✯BOOK BLITZ:✯ Clarity 5: Loving Liam by Loretta Lost {EXCERPT + GIVEAWAY!}

Clarity 5: Loving Liam by Loretta Lost

Release Date: April 26th 2016

Genres: New Adult, Romance, Suspense

Happily ever after isn’t always easy… 

Helen and Liam are engaged to be married and their relationship is stronger than ever. But when Helen encourages the young doctor to mend fences with his estranged family before the wedding, she unintentionally opens a dangerous can of worms.

A devastating secret from Liam’s past emerges, threatening to tear him apart. The horrors of his family skeletons make him feel that it is a huge mistake to try to start a new family with Helen. Unable to cope, he pushes everyone away, including his fiancée and even his best friend Owen.

Now Helen must do all she can to save the man who has saved her so many times. Liam has put himself on the line to help her heal in the past, and she hopes to do the same—if she can even get close enough to try…

Purchase: Amazon

{EXCERPT}

“Liam,” I whisper against his shoulder as we lie in the grass. “Is there anything that could make you change your mind about marrying me tomorrow?”

“Nothing at all. Not even if you were born a man. I would just thank the doctor who constructed your female parts, because he’s obviously a genius.”

“I’m serious, Liam. I’ve done something—something I’m not proud of. I don’t know if you’re going to be able to forgive me.”

“Helen,” he says with a smile. “You’re taking advantage of the fact that I’m drunk right now and there’s a good chance I won’t remember any of this in the morning. That’s not fair. You’re supposed to be taking advantage of my body and making love to me under the stars.”

Sliding my hand over his chest, I sigh. “Maybe. But something’s going to happen tomorrow; something that could change everything.

“Our marriage? Yes, it will change everything.”

“No,” I tell him softly, “something else.”

“My love, this is not the time for fear and doubts. I am feeling really good, buzzed on fine champagne, and high on life. I assure you that there is nothing on the planet that could prevent me from marrying you.”

“What about off the planet?” I ask with a nervous smile.

“Let’s see. There aren’t any sexy girls at the International Space Station, but if we take into account all the potential alien species out there—I guess there could be a devastatingly beautiful green female with the power to tempt me away from you. As an ophthalmologist, I do find six eyes way hotter than two.” Liam’s hand has been moving up and down my side, but now it slides down to cup my bottom and gently squeeze. “You’ll just have to give me a really good reason to stay here on Earth, won’t you?”

“What would make you want to stay?” I ask as I wrap my leg around him and snuggle closer.

“Hmmm,” he says thoughtfully. “It might begin to convince me if you’d take off this tantalizing red dress, and let me taste every inch of you.” His hand moves to my back and grasps the top of my zipper and slowly slides it down to release the fabric from around my body.

The cool night breeze wafts over my exposed skin, and I shiver slightly. “Well, if that’s what it will take... I’ll do anything to keep you interested.”

“You Earth girls are so eager to please,” Liam says huskily as he fumbles to unclasp my bra. “Only two breasts instead of three or four? Not that interesting. Can you make it up to me by being a really bad girl?”

“I’ll try my best,” I say softly, slipping my dress off and moving to straddle him. I haven’t had too much to drink, but it seems to have been just enough wine to make me tingly and warm on the inside, and to make this ridiculous little role play feel ridiculously sexy.

Liam moves his hands up to knead and massage my breasts until I moan. “You’re so spoiled, with all your water, and oxygen, and… trees. I should teach you a lesson,” he says, as a mischievous smile settles on his lips.

I smile too, and can’t help but think to myself, I’m marrying this goofball.

AUTHOR BIO:

Loretta Lost is a USA Today bestselling author who writes stories where very bad things happen to good people. Mystery, tragedy, and danger complicate her unique romances between characters who will do anything to protect each other.

In the two days of summer that she gets in Canada, she grows a garden of the hottest peppers in the world. She loves using these peppers to torture her guests and challenge their manhood. This could be why she isn't married.

Subscribe to Loretta's mailing list for updates: www.eepurl.com/O0WTL
You will also receive a FREE book as a gift for signing up! 

Twitter, Website, Facebook, Goodreads

{GIVEAWAY!}

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks for stopping by! :)

✯BOOK BLITZ:✯ Hope by Grier Cooper {EXCERPT + GIVEAWAY!}

Hope by Grier Cooper

Release Date: April 26th 2016 by Dancing Poodle Press

Series: Indigo Dreams #2

Pages: 302

Genres: Contemporary, Young Adult

Perfection. Beauty. Pain. For Indigo Stevens there’s no such thing as weakness or privacy at the famed New York School of Ballet where every movement is scrutinized and judged. Indigo hopes she’ll be chosen for the company, but her ballet teachers aren’t talking and their silence is confusing.

