Forbidden : Angels Among us by Linn B Halton (Bk 2)

 

As you can tell from my review for Book one of the series I really enjoyed that book and was looking forward to the second part of the story. I was not disappointed in what this book delivered. Book 2 continues on with Ceri's story. Ceri is an angel living on earth and she has fallen in love with Alex. But, she has been told should not be together. However, Ceri must follow her heart and her relationship with Alex continues to flourish and move forward in ways Ceri could only have dreamed of. Book 2 also sees Ceri trying to find understanding around her very special gifts and trying desperately to reconcile those gifts with having a normal life. Can Ceri achieve the perfect balance or will something have to give?

Linn B Halton has delivered a wonderful book in this series. As previously mentioned, Forbidden is the second book in the Angels Amongst Us series and its not difficult to see why HarperImpulse Publishers were so interested in the series. For those who have an interest in the paranormal and spiritual aspects of life, then this book will blow you away. A lovely romance between two unlikely individuals, each struggling with their own personal demons. However, the book should not be read in isolation as Book 1 does provide the backdrop to the entire story. The writing style flows so easily in this book and it was a joy to read. I've enjoyed seeing Alex and Ceri's relationship develop and see a new found confidence in Ceri, although she does still appear to be a little vulnerable and still searching for answers. The ending finished on a bit of a cliff hanger and has me desperate to start reading Book 3! I want to know what happens next. Now!

                                          

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Grumpy Old Menopause by Carol E Wyer

 

After reading Carol's book How Not to Murder your Grumpy, I was really looking forward to Grumpy Old Menopause. The book is released on 25th November and I was kindly provided with a review copy. 

Carol Wyer's sense of humour is absolutely wicked! I love it! Unfortunately the Menopause comes to all us women. This book is encouraging you to tackle the problem head on. Don't lie down and die in a pool of night sweats and hot flushes/flashes! It encourages you to get off your menopausal ass and deal with the inevitable through humour and adventure! The book lists some handy tips in alphabetical order. Some of them will leave you breathless with laughter!

Carol E Wyer has a skill many people do not possess. She can find humour in almost every situation - even one where you have to change your underwear every time you sneeze! I chuckled my way through the book, taking care not to laugh out loud too much for fear of underwear changes! This is a great little book that I managed to read in one sitting. The perfect book for taking a light hearted look at all life throws at the more mature lady. The main message in this book seems to be that getting older does not equate to losing your sense of humour or your zest for life! Well done Carol!

                                                                     

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Promo Post - Merry Chick Lit! Help support a Breast Cancer Charity!

Brook Cottage Books is thrilled to be promoting Merry Chick Lit. I'd encourage everyone to go out and buy it and help a worthwhile charity. Proceeds of the book go to the charity Rocking the Road for A Cure. Based in New York, this breast cancer charity sends volunteers to assist women with breast cancer with everyday activities such as shopping, errands, laundry, cooking, cleaning etc. Please show your support. Thank you. x

About the Book

Merry Chick Lit: Celebrate the Season with Six Sassy Shorts

In the spirit of giving, six chick-lit authors "present" a charming collection of seasonal shorts sure to inspire holiday cheer-plus love and hope throughout the year, with all proceeds donated to Rocking the Road for a Cure! Featured authors & stories include:

Carolyn Ridder Aspenson

In "Santa's Gift," journalist Jessica thinks Santa's just a silly myth for children, so when he asks what she most wants for Christmas she tells him the one thing she knows he can't deliver--true love. Or can he...?

Sarah Hitchcock

In "The Christmas Lights," one competition pits two families against each other...who will win this war?

Francine LaSala

Pretty Izzy knows exactly what she wants for Christmas: hunky sales manager Jake Harrington wrapped up with a shiny silver bow--and nothing else. Except Santa may have other plans in "Carol of the Belles."

Nikki Mahood

In "Spinster Christmas," Cara's looking forward to spending Christmas alone until she learns her old--and she believes very gay--crush needs a place to stay. Though it soon becomes clear that while still hot, Ronan isn't gay after all...

Holly Martin

Ella's dreams of making a better life for her and her daughter seem further away than ever in "Iced Dreams." But as Christmas approaches, and she wishes for a fairy godmother to wave a magic wand to fix her life, things begin to change in ways she never imagined!

