Lessons in Lemonade

Title: Lessons in Lemonade

Series: Starving for Southern Series

Author: Kathryn Andrews

Genre: Contemporary/Sports Romance

Release Date: April 28, 2020

Meg Dukette

When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade.

I believe in living my best life, and if surviving cancer taught me anything, it’s exactly that. I wake every day in the most beautiful city in the South, I’m a chef at my own restaurant, and everything is just the way I want it: easy, calm, and in perfect harmony—that is, until my best friend shows up with his wounded heart, smoldering gaze, and adorable dimples. Now, things are changing—we are changing—but with the promises I’ve made to myself, I don’t want them to. After everything I’ve been through, breaking them now seems unthinkable, but the alternative might be a lesson my heart’s not prepared to learn.

Jack Willett

Just when you think life is the best it’s ever been, fate has a way of intercepting. 

I’ve spent ten years playing in the NFL, and with one wrong hit, my world comes crashing down. Now, I’m at the crossroads of what might become my past and a very different future. What I need is time and my best friend. Her gorgeous smiles, sexy legs, and optimistic outlook on life make the world brighter, better, and I’ve quickly found myself craving her more and more. She says we’re just friends, says that’s all we’ll ever be, but actions speak louder than words. It’s time to change the game, and I’m ready to pass the ball. I just hope she’ll be on the other end to catch it.

He’s her best friend. 

She’s quickly turned into something more. 

Will making a play for her heart be more bitter than sweet? Or will it add just the right amount of zest to make the most delicious ending of all . . .

Kathryn Andrews loves stories that end with a happily ever after. She started writing at age seven and never stopped. Kathryn is an Amazon Bestseller for her much loved Hale Brothers Series and is a chi-lit, contemporary romance, and new adult writer. 

Kathryn graduated from the University of South Florida with degrees in Biology and Chemistry, and currently lives in Tampa, Florida. She spends her days as a sales director for a medical device company and her nights lost in her love of fictional characters.

When Kathryn is not crafting beautiful worlds that incorporate some of her most favorite real life places, she can be found hanging out with her husband and two young sons, while drinking iced coffee and enjoying the sun. To find out more about Kathryn and her novels, visit: www.kandrewsauthor.com

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Beyond the Book: A New Book

Since staying home due to the coronavirus, I’ve done a lot of reading, and I’ve done some writing too. I’m working on a book that I started some time ago. I decided to share a scene with you. Here’s the scenario. A passenger jet has just gone through some strange and unusual turbulence. They think they’ve been thrown off course because they can’t find the city of Miami or the airport. Fuel is running low so they have to make an emergency landing on the beach. This is the end of that scene. You’ll meet some of the major characters, but our heroine and her rival aren’t in the picture yet. It’s a work in progress so if you see something I need to work on, do say something. I don’t know anything about airplanes so I might have something wrong.

He turned off the intercom, and they began the emergency landing procedure.  Brent had never had to do this before, and he prayed he’d prove equal to the task.  The ground rushed up to meet them.  Even a skilled pilot could come to grief making such a landing.  The plane flew ever lower and glided gently onto the beach.  And all hell broke loose.

The plane charged across the soft sand, its nose streaking toward the ocean.  They hit a small hump on the beach, and the tail whipped around, metal screaming in protest.

Miraculously the plane stayed upright, but it changed directions and slid sideways toward the trees.  It came to rest scant inches from the forest.

Brent let out breath he hadn’t been aware of holding and shakily rubbed his hands across his watery eyes.  The way his heart still raced and thumped in his chest he’d be lucky to stand up without falling down.  A great many lives had depended on setting down safely.

Beside him Healy fumbled with his seat belt.  “Brent?  You alright?”

“Yeah, I think so.”  Brent unfastened his own seat belt and leaned toward Anders who remained slumped in his seat.  He pressed a finger against Mike’s neck and felt a pulse.  “He’s alive.”

“He must have had a heart attack or stroke.”

“Probably.  I hope he can hang on for a few more hours.  By now we’re overdue, and they’ll be searching for us.”

“Thank God for the locator beacon.” Healy jerked at his tie and shrugged off his coat.  “I hope they get here soon.”

“Why don’t we see about our passengers?  One of them might be a doctor.”

Frank brightened.  “Yeah, good idea, and we can find Mike a more comfortable place to rest.”

