To celebrate the end of summer—and the start of postseason play, I’ve teamed up with more than 25 fantastic baseball romance authors to give away a huge collection of novels, PLUS a Kindle Fire to one lucky winner!
You can win my BEAUTY AND THE BALLPLAYER, plus books from authors like Kate Curran, Mindy Klasky, Kasey Michaels, Sloane Howell and Celia Aaron, C.D. Reiss, Rebecca J. Clark, Alessandra Torre and Pamela Aares.
The contest runs from Oct. 3-10. One grand prize winner will get a Kindle Fire and an ebook from each of the authors. A runner up will receive each of the participating books.
I haven’t hosted many blog tours, but this collection, which includes Nola Cross, one of my Starcatchers sisters, was too intriguing to pass up. I love a good story with elements of things we can’t explain.
Without further ado, here are the details on Psychic Seductions:
A hot, new anthology that’s sure to seduce your senses and it’s on SALE for 99 cents as a special LIMITED RELEASE price.
When it comes to love, sex, and seduction, these psychics break all the rules. Seven sexy stories and seven gifts of insight that will make you a believer.
Aurora Mills has moved back to her hometown after a messy divorce which has left her penniless. Her friend Clara offers her a job at their family’s pub, and within days Aurora runs into Clara’s older brother Caleb. Aurora has always been attracted to him—there’s something about him that just draws her in.
Caleb Larson has spent the past few years coming to terms with the tragic deaths of his parents and struggling with the guilt of not being able to prevent it. His gift of premonitions should have allowed him to see their future. After Aurora returns to town, whenever he’s in her presence, he can sense that they have a deep connection of some type. Then he has a powerful vision from the past, and he knows there’s even more to his feelings than he thought. Can these two lost souls find peace in each other’s arms?
Firefighter Jake Manley is a no-nonsense kind of guy. So when his little sister goes to see pet psychic Carrie Westfield, he lets the beautiful medium know he’s got a watchful eye on her. But somehow she does seem to know more than she should, including painful secrets from his past. When the helpful spirit of his boyhood dog shows up, things get even stranger, making him question everything he thought was true. Can Jake accept that life doesn’t end with death and let go of the guilt he’s carried all these years? More importantly, can he let Carrie Westfield into his heart?
In a snowy, sleepy town is a quaint cupcake shop. People travel from miles away to visit this sugar-scented store because they think it’s magical. They’re not entirely wrong. But it isn’t the shop, or the cupcakes it sells, that’s magical…it’s the owner.
Penny loves her little store, but people don’t visit Cupid and Cupcakes solely for her cakes. They have an ulterior motive—they’re seeking love. Penny is a matchmaker, a modern-day cupid, and she’s great at it. Never wrong. Unfortunately, Penny’s gift doesn’t work where her own love life is concerned. That is until Jonathon reappears in her life. He’s her best friend’s brother, utterly wrong for her, and completely off-limits. Or is he?
During a drunken night of self-wallowing over his failed love life, Parker Evans wanders into Psychic Set-Up to see what a matchmaking psychic can do for him. But once he meets the luscious psychic he’s not interested in anyone else.
Willow Webb is an aura reader who plays matchmaker for a living. While she has tremendous success matching up others, her own love life is nonexistent. Men aren’t able to handle being involved with a woman who can read their every emotion. But she finds herself drawn to her handsome new client. When it comes time to match him up, will she do her job or keep him for herself?
Kindergarten teacher Jill O’Halloran does her best to disregard the visions she sees in pools of still water, having learned from a young age that it wasn’t something that happened to normal people. But when images of Darcy Albright in the throes of passion keep appearing, they prove too difficult to ignore. Jill can’t understand why she’s so drawn to Darcy. Sure he’s gorgeous, but she doesn’t do relationships.
When Darcy’s ex-wife drops a bombshell, Jill discovers that he’s all too familiar with futuristic visions. But is the prospect of learning more about the gift she’s denied for so long worth the risk of falling for him?
Indigo’s ability to create light with her mind was always a fun parlor trick, but since her cancer diagnosis, the parlor has closed for business. On the brink of major health failure, she can’t help but wonder when her good luck ran out.
