Thursday, March 28, 2019

If You Wanna Be a Queen, Ya Gotta Think Like a Queen plus the Queens of Hearts Anthology


This steamy anthology has something for everyone in it! Check out all of the stories within by some of your favorite authors, as well as an excerpt. And Jennifer Patricia O'Keeffe is telling us a bit more about her own story. Be sure to download your own copy and leave comments and questions for the authors as you follow the tour. Best of luck entering the giveaway!



Although I’ve been toiling with writing for a few years, I’ve only recently ventured out into the publishing world. My first step into this wonderful industry was with DCL Publications’ anthology The Greatest Gift of All. I was invited to submit a story for it and wrote a romantic comedy for it called ‘We Made Snow Angels.’ I got some pretty good comments on it, which made me feel really good and encouraged.

I was then invited to join in on another anthology titled Queens of Hearts, also through DCL Publications. Immediately, I knew that I had to write something special, something funny, something with a bit of romance, and something that would honor my LGBTQ friends. I’m a proud LGBTQ ally and wanted to express my love for the community with this submission.

In keeping with the Queen theme of the anthology, I based my story ‘All I Want is to Be Happy’ on a young black man who works in a bookshop during the day and moonlights at night as a drag queen. Michael – under the guise of stage name Rayne – becomes Queen Rayne after stealing top crown from long-time ruler Madame Vivian at an annual drag competition.

After seeing how devastated Madame Vivian becomes after losing her crown, Queen Rayne begins to consider how her life will be when the day comes that she too is dethroned. In turn, as Michael, he begins to realize how lonely his life has become and decides he needs to make some major changes to find happiness.

Michael was a hilarious character to write – both in and out of drag. Michael is one of those guys whose nerves sometimes get the better of him. I think a lot of us can relate to that, and with Michael, his intentions – sometimes genuine and sometimes a bit dubious – lead him into some hilarious situations that have so far left the readers in stitches and, thankfully, wanting more.

One of my favorite things about ‘All I Want is to Be Happy’ is that I got to honor one of my favorite Queens in the world – RuPaul. There is a scene in the story where the queens gather together before their show and pray to RuPaul for guidance and support. RuPaul has taken the love and appreciation of drag queens into the hearts of new generations and has helped to bring them mainstream, with shows like RuPaul’s Drag Race. After all, no one does it better than the Drag Queen Supreme.

I’d like to extend my thanks to Books to Light Your Fire for hosting me! Thank you to the visitors and readers who have stopped by, and to DCL Publications for including me! Thank you, Goddess Fish Promotions. This is my first virtual book tour, so I hope I managed to keep you interested!





Queens of Hearts


A romance anthology unlike any other, Queens of Hearts will seduce you, romance you, make you laugh, and make you afraid with four very different stories from four different, talented authors.

‘Regina’ by Adesanya
Her name is Queen by definition, and she wears her dreads – dreads she spent half of her life growing – atop her head as her crown. Her name is Regina, and as romance sweeps through the wintry air with promises of Saint Valentine and Cupid’s mighty arrow, she finds herself entangled with a handsome man who knows all the right things to say. As a love affair blooms and romance comes into full blossom, Regina and Clive seem like a match made in Heaven. But is Regina really the woman that Clive believes her to be, or will a dark secret put an end to their cold-weathered fling?

‘All I Want is to be Happy’ by Jennifer Patricia O’Keeffe 
Michael is feeling down over his life. He works two jobs, has four roommates, can’t afford a car, and he’s as single as they come. Worse yet, after winning the crown at a local drag competition, he begins comparing himself to his nemesis – Madame Vivian, whom he stole the crown from. Now, as a popular author and a missing wallet come into his life, Michael finds himself on a series of misadventures that will either help him see the silver lining of life or drive him further into his self-despair.

