Friday, August 30, 2024

The Husband Chair

                          


                                THE HUSBAND CHAIR

Nick Bannister

 

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GENRE:  Humorous Fiction

 

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BLURB:

 

Our hero: Bone tired. Lost. Desolate. A man pushed to the outer limits of his very being. His struggle: Satisfy the need to rest whilst still supporting his beloved in her hour of need.

 

While his wife negotiates a seemingly endless list of fashion stores in her quest for perfection, her loving husband must stave off the weariness that visits each partner in a shopping spree with their significant other.

 

Fighting hunger, rising frustration and the mental fatigue associated with tracking credit card usage, will he ever find peace? And honestly, can he just go and sit down for a minute...

 

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EXCERPTS

Excerpt One:

 

Awake! Sun is shining, it’s Saturday morning.

I sit up in bed with some stretching and yawning.

My beautiful wife, the love of my life,

Looks terribly grim and it signals a warning...

 

I ask her, “My darling, what troubles you so?”

She goes on to tell me her tale of woe.

“I’ve booked a girls’ dinner but I’ve nothing to wear!”

And now I must prepare for what she will declare.

 


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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

 

Nick Bannister: Nick & Terry are long-time friends & first-time author/illustrators. Each has their own vast experience with husband chairs, as both are happily married.

 

Both reside in Brisbane, Australia.

 

 

CONNECT WITH Nick Bannister

 

WEBSITE: https://nickbannisterauthor.com/ 

 

GOODREADS: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/49040336.Nick_Bannister 

 

 

PURCHASE LINKS 

 

AMAZON.COM.AU

https://amazon.com.au/dp/1779410816

 

INDIGO CHAPTERS

https://www.indigo.ca/en-ca/the-husband-chair/9781779410818.html

 

BOOKTOPIA

https://www.booktopia.com.au/search.ep?keywords=9781779410818

 

 

 

Goodreads Book Giveaway

The Husband Chair by Nick Bannister

The Husband Chair

by Nick Bannister

Giveaway ends September 15, 2024.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

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Thursday, August 29, 2024

Endless /southern Summer

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Title: Endless Southern Love
Series: Magnolia Grove Series
Author: Heidi McLaughlin
Genre/Tropes: Small Town; Second Chance; Single Dad; Enemies-to-Lovers
Release Date: August 29, 2024 





Single dad, Wade Jenkins, Magnolia Grove’s landscaping hottie who likes to mow lawns without a shirt on is thrown for a loop when his spirited seven-year-old daughter Goldie comes to live with him. While Wade’s thrilled to have his daughter full-time, there’s one little issue . . .

The elementary school principal.

Lemon Walsh is a woman who doesn’t live life to the fullest, despite her best friend urging her to all the time. When someone from her past shows up front and center, she has no choice but to finally reconcile the decision she made in college.

Will one of her students be the catalyst for change?



“Wade . . .” I say his name for the first time, to him, in years. It hurts, hearing my voice call out to him.

He stops and sets his shovel down. I didn’t expect him to walk toward me, but he does. Each step of his is deliberate and forceful, almost like he’s trying to leave his impression in the grass. He’s wearing his khaki cargo pants and from experience I know each pocket has something he’ll need today. A tool, twine, or trimmer line for the weed wacker. I’ve spent countless hours sitting on my parent’s front porch, watching him cut lawn with precision.

I’m out of breath when he comes face to face with me. He stands close. Close enough that we share the same air. Everything in my mind tells me to step back, to put a wall between us, but my heart sings at the closeness. I know I’ll never win the battle of hating him as long as we’re in the same town.

We stare at one another, taking each other in. His dark hair, brown eyes, and scruff all call to me, beg me to get lost in everything that is Wade Jenkins. I have loved this man for most of my life, and yet he’ll never be mine.



In the heart of Alabama, lies a charming little town on the river, where everyone knows your name… and your business.

Follow the intertwined lives of its beloved residents as they navigate first love, second chances, and all the unexpected surprises that their small-town holds.

Welcome to Magnolia Grove, where every neighbor has a story worth unraveling, the roots run deep, and love blossoms around every corner.