K.C. Wilder

In "The Mermaid," Allie's content to spend Christmas by herself at a vacant beach house to make good on a promise made to her true love lost, Jeff. Until Jeff's gorgeous college roommate Tim crashes in on her with his own promise to keep...

Purchase on amazon: 

Purchase on bn.com: 

More information on the charity: Rocking the Road for a Cure

Rocking The Road For A Cure is tickled PINK to be selected as the recipient of proceeds from your purchase of Merry Chick Lit.

We are a growing 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in the New York City/Long Island area, dedicated to improving the quality of life of people undergoing the often energy-depleting and emotionally draining treatments for breast cancer.

Our name came from our founder and President, Dawn Frey, a musician, who learned through personal experience that “it takes a village” to get through the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer, and not every individual has the support network they need. Rocking The Road For A Cure provides free, in-home housekeeping, health and wellness services to restore strength and confidence, and to rebuild spiritual, emotional and physical well-being.

So, when you settle back and relax to enjoy reading Merry Chick Lit, please know that you have helped us help a breast cancer patient to also settle back and relax…and heal.

Rocking The Road For A Cure http://www.rockingtheroadforacure.org

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Promo Post - Star of Bethlehem by Sarah Daltry

Star of Bethlehem

Book Info:

Title: Star of Bethlehem (Flowering holiday novella)

Author: Sarah Daltry

Release Date: 11/18/2013

Publisher: SDE Press

Blurb:

Jack isn’t a rock star. He’s not the leader of a MC. He isn’t a billionaire. Lily’s not the daughter of a mob boss, or a stripper, or a virgin with a BDSM fascination. They’re just regular college kids, who somehow found each other in the middle of all the crap and chaos of growing up.

“With you, Jack, it was the first time I ever felt real. It was the first time anyone looked at me and saw substance. It was the first time I wanted to make someone see me.”

Jack and Lily have navigated his past, her desire to move on from her family’s demands of her, his depression, and her loneliness. Now, on New Year’s Eve, they have an entire year laid out ahead of them. First, though, Jack needs to meet Lily’s family, to be welcomed into her life. It’s intimidating, but with a sweater that is way too hot and his grandmother’s ugly car, he arrives at Lily’s gleaming house on a hill, ready to open himself up completely to her.

Inside the perfect, sparkling house, Lily waits for the boy she has come to love. But Lily’s house and family are a lot like her – shiny and pretty on the outside, with a sad emptiness on the interior. Lily wants to give Jack the one thing he has always dreamed of – family and love – but can she keep him from seeing how hollow a lot of the picture perfect life he fantasizes about really is?

This is a novella length work that follows Forget Me Not and Lily of the Valley.

Buy Links:

About The Author:

Sarah Daltry writes erotica and romance that ranges from sweet to steamy. She moves around a lot and has trouble committing to things. Bitter Fruits is her first full length novel. Her other two novels have already been released. Forget Me Not and Lily of the Valley are simultaneous perspectives in the New Adult contemporary romance series, Flowering. Sarah also has three novellas (including Star of Bethlehem, part of the Flowering series) and several short stories available. She is currently working on Immortal Star and Daughter of Heaven in this series, and Orange Blossom, another novel in Flowering . When Sarah isn’t writing, she tends to waste a lot of time checking Facebook for pictures of cats, shooting virtual zombies, and simply staring out the window.

Author Social Media Links:

Website: http://sarahdaltry.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SarahDaltryErotica

http://www.facebook.com/BitterFruits

http://www.facebook.com/FloweringbySarahDaltry

Twitter: https://twitter.com/SarahDaltry

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/sarahdaltry/boards/

Tumblr: http://www.tumblr.com/blog/sarahdaltry

Excerpt:

I take his hand and pull him down beside me on my bed. I feel so complete in his arms, as if nothing can go wrong when he holds me. It’s all the other stuff. The world, people, pressure. Maybe it’s a little fear that things just ended with Derek. That one day, as quickly as I fell for Jack, I also fell out of love with Derek. I don’t have enough experience to know if that’s normal. What if it happens again?

“What? Tell me,” Jack whispers.

“Have you ever felt like your entire life is some surrealist’s joke? That you think you’re in control of it, while really, you’re probably just…”

“A melting clock?” he finishes and laughs. I look at him, disappointed that I can’t explain it, but also relieved that he doesn’t care.