‘On Bended Knee’ by Anarie Brady 
As the Greek goddess of Springtime and the queen of the underworld, Kora divides her time equally between her husband, sweet and gentle Aides, god of Hades and her dominant, Grant, a.k.a. Grannus, Celtic god of salt water and spa. This arrangement suited all three of them perfectly for years. However, when Hecate, Kora’s handmaiden and supposed best friend decides she’d make a better paramour for Aides, things could change drastically for everyone.

‘You Don’t Eat People You Love’ by Jae El Foster 
An infection is spreading throughout the town, and it has made its way to the countryside where a party of high school seniors is underway. When the infection spreads through the party in a most savage way, Bethany and Tommy must flee for their lives before they too are either eaten like their friends or they become a part of the living dead. Will sheer determination and the love that bonds their teenage romance be enough to keep them alive, or will they face a fate that is much worse than death?


Read an excerpt:
All I Want is to be Happy by Jennifer Patricia O’Keeffe

As he set his cell phone down, the store phone rang.

“Why won’t people just let me wallow in my misery?” he complained, lifting the receiver of the phone. Then, in his most chipper voice, he said, “Thank you for calling Thompson Books. My name is Michael. What reading enjoyment can I help you find today?”

“Is this the guy that was behind the counter a few minutes ago?” came the reply.

“One and the same. Just me until the boss man gets here. Who’s this?”

“This is Stevie Basil,” the voice replied and Michael felt himself go weak. What did the man want? Was he going to lodge a complaint? Michael just knew that he was about to become the latest man brought down by the Me Too Movement.

“Hi, Mr. Basil,” Michael said upon clearing his throat. He was beginning to sweat. “I’m actually reading your book right now.” More flattery, he knew, but maybe directed in a better direction.

“I was just in your store, remember?” Stevie Basil asked him. “I’m the brother on the back of the book.”

Flipping the book over, Michael looked at Stevie’s picture and acted surprised. “Why, oh, my goodness. Mr. Basil, it is you. How about that?”

Stevie took a moment to respond. “Listen,” he said, and Michael perked in his seat – his nervous smile disappearing to a nervous frown. “I think my wallet fell out of my pocket while I was there. Did you happen to see it anywhere?”

His wallet, Michael thought, shaking his head. There goes a fantasy.

He had hoped, somehow, Stevie would have found his memory of Michael so attractive that he’d wanted to call and ask for a date. His head had been stuck in the clouds – a way to advert the thought of being in trouble for flirting.

“Hang on,” he said, now feeing imposed upon. “Let me check.” He stood from his seat and peered over the counter, looking to the ground. There lay the wallet. “I don’t see it,” he replied, suddenly feeling a bit devilish. “Maybe you lost it in the street?”


Available on Amazon


About the authors:

ADESANYA:

Although born and raised in Chicago, Adesanya often draws inspiration for her writings from her Nigerian heritage. Her love for the written word developed at a young age, and today, she enjoys sharing her own stories with the world. Sometimes the tales are romantic. Sometimes they are frightening. Adesanya believes that these traits and more are what make up Life in all of its pain and glory, and no matter the genre she tackles, it is always Life that she is writing. Currently, Adesanya resides on the West Coast, USA. ‘Regina’ in Queens of Hearts is Adesanya’s first release with DCL Publications. She can be found online by following her on Twitter @theindieauthor or on her Facebook page www.facebook.com/adesanyaindieauthor.


JENNIFER PATRICIA O’KEEFFE:

Jennifer Patricia O'Keeffe is an author of romantic comedy and anything quirky. She resides in Tennessee, just outside of Nashville where she shares a home with her cats. Ms. O'Keeffe loves to make the world laugh and to find humor and love in the least likely of places. Readers may keep up with her and her writings by following @authorjpokeeffe on Twitter. She is currently working on her first full-length novel Runaway Heiress, and her short stories ‘We Made Snow Angels’ and ‘All I Want is to Be Happy’ can be found in the anthologies The Greatest Gift of All and Queens of Hearts, respectively.