Join the Magnolia Grove Reader Group to find out more!



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.

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

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.

Don’t miss more books by Heidi McLaughlin! Sign up for her newsletter, or join the fun in her fan group!



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Wednesday, August 28, 2024

Hidden Treasures


                                                    HIDDEN TREASURES

Kathleen Buckley

 

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GENRE:  Sweet Historical Romance

 

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BLURB:

 

Allan Everard, an earl's illegitimate son, is dismissed from his employment at his father’s death but inherits a former coaching inn. Needing to make a new life in London, he begins by leasing the inn to a charity.

 

Unexpectedly orphaned, Rosabel Stanbury and her younger sister are made wards of a distant, unknown cousin. Fearing his secretive ways and his intentions for them, Rosabel and Oriana flee to London where they are taken in by a women’s charity.

 

Drawn into Rosabel's problems, with his inn under surveillance by criminals, Allan has only a handful of unlikely allies, including an elderly general, a burglar, and an old lady who knows criminal slang. A traditional romance.

 

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EXCERPT

 

“Sir, we came to London to live with our grandfather, but he is ill, and we couldn’t see him, and our uncle’s wife didn’t believe we are his grandchildren, and now we have no place to go.” 

 

Rosabel wished whoever he was might be able to aid them, knowing she dare not trust him, not after their encounter with the woman at the inn. He was probably a rakehell. Gentlemen did not otherwise concern themselves with females of the servant class, as they must appear to be, clad in their dusty, countrified clothing.

 

Blinking away her last tears, she was tempted to revise her opinion. His plain black suit, slight body, and untidy hair suggested quite another sort of man. His eyes twinkled when she met his gaze. “May I introduce myself, ma’am? Wilfred Simmons, curate, St. Giles-without-Cripplegate. If you and your sister have nowhere to stay, your situation is serious. London is a hard place even for men if they have no work and no money. A female without resources risks danger to both body and soul. Please let me assist you.”

 

She bit her lip. Mr. Simmons appeared to be respectable. He had a gentleman’s voice and was no more than four-and-twenty, she guessed. Beside her, Ory sniffed dolefully. 

 

“You are wise not to be too trusting. I have friends who will vouch for me inside.” He smiled at her expression. “Ma’am, no one has ever been abducted from St. George’s Church, Hanover Square.”



A Word With the Author

 


1.Did you always want to be an author?

 

I remember that after learning to read and write in first grade, I sat down one afternoon and began to make a list of every word I knew. I gave up almost immediately: there were too many and I could spend my time reading instead.  But I don’t think I thought about being an author, as such; I just wanted to write and loved any assignment that involved writing. 

 

Around the age of twelve I began to write for my own amusement and then started reading writers’ magazines. I knew I wouldn’t make a career of it; one of those magazines published a report that writers averaged about $50 a year (this was in the early 1960s and was based on those who responded to the magazine’s survey). I was also pretty sure my father wouldn’t approve. My career plan was to be a newspaper reporter. By the time I was in high school, I knew I’d never be a reporter because I hate asking intrusive questions. “How are you?” or “Would you like pumpkin pie or mincemeat?” is about as personal as I get with people unless I know them well. 

 

I worked in a hospital billing department, a small commercial print shop, various temporary jobs, a law firm, and as a security officer. I did write: stories and novels I never finished, a leaflet about a coworker’s car club, and procedure manuals when I left a job to assist my replacement. I sold two stories to the late Robert Bloch, author of Psycho, for anthologies he edited. Let me hasten to add, he wasn’t dead at the time. I cherish his badly-typed note to me accepting the first story and offering me the amazing sum of $500. 

 

But it was only after I moved to New Mexico and retired that my writing career began. I wrote two novels, both of which need revision before I submit them. Then I started the third, which became my first published historical romance.

 

2.Tell us about the publication of your first book.