When Indigo is singled out for a coveted solo she feels her dreams are finally within reach, until she discovers she’s dancing with Felipe Gonzalez, the school’s smolderingly hot rising star. In the days that follow, Indigo questions everything she thought was true and finds herself making surprising choices, including the decision to take control of her own future. Will she create the life she wants or lose everything?

Purchase: Amazon

{EXCERPT}

Madame Z cranes her head, looking for someone. “Brianna, dahlink, come to me.” Brianna is always first to be placed. She's the star of our class and the best dancer I've ever seen. It's not enough that she's gorgeous, with long auburn hair, perfect skin and legs that go up to her chin. She's also incredibly nice, which makes it impossible to hate her.

Five more dancers are placed, including Nikki, who slinks past me with a knowing smirk. My heart sinks further each time I'm not chosen. I stare at my feet for comfort. Madame Z's selection process always makes me feel bad. It's like waiting to be chosen for grade school team sports all over again, misfits and losers last. Only it's much worse here because my future depends on it.

“ Eendigo.” I snap to attention when I hear my name. “Come to me here.” Madame Z gestures for me to stand in the middle. Of the fourth row.

I take my spot while she finishes assigning groups and questions erupt in my mind like a flock of irate, clucking hens. Why am I only in the fourth row? And more importantly: What do I have to do to get in the front row?

I'm still trying to figure out the answers when I realize Madame Z has begun demonstrating the next combination. I shake my head and my brain goes quiet. Luckily I'm a quick learner so I know what I'm doing when it's time for my row to go. All the other bodies in the room fade into the background as mine becomes precise machinery, dialed into the tempo. I will my leg higher, push my body to go further. Give more. Give all.

Madame Z starts jumps at exactly 11:18. Maggie and I lock eyes. She points at the clock and cocks a knowing look at me. We have an ongoing bet about what time Madame Z will start jumps–it’s always somewhere around 45 minutes before class ends, which is about double the time any other teacher makes us jump. I roll my eyes. I’ve lost the bet again today.

Twenty minutes later we’re on to the best part of class for me. I love big jumps most of all–those huge leaps where we defy gravity and fly across the room. But it's the moments in between these exercises–when the other group is dancing and my group has to stand and watch–that my resolve waivers. I watch Brianna and wonder if I'll ever be anywhere near the dancer she is. I wonder why we're even in the same class. Her cabrioles are insanely perfect, delicate yet powerful. She flies across the room when she grand jetés.

How can I compare myself to her? I can't.

This is why I'm pretty sure that even though I'm putting every fiber of my being into this class, it's not enough.

AUTHOR BIO:

Grier began ballet lessons at age five and left home at fourteen to study at the School of American Ballet in New York. She has performed on three out of seven continents with companies such as San Francisco Ballet, Miami City Ballet, and Pacific Northwest Ballet, totaling more than thirty years of experience as a dancer, teacher and performer.

Her work has been praised as “poignant and honest” with “emotional hooks that penetrate deeply.” She writes and blogs about dance in the San Francisco Bay Area and has interviewed and photographed a diverse collection dancers and performers including Clive Owen, Nicole Kidman, Glen Allen Sims and Jessica Sutta. She is the author of Build a Ballerina Body and The Daily Book of Photography. 

Website, Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter

{GIVEAWAY!}

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks for stopping by! :)

✯BOOK BLITZ:✯ Safe With You by Sophie Lira {EXCERPT + GIVEAWAY!}

Safe With You by Sophie Lira

Release Date: April 26th 2016 by Swoon Romance

Pages: 254

Genres: Contemporary, New Adult, Romance

O​livia Simon is starting over in the Big Easy. Her new job as a yoga instructor means she gets to pursue her passion, while giving her the motivation she needs to get back on track. But she’s scared. Really scared. Scared her abusive ex-boyfriend will find her. Scared of all things that go bump in the night… and day. She knows her ex will have a claim on her future happiness unless she can find her own peace. Which starts with Kyle.

Kyle Avery, a former college baseball player on the brink of going pro, is also starting over. His dream since Little League was shattered when a jealous rival went too far in a pre-season game. After a few surgeries, all Kyle is left with are a few rods in his leg, a rebuilt knee, and no idea who he is without baseball. But when he trades center field for a yoga mat, he finds solace in a way he never imagined. Kyle knows there’s something about Olivia. Something he needs to move forward.

