Book Spotlight: Love, Carry My Bags by C.R. Everett

Welcome author C.R. Everett! She's here to share a little bit about her novel, Love, Carry My Bags.

Camryn Johnson’s world is turned upside down when long lost love, Reese Dahlgren, re-enters her life at a pivotal point in her already challenging marriage. She faces an excruciating predicament: choose between a broken home for her daughter or a broken life for herself.

After her parents' divorce, Camryn first meets high school basketball star, Reese, at the Harvard Milk Day Festival bed races. Reese hides baggage of his own…until Camryn melts his heart and learns secrets entrusted only to her. Still, the weight is too much to bear. Unable to cope, Reese unwittingly backs Camryn into a corner during his air force enlistment—love him from afar, or leave him.

Enter aerospace engineering student, Glenn Conroy. Persistent and savvy, he woos Camryn during her junior year of college and wins her heart. Or does he? When Reese re-enters her life, further disrupting her tenuous marriage, Camryn turns to best friend, Megan, for advice, but refuses to believe Megan’s suggestion that she’s caught in a “simple” love triangle.

Camryn unveils hidden mysteries and secrets as she embarks on a life-changing journey of revelation and forgiveness, transcending doormat qualities inherited from her mother, and in the process finds what life's struggles are really all about.

C.R. Everett's heart-wrenching debut novel takes the reader on an emotion-packed journey that lingers long after the last page is turned.


Purchase Love, Carry My Bags on Amazon!

Find C.R. Everett on her website, blog, Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads. 


And now an excerpt from Love, Carry My Bags.... 

“I don’t mean to be rude, but, when are you going home?” Mr. Dahlgren asked. Reese and I smiled at each other, slightly embarrassed.

“Reese goes back on Sunday. I’ll take him to the airport for you,” I said, expressing the favor.

“Oh, Reese needs a ride?” He said in a deadpan drawl. “I thought he might walk. That’s what those service boys do, right? Walk a lot? Hut two three four.”

Reese wasn’t amused.

“You’re drunk again! No wonder mom left you!” Reese shouted. He took a whiff of Mr. Dahlgren’s drink, a cup from Subway, then poured it down the sink.

“Wha’d ya go and waste a good rum and Coke for?”

“You’re the waste!” Reese left me and his dad in the kitchen and ran upstairs. I looked at the stairway, then looked at Mr. Dahlgren, not sure if I should leave the drunk man alone or run to comfort Reese.

Mr. Dahlgren made my decision for me, waving me away. “Git.”

Reese was lying face down on his bed, his head buried in the pillow. I crept in. Instinctively, I touched his shoulders as I sat next to him, quiet, not sure what to say.

“I wish you wouldn’t have seen that.” He sniffed away some tears.

“I didn’t know . . .”

“Nobody knows. I didn’t want you to know.”

“What are people going to think of me? Son of a drunk.”

“But you’re not like that. You’re not like him.”

Reese continued. “It’s one of the reasons I wanted to leave this place, get out of this town, so I wouldn’t have to deal with him. I’m sorry you saw me angry. You don’t want to see me angry.”

“You had a right to feel that way,” I said, trying my best to be supportive. “It’s okay.” Alcoholism wasn’t something I was intimate with. We held each other, the only answer we knew.

Mr. Dahlgren, stumbling up the stairs, broke the sound of silence. He uttered, “Aw, shit.” A tumbling noise and a thud suggested he missed a step and fell back down. We heard him drag himself back up the stairs. His bedroom door clicked shut. Muffled sounds of a flop on his bed followed. The bedsprings squeaked, and then nothing.

Thanks so much for stopping by C.R.! 

Book Spotlight : Love Vindicated by Lila Munro

Thank you so much for hosting me today and thank you readers for stopping by and spending a few realmantic moments with me and my latest release, Love Vindicated, Book One in the Steele Image series. It’s a pleasure to be here and if you have any questions please do leave them in the comments. I’ll be by a time or two today to check in and visit with you all.

Lila

Steele Image

In 1980, Kyle Montgomery’s life was seemingly perfect. Heavily recruited by Force Recon fresh from the Naval Academy, he’d been working black ops for the Marine Corps for six years and was on the cusp of being promoted to Major. He was on the fast track to bigger and better things, had all the right people vetting him, and he'd married the woman of his dreams and was exploring a lifestyle which could have ended his career. With the Iranian embassy under siege and the Middle East in turmoil, Kyle was sent on a mission which would change the course of his life forever.