ANARIE BRADY:

When not dreaming up steamy romance novels, Anarie Brady spends her time cooking delicious meals, sipping beautiful wines, and enjoying her time with her husband of over 30 years. She published her first novel, Conquest of a Fairy, in 2008 and hasn’t stopped writing since. Her novels are available at Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com. She’d love to hear from readers. You can find her at https://twitter.com/AnarieBrady or on Facebook, Instagram, and https://anariebrady.blog. Her recent DCL Publications releases include ‘As I Follow, So Shall I Lead’ in Kings & Queens and ‘On Bended Knee’ in Queens of Hearts.


JAE EL FOSTER:

Jae El Foster is an author with whom you question going to bed with at night, but you dare to venture beneath the sheets with him anyway. As the venture concludes, you are perhaps romanced by it, or perhaps you are frightened by it. Don’t worry because you are always satisfied by it. Despite the title or genre of the book, Jae El sets out to please you with climatic and unexpected conclusions that will make you tremble with emotion. Hop aboard the Jae El train and give it a good ride. Follow him on Twitter @jaeelbooks, ‘like’ him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/authorjaeelfoster and visit his website at www.jaeelbooks.com. ‘You Don’t Eat People You Love’ from Queens of Hearts is Jae El’s tenth release with DCL Publications.



Adesanya, Jennifer Patricia O'Keeffe, Anarie Brady, Jae El Foster will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

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Monday, March 25, 2019

His Secret Love by Anya Summers



Welcome to the book blast for His Secret Love by Anya Summers! I have an excerpt for you from this erotic romance. Download your own copy and then follow the tour for even more. Please leave the author comments and questions and then enter the giveaway!




His Secret Love

Meghan Mallory has a plan for her life and it does not involve falling in love. She doesn’t have the time nor the inclination. She’s too busy trying to save the world. But when a freak snowstorm puts her in the path of a man she has secretly been fascinated with for years, she is forced to reconsider her stance on dating. Spencer is rude and obnoxious with his bad boy swagger but then he rescues her when she gets stranded on the side of the road, like a knight in tarnished armor, and sweeps her away to his house to ride out the blizzard.

Spencer Collins likes his life just fine, thank you very much. As the owner of the lifestyle club Cuffs & Spurs in Jackson Hole, he has a bevy of available subs who are his to command – not that any of them have held his interest in longer than he can remember. When his best friend’s sister-in-law gets herself into trouble, Spencer heads out to rescue the little brat who is in need of a firm hand. But he never expects to be forced to confront the incendiary heat that has always existed between them.

As the storm rages around them, they surrender to a passion hotter than the sun. Now that he has felt her surrender, Spencer attempts to lure Meghan into his world. But will they let go of their pasts or will they allow secrets to destroy them?

Read an excerpt:


She lowered her forehead to the steering wheel, trying not to panic.

If she couldn’t leave her car because of the storm and no one happened by, she would be forced to wait out the weather in her car and hope like hell she didn’t freeze to death. But that was better than attempting to walk in the cold and getting stuck out in the open.
Meghan spent the next two frigid hours watching her gas gauge dip toward empty. The snow had not let up, in fact it had intensified. But the idea of staying put and possibly freezing to death once her gas ran out had little appeal. There had to be someplace nearby where she could weather the storm and ride it out. A cabin where she could build a fire… something, anything was better than this. With her courage failing, she gathered up her backpack. She had water, protein bars, and trail mix, along with some other essentials including the solar blanket she had wrapped around herself for extra warmth. She folded the blanket up and shoved it inside the pack. She could do this; trudge a mile or two in a treacherous blizzard until she found a place where she could ride out the storm. Meghan reached for the keys in the ignition to shut the car off.

Thud, thud, thud, pounded against her window. She jerked and screeched at the dark figure beyond. Staring, her heart hammering in her chest, she tried to discern whether they were friend or foe—for all she knew, he was an axe murderer. Then again, even they wouldn’t be so stupid as to be out in this crud. It was definitely a he, given the size and shape of his face, not to mention the dark swath of facial hair.