But Olivia loves to run, and it’s too soon for her to be playing house. Olivia and Kyle want to invest in each other, but the secrets they’ve kept take a dangerous turn when Olivia’s past returns with a vengeance. Devastated and helpless, Olivia wonders who she can really trust, and Kyle questions if he was ever able to keep her safe.

Purchase: Amazon

{EXCERPT}

Kyle, Chapter Six

"You’re killin’ me, Simon.” I lower the bat and look at the imaginary watch on my wrist. “I don’t have all day.”

She sticks her tongue out at me and pitches a floater. It comes toward me in slow motion with a million arrows begging me to launch it into next year. My mind switches off and instinct takes over. Before I can think, my left heel rises off the sandy dirt and I raise the bat back farther. I crush the ball so hard I almost expect the casing to fly off. The sound of contact reverberates and explodes like a strike of lightning splitting a tree. Olivia’s head arcs with the ball and follows it as it lands about ten feet beyond the right field fence.

“Nice throw!” The swing takes my breath away completely. I almost need to use the bat as a cane for support. A familiar smile flows across my face and the rush comes back as if it never left … the rush of playing and knowing this is what my life was meant for. The hole in my heart starts to close and the missing piece reappears as quickly as it went.

“Kyle!” She runs over to me with the same amount of wide-eyed astonishment I think is all over my face. “That was incredible! Your stance, your follow-through, everything was perfect. For someone who hasn’t played in a few years, you’re pretty awesome.” She sighs and the most beautiful smile stretches across her face." 

AUTHOR BIO:

Sophie is represented by Julia Weber & will be publishing her first novel, SAFE WITH YOU, on 04/26/2016, by Swoon Romance 

Website, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads

{GIVEAWAY!}

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks for stopping by! :)

☼Freebie Tuesday (Edition #116)☼

☼ Happy Tuesday! ☼

I will be tweeting random freebies that I can find on any given day so if you're looking for more free books make sure to follow me on twitter @JackieBookWorld. :)

***Note that there will be some books that will be free for limited time only, so make sure to download them as soon as you can. Also if there is any specific genre that you guys want me to find books of, let me know in the comment section below. (:  Enjoy! 

*Older Editions will be linked on the menu section (above) under Freebie Tuesday:)

Teaching the Boss 
by Mallory Crowe
Release Date: March 11th 2015 by Sprinters Press
Series: Billionaires in the City #1Pages: 164
Genres: Romance, Contemporary

Business-school student April Morgan is ready to graduate--from school, from the secretary pool, and from never-gonna-happen fantasies involving Sam Hunt, her hunky billionaire boss. But when Sam’s girlfriend of the week pushes her too far, April finds herself quitting on the spot with only a mountain of student loan debt to keep her company. In steps Sam’s worst enemy, his father, with a job offer she can't refuse.

Sam was born into privilege, but refused to live life with a silver spoon in his mouth. After a decade of hard work, he’s on the verge of taking his business public and proving to his tyrannical family that he can make it without their help. When he finds out that April is working for his father, he knows she’s been turned into a pawn in his father’s twisted games.

Despite Sam’s warnings, April is determined to prove she doesn’t need him to make in New York City. But when she finds documents that could lead to Sam losing everything he’s worked for, April realizes that she and Sam have to work together to save the empire they’ve both worked to build.
(Synopsis taken from Goodreads)

         

Dear Emily 

by Trudy Stiles

Release Date: December 3rd 2013 by Trudy Stiles

Series: Forever Family #1

Pages: 280

Genres: Romance, New Adult

Two women. Carly and Tabitha. They each have suffered life-altering events that have left them both traumatically damaged. 

Carly Sloan’s life was perfect until her security and innocence was torn from her. The vast repercussions from these events threaten to destroy her stability and her chances for a happily ever after. Kyle Finnegan comes into Carly’s life at the height of her turmoil. Can he help her find what she desires most?

Tabitha Fletcher has constantly suffered from a very young age. She has been hiding from her past, which was full of sadness, loss and abuse. She has been so brutally damaged that she has very little hope for redemption. The revolving door of men only leads her deeper into misery. 

What circumstance brings these two women together and can they help each other heal? And will they each find what they need? 

Redemption.

Love.

Family.

“Dear Emily” is the first book in the “Forever Family” series. 

This book is not suitable for young readers. It is intended for mature adults only (18+) containing adult situations, non-consensual sex and some violence.

(Synopsis taken from Goodreads)

      

Happy Reading! :)

✯BOOK BLITZ:✯ It’s Always Complicated by Julia Kent {EXCERPT + GIVEAWAY!}

It’s Always Complicated by Julia Kent

Release Date: April 27th 2016 by Prosaic Press

Pages: 400

Genres: Adult, Contemporary

Take two men, one woman, three children. Stir in one best friend and her fiancé doctor. Whisk one best friend's niece, her two rock star boyfriends, and add a grizzled old octogenarian diner owner with a naughty mouth and her eighty-something boyfriend who loves every minute of her.