Returning home after three months of being invisible, Kyle finds his wife has been murdered by the very people he'd been sent to protect. And instead of the government retaliating, they hand him his walking papers with the agreement they’ll never speak of the events again. It's like Kyle never existed. His wife never existed. And the people who maimed and tortured her never existed. 

Resigned to never again walk that path, Kyle opens the first Steele Image club with the thought of providing a safe haven for others like him, those who were invisible to the public and most of the government. Those who had eclectic sexual tastes. Those who would later become his allies. And his enemies. And both will drive him back to the place he’d thought he’d let go of forever to vindicate his love…

Please enjoy an excerpt:

“Are you sure you want to play with me, little one?” Kyle asked with his brow furrowed. The woman who wasn’t an inch over five feet tall by his estimation and sported one of the new trendy bi-lateral haircuts with a pink streak running through the shaved side was visibly shaking as she stood in front of him naked as the day she was born. “Fear is usually a good thing, but you’re truly scared of me aren’t you?”

“I’m not afraid, Sir,” Missy insisted, her chin jutting out and her spine becoming a bit straighter, although the flutter in her chest was evident as her breasts jiggled with each heave for breath. “I’m…excited.”

“Bullshit.” Circling her, Kyle ran his fingertips along her shoulders, down one arm, up the other, across her breast bone, and landed at the base of her throat where he wrapped his palm around it and squeezed. “You lie. And what’s the club rule about lying?”

“It won’t be tolerated, Sir. And those caught doing it will be punished.” Her voice wavered and her bright green pupils blew up just before her gaze wandered from his. “But I’m not lying. I’m not afraid of you and I am excited.”

“Tell me this.” He reached down with his free hand to twist one of her nipples and watched her jaw lock. “What do you expect from this little liaison between us?”

It wasn’t uncommon for Kyle to be approached by a half-dozen masochistic subs a week for servicing. Men, women, gay, straight, bi, confused, it didn’t matter they all seemed to migrate to him at some point which suited him. Genders, sexuality, and preferences meant nothing to him since sex wasn’t even an option when playing with them. If he needed serviced, he had no less than a dozen call girls literally on call to get him off and be gone before the sun kissed the horizon. They expected nothing but to be paid and Kyle obliged and well.

Over the course of the last year, he’d earned quite a reputation as a service sadist. He’d developed an unwavering ability to deliver and walk away without string one hanging between him and his playmate. No strings meant no intimate connections. No intimate connections meant none of them were in danger from association with him. Endangering anyone else due to his line of work was the last thing he intended to do. He didn’t need intimate connections to play and made it clear from the start of negotiations his partner shouldn’t expect them either. If they wanted more than an endorphin release, they weren’t a good match in his eyes and he either turned them down or negotiated a third be involved. All Kyle sought was an outlet by which to channel the pent up emotions he refused to allow anyone to see. He had no room for exterior feeling and expelling any notion of it by helping someone else achieve their own release made for an acceptable medium. At least that’s what he kept telling himself every time he looked in the mirror and a virtual stranger looked back.

Missy was fairly new to the club and had been introduced to Kyle and courted for membership by Wesley, the front of house security guard who’d been with him since the doors opened at Steele Image. While he’d had a few lengthy conversations with her and believed he knew enough about her to play with her, he wasn’t thoroughly convinced she was a true masochist and even thought she might be the latest in the long line of subs who foolishly believed they could tame him.

“Answer me, little one,” Kyle he said softly. “What do you expect from this?”

“Lots of pain,” she breathed over a groan and a smile as Kyle increased the pressure with which he pinched her nipple.

You can purchase this title at Amazon  and  ARe

 

Lila Munro currently resides on the coast of North Carolina with her husband and their two four-legged kids. She’s a military wife with an empty nest and takes much of her inspiration for her heroes from the marines she’s lived around for the past fifteen years. Coining the term realmantica, she strives to produce quality romance in a realistic setting. Her genre of choice is contemporary romance that spans everything from the sensual softer read to BDSM and ménage. When she’s not writing, she enjoys reading everything she can get her hands on, trips to the museum and aquarium, taking field research trips, and soaking up the sun on the nearby beaches. Her works include The Executive Officer’s Wife, Bound By Trust, Three for Keeps, the Force Recon series, the Slower Lower series, the Identity series, and the Private Collection. Currently she is working on two new series set to release summer of 2013, the At Your Service line and the Steele Image line. She’s a member in good standing of RWA. 