The man yanked the door open. Icy wind blasted into the small confines, competing with the heat pumping out her vents.

“What the hell are you doing, little brat?” His gruff, deep masculine bass voice shattered the stillness.

That voice. The sinful, rich, deep voice slid over her skin like a whispered caress, made her think of melted decadent dark chocolate sliding over her tongue, and caused all her girly bits to stand at attention. Him? Out of all the people who lived and worked in Jackson Hole, all the tourists who flooded the streets with their rental cars, he was her rescuer?
Spencer Collins.

The man who had been a thorn in her side ever since she and her sister had moved to Jackson Hole.

“Nothing intentional, big guy, I can assure you. Storm came up a lot faster than I expected.”

She didn’t mention she tended to get distracted like an absent-minded professor when she was taking samples and measurements and collecting data to study later. Nor that she had lost track of time and had been jolted back to awareness when the first snowflakes began to fall. Total rookie mistake on her part, and she knew it. If she had left an hour prior, she would already be sequestered at Jenna’s, warm and fed. But as it was, she had made the hike too late, with the storm kicking into gear around her.

“There’s this thing called a cell phone.”

If she wasn’t frozen clear down to her bones and didn’t need him to rescue her from the prospect of freezing to death, she would have decked the man. Spencer was acting like she was an imbecile, incapable of figuring out how to survive. She would show him. She yanked her phone from her pocket, breathing a sigh of relief that the screen hadn’t magically changed to make her look like a freaking idiot. The no service message was still displayed clearly on the screen and she waved it in front of his face. “Ha, funny man. I’m not getting any service, so if you have another idea, I’m all for it.”

“Come on. Let’s get you out of here.” He held out a hand for her to take. 
“Appreciate it.” Meghan ignored the hand, shut her car off and killed the lights. She grabbed her purse and her backpack as she climbed out, bringing her body into close contact with his towering form. Rarely did Meghan ever feel short or intimidated, tending to carry the disposition of a chihuahua who thought himself an attack dog. Except with Spencer. He made her feel every lacking inch of her five-foot stature.



About Anya Summers

Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Anya grew up listening to Cardinals baseball and reading anything she could get her hands on. She remembers her mother saying if only she would read the right type of books instead binging her way through the romance aisles at the bookstore, she’d have been a doctor. While Anya never did get that doctorate, she graduated cum laude from the University of Missouri-St. Louis with an M.A. in History.

Anya is a bestselling and award-winning author published in multiple fiction genres. She also writes urban fantasy and paranormal romance under the name Maggie Mae Gallagher. A total geek at her core, when she is not writing, she adores attending the latest comic con or spending time with her family. She currently lives in the Midwest with her two furry felines.


Visit my website here:

www.anyasummers.com

Plus, I have an Exclusive Bonus Scene from HIS SECRET LOVE available for a FREE download by subscribing to my newsletter. https://goo.gl/phM786

Website as Maggie Mae Gallagher: http://www.maggiemaegallagher.com/

Visit her on social media here:

http://www.facebook.com/AnyaSummersAuthor

Twitter: @AnyaBSummers https://twitter.com/anyabsummers?lang=en

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15183606.Anya_Summers

Anya Summers Newsletter

Amazon Author Page https://www.amazon.com/Anya-Summers/e/B01EGTVRKC/

Bookbub https://www.bookbub.com/authors/anya-summers

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/anyasummersauthor/

Don’t miss these exciting titles by Anya Summers!