Put them all in a campground in northern Maine where the owners' daughter has two special men of her own. Bake for 400 pages.

It's Always Complicated is the sprawling saga of how Laura, Mike and Dylan (Her Billionaires) and Josie and Alex (It's Complicated) have the wedding of a lifetime at Escape Shores Campground (the Obedient series) while Darla, Trevor and Joe (the Random series) make an appearance with a cast of characters that includes cameos from the Warlock Waitress and maybe...just maybe...Mavis the Chicken.

This book combines three of Julia Kent's series in a madcap spectacle that yields one universal truth: love is a journey and not a destination, but people will drive you crazy along the way.

Enjoy the ride.

Purchase: iBooks, Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon Canada, Amazon Australia, B&N, Kobo

{EXCERPT}

A small crowd of men wearing gun holsters ran past Josie and Alex, followed by three uniformed TSA agents.

“I wonder what that’s about?” Alex marveled, his eyes tracking the fracas. He and Josie had come to the Portland, Maine airport to pick up her mother, Marlene, and Aunt Cathy, Uncle Mike and her new Uncle Calvin. All the Ohio relatives were here for her and Alex’s wedding.

A cold wave of dread washed over her. They were running toward the baggage claim for the airline her entire family was on.

“I’ll bet it’s my mother,” she groaned, leaning against him for support. His strong arm wrapped around her shoulders and gave her the comfort she needed. Too bad he couldn’t give her a second backbone made of steel.

If he could, she knew, he would. The thought made her smile.

“I’m sure it’s nothing,” he said, giving her a squeeze. She looked up at him. Way up, given the enormous height difference between the two of them. His warm, brown eyes met hers and for an instant, she wondered if he might be right. That eternally positive outlook he had was a bit infectious.

Maybe she needed to stop assuming the worst of every situation.

A rotund security guard huffed and puffed, running past them, holding what looked like a spare uniform. He was talking into a walkie-talkie.

“Naked?” Huff huff. “She’s naked? What size?”Huff huff.

Alex’s kind eyes filled with alarm. It was both charming and horrifying. Josie couldn’t quite decide which impression she enjoyed more. There was a kind of schadenfreude in realizing she was right. His idealism was sweet, but sometimes she needed him to be more of a realist.

And Marlene served up an entire buffet of realism.

“Mile High Club again?” the guard asked, pausing to catch his breath. Josie watched him with a morbid fascination.

“You don’t really think it’s your mom in there, Josie,” Alex said. He caressed her shoulder absent-mindedly, watching the guard. “I mean—”

“Two men in one bathroom with a naked woman?” the guard barked into his walkie-talkie, eyebrows hitting the brim of his hat.

Josie snorted, the sense of dread spreading.

“How could it be anyone else?”

“That sounds more like something Darla would do,” Alex said. “You sure she’s still in Boston and not on this flight?”

Just as Josie was about to reply, the commotion got louder.

“MARLENE!” Josie heard the sense of outrage in her Aunt Cathy’s voice. The airport was small, but not that small. Cathy’s voice could carry. “WHAT IN THE HELL HAPPENED TO YOUR CLOTHES?"

AUTHOR BIO:

New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author Julia Kent writes romantic comedy with an edge, and new adult books that push contemporary boundaries. From billionaires to BBWs to rock stars, Julia finds a sensual, goofy joy in every book she writes, but unlike Trevor from Random Acts of Crazy, she has never kissed a chicken. 

Website, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads

{GIVEAWAY!}

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks for stopping by! :)

✯BOOK BLITZ:✯ The Billionaire Next Door (Billionaire Brothers #1) by Lauren Hawkeye {EXCERPT}

✯BOOK BLITZ✯

The Billionaire Next Door by Lauren Hawkeye

Release Date: April 14th 2016 by Calluna Vulgaris Books

Series: Billionaire Brothers #1

Genres: Romance, Contemporary

Powerful and refined, Prince Reign Bishop is a contradiction. He's strong-willed and determined, but he's shackled to his family name--a name that women fall prey to. But even with all the wealth and royalty of the world in the palm of his hand, Reign still can't have the one thing he wants most--Everly Allen. 

Sassy and feisty, Everly is certainly not going to bow down to the prince's every command. Despite their uncontrollable heat and undeniable attraction, she refuses to take orders from a man like him. Ready to even up the score, Everly prepares to fight for all that she deserves--even if it means taking on the billionaire next door. 