Ms. Munro loves to hear from her readers and can be found at Realmantic Moments,   Facebook ,  Goodreads,  Twitter, You can also contact her via email at lilasromance@gmail.com and you can find all her works at: Amazon   ARe  Nook    Bookstrand

Book Spotlight : Love's Sweet Vengeance by Joanne C. Berroa

Welcome Joanne C. Berroa with her newest Rebel Ink Press release! See what Love's Sweet Vengeance is all about.

The Old West in 1866 spells romance and danger. Pair a smart and independent lady sheriff in New Mexico Territory with a virile bounty hunter and you get sizzling chemistry, even though they’re at odds with each other and their objectives.

Garrett Wade and Amanda Larson form a truce to work together to track down Clem Jones, the outlaw responsible for Garrett’s wife’s murder. But will the justice they’re after consist of Amanda’s way or Garrett’s?   Amanda, a lawman first and foremost, wants to bring Jones in for a fair trial, but Garrett wants only revenge--to put a bullet between the wretched outlaw’s eyes. 

Their quest leads them into mortal danger, while a powerful lust brings them together in ways neither bargained for. Can they survive the peril, exact justice, endure a gut-wrenching separation, and still nurture their lust into an abiding love?

You can buy Love's Sweet Vengeance on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and ARe 

 

And now an excerpt...

        Through the trees a gray wolf appeared, its fangs dripping with saliva. The wolf saw Amanda the same time she saw it. She leveled the gun in her hand and was about to release a warning shot to scare away the wolf.

“Fire that gun and you’ll alert Clem Jones you’re on his tail.”

She turned quickly to her left where a man in black attire sat atop a handsome stallion. On his head was a ten gallon hat with ties beneath his chin. She recognized the face as that of Garrett Wade.

“How’d you get out of jail?” she asked.

He removed his hat and flung it deftly in the wolf’s direction, sending the animal scurrying back into the woods. Garrett dismounted and retrieved his hat. Dusting it off on the side of his leg, he crossed to where Amanda was standing.

“Your deputy’s a good man, Sheriff,” he said. “We had a little chat. I explained to him if he let me go, I’d look out for you and make sure no harm came to you. He said he promised your pa he’d take care of you. He admitted he didn’t like you riding out alone after that sonofabitch Jones.”

“John let you go?” she said, her pretty blue eyes wide as saucers.

“Sometimes it takes a man like him and not a boy like you to know what’s right and what’s wrong. He shares the same code of honor as I do.”

She frowned. Had she heard him correctly? He thought she was a boy? “A boy?” she said incredulously. “Are you calling me a boy?” Her scowl showed her irritation.

“No offense. You look kinda young to be a man.”

“You are a fool, Mister Wade. I’m not a boy. I’m a woman. ”

Even in the waning light she could see his startled expression and it pleased her. The idiot couldn’t tell a woman from a boy.

He looked her over as if seeing her for the first time then a slow smile spread across his face. He laughed. “Well, I’ll be damned. A woman sheriff? What won’t they think of next?

***

Here's a little about Joanne in her own words...

 

I’ve been writing all my life and that’s a few years. Back in 1983, Dell published my novel, “The Barbary Coasters.”  It was set during the 1860’s in the Barbary Coast of San Francisco and was part of a series of books written by different authors called, “The Making of America.” My pseudonym was Lee Davis Willoughby.

I’ve written articles for several computer magazines over the last thirty years doing software and hardware reviews and ads.  I was also a photographer for cover art for two magazines back in the 80’s, and currently write profiles for businesses and professionals for Micromedia Publications, a local newspaper publisher.

Rebel Ink Press has released three of my historical romances thus far: My Life, My Heart – a time travel novel with a twist; On Angels’ Wings – a novel set during the turbulent years of World War II; and Love’s Sweet Vengeance – a novel of love and danger set in the old west in 1866 (my newest release).

When I’m not reading or writing, I teach piano and organ.

Find Joanne on her website and her blog.

Best of luck with your newest release, Joanne!