“All the fucking time,” he says. “I know you’re scared. I know I’m scared. But I seem to remember you telling me that I should remember what matters. I made you a promise, princess. Yes, your house intimidates me. Your life intimidates me. Hell, loving you intimidates me. But I’m in this. I’m here. Present. Entirely. I’m looking only forward. And all I see is you.”

“Take the damn book,” I tell him. “I just wanted to show you that I have faith in us. It was a conscious decision to give you something that was a very special gift to me, to tell you that I trust you with it, because I trust you to be there. Long term.”

He takes me in his arms and kisses me. I decide I won’t stop him if he goes further, but he doesn’t. Our bodies crackle with the energy between us, but as much as the sex thrills me, Jack does so much more for my mind than his body could even do. I can’t believe how alive I feel when he’s near me. Perhaps it’s selfish. Perhaps it’s desperate. But I want him here in my life; I want him with me, because I love being this aware.

I speak against his cheek, while his hands slowly explore my body. It’s sensual but not sexual. He’s studying me like a work of art. “I don’t want to fall out of love with you. I thought Derek was all I ever wanted. I don’t want to be in the same place with you a year from now.”

“You won’t be,” he tells me.

“How do you know?”

He kisses along my face, brushing his lips against my cheek, my forehead, my nose, but never reaching my mouth. “I don’t know how. But I do.”

I love that he can put aside his doubts to ease my own. I know Jack’s had so much trouble in his life, and the fact that he can comfort me, when my problems are so petty and stupid in the scheme of things, is one more thing I love so much. “I know I’m shallow. But I don’t want to be, Jack.”

“You’re not shallow. You’re not empty. Anything you think of yourself – it’s crazy. If you want to talk about surreal, it’s the fact that you think you’re less than something. Maybe you didn’t get shit on the same way I did in high school, but clearly, people have underestimated you. They missed out on you. And you have every right to be hurt. But, Lily? No one will ever hurt you again.”

I smile. “Thanks. I’m sorry I’m being so moody. It’s probably hormones or something. I think I’m just frustrated.”

“Yeah?” He laughs. “Well… I mean… I can help you relieve some of that.”

He’s on top of me and I don’t care that it wasn’t exactly what I meant. I don’t care that someone could walk in. Someone probably will walk in, since eventually they’ll come looking, but I don’t care at all. I want to belong to Jack, and I don’t know any other way to do so.

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00G5JKYO2?ie=UTF8&force-full-site=1&ref_=aw_bottom_links

Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00G5JKYO2?ie=UTF8&force-full-site=1&ref_=aw_bottom_links

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/370716

Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/star-of-bethlehem/id731942386?mt=11

Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/star-of-bethlehem-sarah-daltry/1117237949?ean=2940148398080

All Romance: All Romance: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-starofbethlehem-1329604-149.html

Playlist: 

Link:  http://hypster.com/hypsterPlayer/MPL?media_type=playlist&playlist_id=6781076&us_id=4993560

Trailer:

 ink:  Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymlOoTsQaWw

 

Embed:

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Festival Diary of A Blogger - part 2!

I really hope you enjoyed Part 1 of the diary yesterday. So, continuing on from where I left off yesterday.............

Saturday 9th November - Cinders did go to the Ball!

After returning to the hotel after meeting up with all the other lovely bloggers and Kate Allan, Festival Organiser, I hot-footed it back to my broom cupboard hotel room to get changed into my post frock for the Romance Ball and awards! Now, those who know me really well in my personal life know that I do not do dressing up particularly well. I feel very uncomfortable wearing a frock and high heels. I'm more of a jeans and boots type of girl. But, this was a special occasion after all. I was one of the lucky shortlisted bloggers for the Romance Blogger of the Year award. Eeeek! So, after a quick shower and accidentally using super glittery body lotion which made me look like I'd been dipped in gold glitter, I made my way down to the hotel reception where I was met by Carol Wright aka Dizzy C who looked totally glam and really amazing! I had the opportunity to finally meet her lovely family. Next to arrive was the very lovely Pete Cook in his James Bond tuxedo. I'd been really looking forward to meeting Pete as we had become good online friends and he is just about one of the nicest people you could meet! Last and not least, was the very dapper looking Les Moriarty!

(From L-R) Pete Cook, JB, Carol Wright, Les Moriarty

Pete and Les were very kindly escorting Carol and myself to the ball and thank goodness because I could not walk in my shoes and had to hold onto poor Les the whole way there!