Purchase: Amazon, Kobo

{EXCERPT}

Gripping the doorknob, I softly opened the door. My gaze flickered around the room first, taking in the scene that Ilya had set—soft shadows cast in the glow of candles, scenting the room heavily with vanilla, an intricate display of silk scarves and feathers and blindfolds laid out on an antique trunk that I myself had purchased for the club. Lilting music danced softly in the air. Altogether a far more romantic scene than I would have set, and my need for control grumbled for a moment, protesting that I’d walked into someone else’s scene.

But then I saw her, and a bright, unexpected flash of pleasure snapped through me, pulling tight in my veins. She knelt on the bed, facing away from me, knees braced on the silken sheets. Her hair, a long cascade of gold that fell halfway down her back, was streaked through with pink. Her body mimicked the shape of an hourglass, making my hands instantly itch to touch.

Best of all? The back of her bright blue dress dipped low enough to show the delicate curve of her spine, which was lavishly adorned with ink.

Not the kind of woman I would have chosen for myself at all… and yet the knife edge of pleasure told me that, with the past weighing so heavily on my mind tonight, this—she—was exactly what I needed.

My irritation at Ilya dissipated as I stepped into the room, letting the door shut behind me loudly. Deliberately. I noted the shiver that passed over the woman’s skin as the sound echoed throughout the room, and I savored the reaction.

No, this woman definitely wasn’t what I’d wanted. But the anticipation swirling through the room told me that just maybe she was going to be what I’d need.

I chose to remain silent, knowing that the anticipation of uncertainty would increase the woman’s potential pleasure. And though I hadn’t expected it, hearing her breath quicken made the dark pleasure I craved so much gather in my gut.

I always enjoyed my time with a woman. The fairer sex was sweet, soft, delicious—what wasn’t to love?

But it was rare indeed to find that flicker of true desire. More rare still to experience it at first sight.

I owed Ilya a case of the Russian vodka he so greatly prized.

All thoughts of following the routine I usually used with neophytes fled my mind as I crossed the room. Still remaining silent, I crawled onto the bed behind where she’d seated herself. Rising to my knees, I took a handful of that rose gold hair and tugged gently. She gasped, tilting her head automatically to get a look at my face.

Remaining silent, I redirected her gaze to the window with another tug. The glass framed a watery reflection, dimmed further by the pale blue hue of twilight—a ghostly version of the potential intimacy playing out in the room.

In that image, she could have been anyone, as could I.

It was fucking hot.

About LAUREN HAWKEYE

Lauren Hawkeye/ Lauren Jameson never imagined that she’d wind up telling stories for a living… though when she looks back, it’s easy to see that she’s the only one who is surprised. Always “the kid who read all the time”, Lauren made up stories about her favorite characters once she’d finished a book… and once spent an entire year narrating her own life internally. No, really. But where she was just plain odd before publication, now she can at least claim to have an artistic temperament.

Lauren lives in the Rocky Mountains of Alberta, Canada with her husband, toddler, pit bull and idiot cat, though they do not live in an igloo, nor do they drive a dogsled. In her nonexistent spare time Lauren can be found knitting (her husband claims that her snobby yarn collection is exorbitant), reading anything she can get her hands on, or sweating her way through spin class. She loves to hear from her readers! 

Goodreads, Website, Twitter

Thanks for stopping by! :)

✯BOOK BLITZ:✯ Let Me by Cecy Robson {EXCERPT + GIVEAWAY!}

Let Me by Cecy Robson

Release Date: April 19th 2016 by Cecy Robson, LLC

Series: O'Brien Family #2

Pages: 263

Genres: Contemporary, New Adult, Romance

Once he was broken beyond repair. Now this MMA contender is fighting to be a better man—for her. RT Book Reviews proclaims that the O’Brien Family series from award-winning author Cecy Robson “has the hottest brothers ever!” And in Let Me, it is Finn’s turn to discover how love can heal the deepest wounds.

A mixed martial arts star on the rise, Finn O’Brien dismantles his opponents with brutal precision. And yet beneath his fierce persona, Finn is raw from a trauma he’s buried for years . . . until the day his deep-rooted rage erupts and lands him in court-mandated therapy. Finn’s not one to bare his soul, but if talking it out means meeting beautiful women like Sol Marieles, he’ll give it a shot.

Sol is working toward her masters degree in psychology, and already she feels like she’s in over her head. With an important internship on the line and a scary family situation demanding her attention, the last thing Sol needs is Finn around to distract her. The man is ripped and seriously sexy yet it’s his troubled side that warns her to keep her distance. But their attraction is intense, and he clearly has the heat to see how far and fast their passion takes them.