Dungeon Fantasy Club Series

Her Highland Master, Book 1 https://www.amazon.com/Highland-Master-Dungeon-Fantasy-Club-ebook/dp/B01E9UB8SO/

To Master and Defend, Book 2 https://www.amazon.com/Master-Defend-Dungeon-Fantasy-Club-ebook/dp/B01FNG23HI/

Two Doms for Kara, Book 3 https://www.amazon.com/Doms-Kara-Dungeon-Fantasy-Club-ebook/dp/B01GXGOAK0/

His Driven Domme, Book 4 https://www.amazon.com/Driven-Domme-Dungeon-Fantasy-Club-ebook/dp/B01IIUY8Y2

Her Country Master, Book 5 https://goo.gl/YWhLqm

Love Me, Master Me, Book 6 https://goo.gl/QlTE9u

Submit To Me, Book 7 https://goo.gl/Or8pYr

Her Wired Dom, Book 8 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MRJY9TF/

Pleasure Island Series

Her Master & Commander, Book 1 https://www.amazon.com/Master-Commander-Pleasure-Island-Book-ebook/dp/B06Y5SVVB9/

Her Music Masters, Book 2 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0711R9D1H/

Their Shy Submissive, Book 3 https://goo.gl/ufyJLn

Her Lawful Master, Book 4 https://www.amazon.com/Lawful-Master-Pleasure-Island-Book-ebook/dp/B073SRDNNT

Her Rockstar Dom, Book 5 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075VSGP8Q

Duets & Dominance, Book 6 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075TG9RYC

Her Undercover Dom, Book 7 https://goo.gl/HKhVba

Ménage In Paradise, Book 8 https://goo.gl/qce2BD

Her Rodeo Masters, Book 9 https://goo.gl/HDZw6v

Cuffs & Spurs Series

His Scandalous Love https://www.amazon.com/Scandalous-Love-Cuffs-Spurs-Book-ebook/dp/B079GBB57Z

His Unexpected Love https://www.amazon.com/His-Unexpected-Love-Carter-Beginning-ebook/dp/B07C2NBGLQ

His Wicked Love https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07B661RP1

His Untamed Love https://www.amazon.com/Untamed-Love-Cuffs-Spurs-Book-ebook/dp/B07D9ZDHMH

His Tempting Love releasing October 15, 2018 https://goo.gl/MrESgd

His Seductive Love releasing November 2018

His Secret Love releasing February 22, 2019

His Cherished Love releasing April 25, 2019

The Alcyran Chronicles

Taken by the Beast https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FYNT21L

Claimed by the Beast releasing March 22, 2019

Loved by the Beast releasing May 24, 2019

Book Links

Amazon https://goo.gl/MrESgd

Bookbub https://www.bookbub.com/books/his-tempting-love-cuffs-and-spurs-book-5-by-anya-summers

Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42141468-his-tempting-love

Anya Summers will be awarding a $15 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Hungry Like the Wolf by Kyla Riley


Hungry Like the Wolf  


Almost a millennium has passed… Niall Cael had been spellbound and entrapped by his stepmother, the new queen of Scotland. Torn between craving blood to feed the vampire in him and needing a mate for the wolf inside of him- he is forever alone and despised as a monster. His entire family had been cursed, torn apart by hatred and pain on what should have been a happy new beginning –but instead, it was the end of all they knew… until he ran into her- quite literally. Holly Baines could not believe the awkward way the handsome man had come onto her right there in the large group of marathon runners. There was something about him that was different, instantly setting her blood afire and her allergies wild. The attraction was intense, but so were the sneezing and hives! His old-fashioned ways made her alpha-type personality rage for control- but when she lets down her guard, her heart yearns for the wildness between them to run free. When an unknown threat resurfaces, will it destroy everything they have built together and the tenuous mated blood bond between them?



Get it on Amazon
Currently just 99 cents!

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About Kyla Riley

Kyla Riley is the secret pen name of an award winning, best-selling author. Dabbling in fantasy, Kyla gets to explore another world that brings her in contact with vampires, ghosts, werewolves and witchcraft. Please look around, explore and have fun as she brings you stories that will delight and set your blood pumping.


I was compensated via Fiverr for sharing this post. I only share those books that I feel will be of interest to my readers.