JB & Pete Cook (and half of Les Moriarty's head!)

Anyway, we finally arrived at the ball after going to the wrong Ball. Yes, that's right, Carol and I ended up at the Farmer's Ball next door by accident! Once Carol managed to stop laughing we managed to get ourselves sorted for a photograph and seated at our table.

Heidi & JB (Not sure what I am looking at here!

The awards were to be announced first and it was lovely to see so many lovely authors receiving their awards. Every person there was supportive of everyone else and genuinely pleased when someone won.



Some of the Loveahappyending Lifestyel Mag team!
(L-R) Carol Wright, Heidi, JB, Linn B Halton with the trophy, Sheryl Browne & Janice Horton



The lovely Linn B Halton won an Innovation in Romantic Fiction (Author) Award and it was lovely to see recognition for all her hard work in putting together the LoveAHappyEnding Lifestyle magazine, of which I am proud to be a part of. 

The Award!

Next, it was the turn of the blogger award. I thought that at this point I might pass out with nerves! The very lovely Sharon Goodwin was announced as the winner. She so deserved this award for the amazing amount of hard work she puts into supporting authors and fellow bloggers such as myself. I have to say I was genuinely pleased for her. All of the bloggers felt that no matter who the award went to we would be thrilled because it was going to a friend as we all knew each other really well and I did actually feel quite emotional for her. I was thrilled to have been nominated in the first place and consider it a huge honour.

Next, the bloggers all got a bit of a shock as Kate Allen, called the Carol, Kirsty and myself up to collect a lovely little runners up prize and have our photo taken. What we hadn't realised at the time was that we received a standing ovation. Totally amazing! Humble bloggers being so celebrated. I felt like a celebrity!!! A very emotional night and I loved every single minute of it! I had such fun the rest of the evening and after saying goodbye to the fantastic Pete Cook, Kirsty and Heidi we made the wobbly journey back to the hotel where I proceeded to phone my poor husband in a very emotional state and kept him on the phone until 2am!



 Sunday 10th November - Goodbyes & Festival Conference and going home!

The final day of the Festival of Romance! Noooooooo! Before the conference I had to say goodbye to lovely Les Moriarty who had looked after me so well the entire weekend. One of life's true gents.

At the conference there was a whole host of speakers from authors to publishers and a chance for 1-1 sessions with authors / publishers too. Valuable tips were passed on and a fair bit of networking was done. Carol and I took notes and learned so much from the conference. It was so nice to learn about the whole publishing industry and the journey to getting published. I adored being surrounded by people from the wonderful world that is books and just felt so at home. The conference is very informative and definitely something I would highly recommend to all writers! At the conference it was lovely to have bloggers acknowledged once again.

After the conference there was very little time to say my goodbyes as Janice Horton and I were leaving almost immediately after the conference to travel together to the airport. Janice had flown in from Scotland and her flight home was almost the same time as mine. Leaving Bedford was so difficult as I was saying goodbye to all my lovely friends. Very difficult to do. But, luckily I had such fun getting to the airport with Janice, almost getting off at the wrong train station, and then I was swabbed for drugs at Airport Security (not the first time this has happened to me) whilst poor Janice looked on hoping I wasn't some sort of drugs mule!  Eventually we were able to  share a glass of wine over dinner  and have a really good chat before our flights! Janice is such a hoot and one of the most lovely people you could ever meet. Saying goodbye to Janice at the airport as she went to her departure gate was so difficult and I will admit to shedding a little tear!

I eventually got home at 9.30pm after touching down rather bumpily at Belfast International airport. I was tired but happy. Attending the festival was such a positive experience for me. It felt totally amazing to have the hard work that bloggers do recognised. The friendships I had formed online are now stronger because I had the opportunity to meet so many wonderful people. Everyone I met was so genuinely warm and loving that I fell in love with them all! The Festival of Romance offers authors and bloggers a great opportunity to learn from one another and offer support. Writing and blogging is a fairly solitary way to spend your time and so the friendships formed through such pursuits are ones that I feel will last a lifetime. Attending has definitely confirmed for me that I'd love to make a career in the world of books / publishing /journalism / writing of some sort. Thanks to everyone who made the weekend so special and thanks once again to Kate Allan and her team for all their hard work. Roll on Festival of Romance 2014!

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