Alone, Finn and Sol have been fighting to find happiness in their lives. Together, there’s no stopping them as they face their greatest challenges—not in the ring, but in their hearts.

Purchase: Amazon, B&N, iTunes, Kobo

{EXCERPT}

Chapter One 

Finn 

I see the strike coming at me a split second before it connects with my skull. My head snaps back from the force, the crowds’ hollers resonating like a muffled cry in the distance. It was a good punch― lightning quick with enough impact to knock most guys on their asses. But I’m not most guys.

You hit me, I’m only going to hit you harder.

My right hand shoots up, blocking and smacking away the kick gunning for my ribs. I pivot out of the way, again, and again, and again, avoiding Easton’s arms and legs as they come at me. He’s fast, strong, with a six inch reach advantage. But he’s too eager to take me out and not pacing himself like he should. Already he’s breathing hard and it’s just the start of the second round.

I take my time to figure him out, planning each move, searching for that opening I need. Do I take a few bashes because of it? Sure. It’s part of the job. But believe it or not, it’s part of the job I look forward to.

Those punches and kicks remind me that I still feel, that I’m still human. And that for now, I’m still alive.

“Oh!” some drunk behind me yells when my uppercut finds Easton’s chin.

He staggers back, swiping the blood oozing from his lip, yet he keeps his grin. He’s trying to make like it was a lucky shot. That it won’t happen again.

Like me, Easton needs to win this match. And if he does, he’ll move up to the top ten, making him a contender for the UFC Lightweight title.

Talent aside, the guy’s a raging asshole, and so are the idiots in his training camp. They’ve been trash-talking since the moment I agreed to this match. I didn’t really care and laughed most of it off until they got personal and took it a step too far.

Again he nails me in the head. It’s not as hard as it was last time which tells me he’s getting tired. Does it hurt? I guess.

But let’s say I’m a guy who’s used to pain.

Easton grins. He thinks I’m afraid of him. He thinks he has me where he wants me. But fear is an emotion I don’t allow myself to entertain. Fear gets you hurt and rips you apart till you think there’s nothing left.

I dodge out of reach. He scowls and takes another swing. This one gets close enough to my jaw to create a breeze that whips across my skin.

“Finn,” my brother Killian barks from the side. “Take him out now.”

He’s worried about me. So is my family. But now’s not the time to think about them. I keep my hands up as I edge away, letting Easton think I’m backing down, that I’m tired and need to catch my breath.

I sidestep when he lunges forward, avoiding his next swing and use the momentum to drop my head and nail him in the temple with a roundhouse kick.

Like I said, Easton’s fast.

Too bad for him I’m a little bit faster.

The kick is my signature move, as natural for me as the next breath. He goes down like I planned. But in the Octagon you don’t stop just because your opponent collapses like timber. You charge forward. You show him what you’re made of. And you prove just how tough you really are.

That muffled screaming, isn’t so muffled anymore. The crowd loses their shit as I pounce, my blows nailing Easton in the face until the ref’s arms hook beneath mine as he hauls me off. I back away, my fists up because I already know I won.

I should do a back flip or some crazy shit to incite the crowd. This is it. My time has come to own it. But the good things aren’t as great as they can be. Not with the memories that haunt me. And not with the anger they stir.

Killian rushes in as the medic wipes down my face. I’m bleeding from the punch Easton caught me with at the beginning of the round. I didn’t think it was that bad, but the way the ringside medic is pressing the towel against my head clues me in the gash isn’t closing like it should.

“I’m going to have to stitch you up, Fury,” he mumbles.

“I figured,” I tell him.

Kill pats my back. “Good job,” he says.

Maybe he believes it, but I don’t miss the concern in his voice. He thinks I took too many unnecessary hits. I can’t really argue, seeing how it’s true.

He doesn’t understand that I don’t feel those strikes the way I should. Hell, I don’t think I’ve felt anything the way I should in a long time. Not like I used to. I try to tell myself that maybe that’ a good thing. That numbness is better than pain. But I’m not so convinced anymore, and neither is my family. I try to shrug it off like I’m fine. Except given the way they’ve been eyeing me, I’m not fooling anyone.

I’m scaring everyone around me. And it sucks. Not only because I don’t want them scared, but mostly because I don’t know how to stop it.

“The referee has called a stop to this match at two-minutes and forty-nine seconds into the second round,” the announcer begins. “The winner by TKO, Finn ‘The Fury’ O’Brien.”