Dr. Lee Russell believes in healing by any means necessary. He uses his psychic powers in special cases when modern medicine just can’t help. Indigo’s case is special. She’s like him, yet she wastes her gift creating stars. He heals her, but doesn’t expect much, not until he gets sick himself and only Indy’s touch can ease his pain. He’s never seen himself as anything more than a healer, but to save his own life, Lee will have to mentor Indigo to reach beyond the stars and use her gift in ways she never imagined.
Holly is a mind-moving Fury who electrifies all human flesh she touches. Even her own family has sent her packing. She moves things with her mind, manipulating fire with the flick of her finger, but she burns for the one thing that has never been an option for her—love.
When she catches sight of the handsome man helping her new neighbor move in she longs to take a chance and introduce herself…to pretend to be normal just once. It could easily end in disaster, but surprisingly, when she shakes his hand, no mind-blowing electrocution follows, and she begins to hope. But it turns out that her touch has affected Jacob in a way she never imagined, and it will change his life forever.
Content Warning: these stories contain sensual sex scenes
May your day be filled with reflection, rejoicing, fun and as many Cadbury Creme Eggs as you’d like!
If you’re as big a fan of Cadbury Creme Eggs as I am, you might want to try CCE Egg Cream featured on Buzzfeed. (Thanks to Avery Flynn for pointing this dream of a drink out out in a Facebook post.)
Erm … you can’t tell I’ve been spending too much time on Facebook, and not enough writing, right?
Don’t forget Lizzie Shane’s giving away a copy of DIVA IN THE DUGOUT. Today’s the last day to enter; she’s picking a winner Monday morning. Click here to enter.
Welcome to this week’s My Sexy Saturday blog hop. The theme, “A Long, Sexy Time,” is designed to spotlight love that has been around for a while:
“… It’s all about those who have loved another for a long time. This love could have started when they were kids, when they were dating or even from afar.”
That pretty much leaves my couples out. They tend to meet and experience love — or hate — at first sight, and then overcome whatever obstacles are in their path to happily ever after. Dave and Melinda from DIVA IN THE DUGOUT are the closest I have to a couple who’s known each other for a while … and that’s only if you count a one-night stand, nearly five years ago, as knowing one another.
In this scene, Dave and Mel are trying to get along for their daughter’s sake. He’s just landed in Amarillo so he can meet Mel’s parents — something she’d denied him years earlier by not telling him she was pregnant. Keeping Tara a secret was a decision she had what she thought were good reasons for, but is now starting to regret.
Enjoy!
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Mel bounced from foot to foot in the arrivals area of the Amarillo airport Wednesday afternoon. The steady flow of travelers slowed to a trickle before Dave strolled through the gate.
Damn, he looked fine. He walked tall and proud, his shoulders impossibly broad in a burgundy suit jacket. He carried a duffel the same color as his coat—his team colors.
When, for once, her smile didn’t feel forced, Mel realized she was glad to see him. “Welcome back, Muscles.”
He studied her for a moment before dropping his bag at his feet. Then he stepped up and folded her into a hug. His arms circled her waist, pressing her tightly against his flat stomach and broad chest. Her nerve endings started to sing, especially the bits of her rubbing all that hard muscle. Mmm.
“You feel even better than you look.” The thought popped out of Mel’s mouth before she could stop it. Her cheeks burned, and she could only hope the words were too muffled by his jacket for him to hear.
No such luck. His chest shook with laughter. “If I’d expected such a friendly greeting, I’d have come back sooner.”
Mel flattened her palms against his shoulders and he let her go. What the hell had she been thinking, falling into his arms like that? Just because he was trying to build a relationship with Tara didn’t mean he wanted one with her. After what she’d done, she was probably the last person he’d consider getting romantic with.
P.S If you liked this snippet, my friend Lizzie Shane is giving away a copy of DIVA on her Facebook page this weekend. She’ll draw a winner Monday morning. Click here to enter.
Confession time: When I’m not writing contemporary romance, I LOVE to read historicals.
One that I’m looking forward to diving into just as soon as I finish my current pick, Ruby Kim Law’s CAUGHT ON CAMERA, is my friend Kathleen Bittner Roth’s A DUKE’S WICKED KISS. She has graciously offered me an ARC copy to read and a second ebook to give away to a lucky reader.
The blurb:
While on a secret mission for the Crown, a proper duke falls for an improper daughter of an Indian royal and British noble.