They opened the cockpit door, but they didn’t see anyone in first class.  “Did everyone already deplane?” Brent asked.  “Those stewardesses are good.”

“Brent, look!  The doors are still closed!”

They walked from one end of the silent, empty plane to the other, but nobody answered their calls, and nobody hailed them from the beach.  They were alone.

A Date for Midnight

Title: A Date for Midnight

Series: The Dating Series

Authors: Heidi McLaughlin & LP Dover 

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Release Date: April 28, 2020

It’s New Year’s Eve and Natalie has a rare night off from her shifts at the hospital. Determined to have fun with friends, she stops at a local store for provisions.

There, amongst the craft beer and pork rinds, she comes face to face with her high school boyfriend, Brennan McLean. He’s a rockstar. She’s a nurse. To say life led them in different directions would be putting it mildly. Still, time hasn’t lessened the electric chemistry between them. By the end of the night more was dropping than just the ball.

Convincing herself she could have fun without getting attached, Natalie treats herself to a weekend tangled in the sheets with him. But that lie she told herself pops faster than champagne bubbles.

With media rumors swirling around Brennan, can the pair find a way to make their unlikely relationship work? Or will Natalie’s resolution not to get her heart broken meet a painful end?

I walk over to the beer aisle and there’s a worker buffing the floors and another man standing by the beer, looking at the different brands. He’s just as bundled up as I am.
Taking a deep breath, I glance over all the different beers. I try to look at the selection in front of the man, but I don’t want to invade his space so I stick to what’s in front of me. Callum likes different types of beer and not the usual Budweiser or Corona. That’s what makes this so difficult. He always picks out unusual flavors. One time, he had a fixation on a peanut butter and jelly beer. I tried it and it really did have a peanut butter taste.
“All right, let’s see,” I say quietly, perusing all the different specialty beers. The man beside me tenses as if he’s standing beside a lunatic talking to herself. Oh wait, I was. I’m pretty sure it’s not the craziest thing he’ll be witnessing tonight.
Closing my eyes, I reach out and grab two packs of beer. Callum’s just going to have to deal with what I get. I open my eyes and look at what I picked. One is an apple cider beer and the other is an IPA.
I turn to the man and clear my throat. I can’t see his face because it’s hidden by the hood of his coat. “I am so sorry to bother you, but have you by any chance tried any of these? I just want to know if they’re good or not.”
He freezes and steps slowly away from the beer as if I scared him. He doesn’t move or reply, which is strange and makes me regret asking him in the first place. Now, all I want to do is get away from him. But everything changes when his face comes into view.
My eyes go wide and my breath hitches in my lungs. A set of familiar brown eyes meet mine and it’s as if everything around me disappears. “Oh my God,” I whisper, trying to catch my breath. My arms go weak and I can feel the beers slipping from my grasp, but the man in front of me saves them.
He sets the packs of beer on the floor and stares right into my eyes. “I thought I was imagining things when I heard your voice.” 
My heart skips a beat. It’s been years since I’ve seen him. Brennan McLean. I knew him as my high school boyfriend, but the world knows him as a superstar. I never thought I’d see him again, certainly not after he rose to fame. Letting him go all those years ago was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.

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Heidi McLaughlin is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today Bestselling author of The Beaumont Series, The Boys of Summer, and The Archers.

Originally, from the Pacific Northwest, she now lives in picturesque Vermont, with her husband, two daughters, and their three dogs.

In 2012, Heidi turned her passion for reading into a full-fledged literary career, writing over twenty novels, including the acclaimed Forever My Girl.

When writing isn’t occupying her time, you can find her sitting courtside at either of her daughters’ basketball games.

Heidi’s first novel, Forever My Girl, has been adapted into a motion picture with LD Entertainment and Roadside Attractions, starring Alex Roe and Jessica Rothe, and opened in theaters on January 19, 2018.

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author L. P. Dover is a southern belle living in North Carolina with her husband and two beautiful girls. Everything’s sweeter in the South has always been her mantra and she lives by it, whether it’s with her writing or in her everyday life. Maybe that’s why she’s seriously addicted to chocolate.

Dover has written countless novels in several different genres, including a children’s book with her daughter. Her favorite to write is romantic suspense, but she’s also found a passion in romantic comedy. She loves to make people laugh which is why you’ll never see her without a smile on her face.

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