The crowd screams and pumps their fists in the air when my hand is raised. I take the few seconds I need to thank my sponsors, my camp, and my brother, because that’s what I’m supposed to do despite the fog clouding my senses. I wish that disconnect had something to do with all the hits I took, but deep down I know that it doesn’t.

I’m back in the locker room before I know it getting stitched up, too many people talking at once. God, I barely hear their questions or my responses. But they’re there and somehow I make it through.

“I’m worried about you, Finnie,” Kill says when everyone piles out.

“Don’t. I’m not drinking tonight. I’m headed home,” I assure him.

“That’s not what I mean,” he says. He’s sitting in a fold out chair, his arms resting against his muscular legs. “I think you need to talk to someone.”

I stretch out my arms. By now they’re so tight, they pull against the bones. “I am. I’m talking to you.”

I don’t have to see him to know he’s shaking his head, or that he’s looking sad, disappointed, and maybe something else, too. “I’m not who you should be speaking to,” he says. “Not for what’s going on in your head.”

“You’re enough,” I say, even though I know it’s no longer true.

“Finn,” he begins.

I don’t wait for him to finish, leaving the changing area and heading toward the showers. “Go find Sofia and Wren,” I call over my shoulder as I strip out my shirt. “See if they’re up for some dinner.”

I don’t remember peeling the rest of my clothes off. That numbness I’ve been feeling too much lately claiming me like a mist until it fully engulfs me. Fuck. It’s like I’ve stopped living even though for the most part I think I’m still alive.

I lean against the tile with my arms spread, allowing the water to beat against my back. It’s too hot. I should turn it down, but I don’t bother. Eventually, like everything else, the sensation fades.

I’m not sure how long I’m in that position. A few seconds? A few minutes? But then Easton and his trainer Yefim are suddenly there. “You got lucky, O’Brien,” Yefim calls out, taunting me with his thick eastern European accent.

Shit. Like all the trash talk before the fight wasn’t enough.

“Did you hear me, you pussy?” he fires back when I don’t answer. “Did you hear me, you goddamn coward?”

Coward? Fuck you. It’s what I think, but not what I say, focusing instead on the streams of water that gather along my feet before they swirl into the drain.

It doesn’t help. The rage that’s building, the one I only manage to barely keep in? It stirs in my gut like a heavy pot filled with hate, sin, and all the curses my Ma would still beat my ass for saying.

“What’re you doing?” Yefim asks.

His voice is closer, he’s drawing near. I doesn’t matter that I’m standing here naked. He wants to be next to me. I shudder, that feeling I keep buried drilling its way up.

“I know about you,” Yefim says, not bothering to keep his voice low. “But everyone knows, don’t they? Even if you don’t want them to.”

My body shakes a little more, but it’s not from the cooling water. It’s from his words and all that anger they trigger. Don’t do it. Don’t go there.

“You like to keep it a secret. Don’t you, pussy?”

Yefim laughs when I keep my trap shut. He thinks I’m backing down, just like Easton did before his face met the mat. “He’s crying,” he calls out to Easton. “What? Not so tough now?”

That’s where he’s dead wrong. Every muscle I’ve conditioned serves a purpose―to take down those who fuck with me. And right now, Yefim is seriously fucking with me.

“You like to pretend that it’s girls you like, don’t you?” he says. “But that’s not true, is it? Oh, no, that’s not true at all . . .”

I raise my chin, knowing that someone’s not leaving without bleeding, and I’ve bled enough tonight.

Yefim kicks at my calf. “What? Nothing to say? Can’t speak without your boyfriend here?”

“Boyfriend?” Easton asks, laughing. “No fucking way.”

“Yes. Way,” Yefim insists. “Didn’t you know this little pussy takes it up the ass―”

I punch him so hard, I feel his teeth crack against my knuckles. For someone with decades of boxing experience he never saw me coming. But I see Easton flying at me out of the corner of my eye. I toss him over my shoulder, slamming him hard onto the ceramic tile floor. Like in the octagon, I throw myself on top of him, my fists colliding against his skin.

Voices rush forward, telling me to stop. A woman screams, but I don’t stop fighting off the bodies trying to grab me, breaking through the arms wrenching me back. I need to hit him―I need to feel my fists meeting his face―I need to feel something.

God damn it. I need to feel alive.

I don’t want the pain.

I don’t want the terror.

But once more, it’s all I feel. 

AUTHOR BIO:

Cecy Robson is a new adult and contemporary author of the Shattered Past series, the O’Brien Family novels and upcoming Carolina Beach novels, as well as the award-winning author of the Weird Girls urban fantasy romance series. A 2016 double nominated RITA®finalist for Once Pure and Once Kissed, Cecy is a recovering Jersey girl living in the South who enjoys carbs way too much, and exercise way too little. Gifted and cursed with an overactive imagination, you can typically find her on her laptop silencing the yappy characters in her head by telling their stories. 