Miss Suri Thurston knows the pain of abandonment. Intent on confronting the grandmother who tossed her to the lions, she travels from England to her birthplace in India. Her plans run afoul when she encounters the man who, ten years prior, left a mark on her soul with one stolen kiss. But he is a duke, and far beyond the reach of even her dreams.
The Duke of Ravenswood, secret head of the British Foreign Service, has no time for relationships. His one goal is to locate and eliminate key insurgents involved in an uprising against the British East India Company before it’s too late. But when Suri appears in Delhi, his resolve is tested as he finds his heart forever bound to her by the one haunting kiss they shared once upon a time.
With Suri’s vengeful Indian family looking for her death, and insurgents intent on mutiny tearing their world apart, can their love rise above the scandal of the marriage they both desperately want?
Intrigued as I am? Hop on over to my Facebook author page and comment on the post pinned to the top of the page. I’ll pick a winner a week from today, on Wednesday, Sept. 10.
I’m celebrating the release of BLIND DATE BRIDE with a Goodreads giveaway.
Three print copies of the book are up for grabs. The giveaway ends July 10 and is open to readers in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia. (Expanding my reach this time around …)
To celebrate the impending releases of BEAUTY AND THE BALLPLAYER (this month) and SLIDING INTO HOME (April), I’m doing a Goodreads giveaway. Enter to win one of 5 print copies of my debut DIVA IN THE DUGOUT.
I can’t remember how I first “met” Keri Ford. I think I found her through Twitter first, then picked up “On the Fence.” It doesn’t matter, though: Between her sometimes hilarious tweets and engaging, steamy stories, I’m hooked.
That’s why, when Keri was looking for stops to add to her Roughnecks Blog Tour, my virtual hand shot high in the air.
Welcome to Love & Laughter, Keri. I’m honored to have you be my first guest blogger. Take it away.
Arlene, thank you so much for letting me crash at your place today! I’m excited to tell everyone a little about Lane and Gretchen from my latest release, Rough Ride.
If you could take a classic soccer type mom who had no children, that would be Gretchen. She’s down home. She keeps a tidy house, she keeps a tidy yard. She loves to bake and cook. She’s there for her friends when they need her. Even her best friend admits that if she were a lesbian, she’d be all over Gretchen because she is one awesometastic gal. She’s by no means perfect, but when it comes to that down-home, southern lady, you can’t find a better description than Gretchen.
And Lane sees this in her. And he WANTS. Boy does he want. But Lane isn’t staying in town. So the idea of getting a fling going with this very obvious roots woman and then leaving the small town behind where his brother will be living? Yeah…not such a great idea.
As Lane is tempted by Gretchen, he constantly has to remind himself of the sweet kind of person she is. I mean, she even makes homemade pine cone bird feeders! So today, I’ve got a treat for you.
An instructional video on pine cone bird feeders. This was my first attempt at this and I realized something quickly—I am so not cool with sharing my peanut butter with a bunch of birds who just poop all over my car. I scarified. This time. They better not get used to it.
(Note from Arlene: My techno-challenged self can’t get the embedded video to work here. The link above should take you right to it, though.)
What was the last craft project you did? Leave me a comment and the winner will get their pick from my good friend and Inspirational Author, Winnie Griggs! Print Book and open internationally! Thank you Winnie so much for donating! See more about Winnie at her website http://winniegriggs.com/books.html Facebook http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=821533857
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Keri Ford writes Sexy Country Contemporary Romances. See her website for more information about her books and The Roughnecks Blog Tour with all the giveaway, sneak peeks and blog stops: http://bit.ly/Hb1hwS
Blurb for “Rough Ride”
You do for family, no matter what. Lane Iverson knows that better than anyone. Harboring a secret about his mother’s death, Lane is counting the days until he finishes helping his brothers with some work and can head back to his hiding hole hours away. As long as he doesn’t have to face his three brothers every day, the guilt is easier to carry.
There is only one thing that can risk his plan. All of five foot tall with these deep eyes and a voice that shudders through him. The completely addicting, Gretchen Jones. She’s been watching him the entire time he’s been in town. With courage from her friends behind her, she confronts what she wants. To her surprise, that’s the easy part. Keeping her heart protected when she knows he’ll be leaving? Not so easy, but her only choice.
Read Chapter One http://bit.ly/H0azIz
