, I’m just…I’m tired, okay? It’s been a long week, and you know I haven’t been sleeping—”

“How would I know that? You don’t sleep in our bed. We don’t talk unless it’s about chores or bills or what’s for supper or what’s still packed in what box. I don’t know how you feel about going to work at Chandler or the holdup with our adoption application or anything.” From the corner of his eye, he saw her run her fingernail along the windowsill. “We don’t even go to church or pray together.”

Mad at him and hurt. Disappointed, maybe, because he wasn’t the husband she’d bargained for, wasn’t Prince Charming who could give her everything she wanted. Hell, he couldn’t give her anything she wanted. Hadn’t the last few months proved that?

His headlights illuminated dark fields as they flashed by. The wipers swished rain from the windshield. Next to him, Amy expelled a shaky breath. “We’re in trouble, aren’t we?”

“Maybe.” The lie niggled at him, the first real thing beyond irritation he’d felt all night. He gripped the wheel tighter. “Yeah.”

“What do we do now?”

Was she actually looking to him for direction? Surely not. He couldn’t give what he didn’t have. His knuckles ached under the pressure of holding the wheel. “I don’t know.”

Linda Winfree Bio:

How does an English teacher end up plotting murders? She uses her experiences as a cop’s wife to become a writer of romantic suspense! Linda Winfree lives in a quintessential small Georgia town with her husband and grand-dog Poe. By day, she teaches English/Language Arts and is an all-round education nerd; by night she pens sultry books full of murder and mayhem.

To learn more about Linda and her books, visit www.lindawinfreewrites.com, follow her on Twitter@lwinfreewrites, or connect with her on Facebook at https://facebook.com/lindawinfreewrites. You can also contact Linda via email at lindawinfreewrites@gmail.com.

Rafflecopter Code:
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Buy Links:

Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/Gone-From-Me-Hearts-South-ebook/dp/B0185HZOXM

Barnes & Noble

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/gone-from-me-linda-winfree/1122965911;jsessionid=BAB3546E8EA5C279C1CFCD6141092BCB.prodny_store02-atgap03?ean=9781619234581

Kobo

https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/gone-from-me

Google Play

https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Linda_Winfree_Gone_From_Me?id=vorwCgAAQBAJ

Samhain Publishing