Website, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads

{GIVEAWAY!}

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks for stopping by! :)

✯BOOK BLITZ:✯ Broken Fate by Jennifer Derrick {EXCERPT + GIVEAWAY!}

Broken Fate by Jennifer Derrick

Release Date: April 18th 2016 by Clean Teen Publishing

Pages: 282

Genres: Mythology, Romance, Young Adult

Zeus gave her one simple job: Kill every human. Atropos-daughter of Zeus and the third goddess of Fate from Greek mythology -spends her eternal life snipping human lifelines when their mortal lives are over. As if being a killer doesn't make life miserable enough, she and her Fate-wielding sisters must live amongst the humans on Earth thanks to a long-running feud between their mother and Zeus. Living on Earth means they must mingle with the mortals, attend the local high school, and attempt to fit in-or at least not stand out too much. 

Killing and mingling don't mix, which is why Atropos' number-one rule is to avoid all relationships with the humans. Caring for the people she has to kill is a fast track to insanity. However, when Alex Morgan walks into her first-period English class, she knows she's in for trouble. He's the worst kind of human for her to like-one with a rapidly approaching expiration date. And he makes Atropos want to break all the rules.

Purchase: Amazon, B&N, Kobo, iTunes

{EXCERPT}

When he struggles to sit up, I help him. He looks down at the blood and goo splattered on his clothes and the wounds on his chest. Then he looks at me and takes in the blood splatters on my clothes. Finally, he looks toward the cave entrance and sees my sword standing at attention there. Turning to me again, he asks the only reasonable question.

“What the hell was that?”

He follows it with

the only other reasonable question and the one I’m dreading more than any other.

“And what the hell are you?”

My heart breaks a little at the betrayal in his voice. I was a fool for thinking I could keep my true self a secret.

“I always knew you weren’t normal,” he says. “Always running off, missing school, never talking about yourself except in the most general terms, never mentioning your family. I knew there was something you were hiding. But I never dreamed it would be this, this—” He falters, unable to find the right word to describe what he’s just witnessed.

“Disgusting? Frightening? Horrifying?” I try to finish for him, hanging my head in shame. “You’re right. It’s all of that and more.”

He thinks for a moment, and I see the most amazing transformation pass over his face as he processes what just happened. He actually smiles at me.

“No, no. The word I’m looking for is badass. I had no idea. I mean you were so cool with that sword. And those horses! That was so awesome.” His smile is huge now. He’s thrilled by what he’s seen, not scared.

I don’t know whether to laugh or cry, so I end up giggling a little hysterically. Here I am expecting recriminations, fear, and hatred, and he’s complimenting me? This guy is crazier than most of the gods. I force myself to stop laughing and to treat this mess with the seriousness it deserves.

“You’re not traumatized? Scared? Afraid to be in the same room with me because I might do to you what I did to the Keres?”

“No. I’m a dead man anyway. Even if you intend to kill me, it doesn’t matter, does it? But I would like to know what you really are and what that was about.”

I hang my head. “I’m not supposed to tell you,” I say, knowing the right course of action is to flush his memory immediately, not engage him in conversation.

“Hello,” he says, motioning to the still-bleeding wounds on his chest. “I’m the one with holes in me, here. I deserve to know the truth, don’t you think?”

He’s right. Even if I can’t let him remember it forever, in this moment, I owe him the truth.

“You’re not going to like me when I’m finished,” I warn.

“I’ll judge that.”

I inhale and decide to begin with the simplest yet hardest fact. The one that will turn his admiration of me into hate and fear.

“My real name isn’t Sophie. It’s Atropos.”

When that doesn’t get a reaction, I press on. “I am the third goddess of fate. I am the one who cuts human lifelines and ends your mortal lives.”

AUTHOR BIO:

Jennifer is a freelance writer and novelist. As a freelancer, she writes everything from technical manuals to articles on personal finance and European-style board games. Her interest in storytelling began when she was six and her parents gave her a typewriter for Christmas and agreed to pay her $.01 per page for any stories she churned out. Such a loose payment system naturally led to a lot of story padding. Broken Fate, her first novel, earned her $2.80 from her parents.

Jennifer lives in North Carolina and, when not writing, can often be found reading, trawling the shelves at the library, playing board games, watching sports, camping, running marathons, and playing with her dog. You can visit her at her official website:www.JenniferDerrick.com. 

Website, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest

{GIVEAWAY!}

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks for stopping by! :)