 

I began to write a romance in the manner of Georgette Heyer, because she couldn’t write any more (having died in the 1970s). It took me three years, with long gaps between writing sessions while I wondered, What comes next? because I am a seat-of-the-pants writer. I completed it, read over it and thought, This isn’t bad. It came as a revelation that there were now non-Big Five publishers and some did not require an agent. After looking at a bunch of websites, I found an indie publisher with a good reputation that sounded like a possibility. A month and a half from my query letter, I had a contract. An Unsuitable Duchess came out about nine months later. I held that printed copy as if I’d given birth…only without the pain. Eight years and eleven books later, I’m still with that company and the same editor.   


3.Besides yourself, who is your favorite author in the genre you write in?

 

That’s a hard choice. My favorite is Jayne Davis, Mary Lancaster, Mimi Matthews, Carla Kelly, Mary Kingswood, Catherine Kullman, Jenny Hambly, or Louise Allen, depending on which I’m reading at the moment. And these are only the ones who write traditional/”sweet” romances as I do. For steamier reads, Lucinda Brant may be my top choice, though I also enjoy Mary Balogh, Grace Burrowes, and Anne Gracie, and several others. The thing they all have in common is that their stories all have more going on in them than romantic angst. 


4.What's the best part of being an author? The worst?

 

Oh, writing is the best part. I get up in the morning looking forward to spending several hours and cups of coffee working on my current project. The second best is the research, of which there’s always some to do because I write historical fiction. Sometimes the research itself gives me an idea for the next book. 

 

How? Most Secret, my second historical fiction novel, involved some smuggling. Learning about shipping in the Pool of London led to Captain Easterday’s Bargain which was set against that background. Both main characters and most of the minor ones worked in shipping. Research on 18th century slang contributed 

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:                           



 

Kathleen Buckley writes traditional historical romance (i.e. no explicit sex). There are fewer ballrooms and aristocratic courting rituals in her books and more problems than does-he-love-me/does-he-not. Sometimes there’s humor. Kathleen wanted to write from the time she learned to read and pursued this passion through a Master’s Degree in English, followed by the kind of jobs one might expect: light bookkeeping, security officer, paralegal. She did sell two stories to the late Robert Bloch, author of Psycho. And no, he wasn’t late at the time.

 

After moving to Albuquerque, New Mexico, she wrote her first historical romance, striving for Georgette Heyer’s style, followed by nine more.    

 

In Kathleen’s gentle romances, the characters tend to slide into love rather than fall in lust. Their stories are often set against the background of family relationships, crime, and legal issues, probably because of her work in a law firm. 

 

When she’s not writing or reading, she enjoys cooking dishes from eighteenth century cookbooks. Those dishes and more appear in her stories. Udder and root vegetables, anyone? 

 

Kathleen Buckley’s current work in progress is her first historical mystery, tentatively titled A Murder of Convenience. 

 

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/kathleen_buckley

Website: https://18thcenturyromance.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/18thcenturyromance/

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Kathleen-Buckley/author/B072J2GPZ3

 

 

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 Giveaway information

 

Kathleen Buckley will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner.

 



 

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Tuesday, August 27, 2024

Beyond the Book: Underwear, Prowlers and Much More

My grandmother was one of the finest women I ever knew. She kept us during the summer when school was out, and we loved every single minute of it. Here are five of the many things she taught me. Number 1 Always wear good underwear when you go out. If you were in an accident the doctors and nurses might see holes or bleach stains, and that would disgrace the family. I didn’t think much more about it. But then my mother said the same thing at a different time. Maybe there was something to it after all. Nothing bad ever happened to me so after a time I quit worrying about it, but I still go out in good underwear. One day a car might hit me, and if so I won’t disgrace the family.

 Number 2 She also taught us how to take on a prowler if you had no gun. My grandmother lived with her Uncle Will and Aunt Margaret. They didn’t live too close to town, and Uncle Will left the family at home one day to feed the animals, etc. Someone must have known Uncle Will was spending the night in town because in the dead of night they heard someone checking the windows one by one to find an entrance to the house. Aunt Margaret made the children hide in the house. Then she drew hot water from her wood stove and flung the door open. Before the man could get inside the house Aunt Margaret hit him in the face with the hot water and yelled for the dogs. He ran screaming down the road. My grandmother said girls should be prepared for prowlers, and she wanted us to remember what Aunt Margaret had taught her.  

 Number 3 Grandma never wasted her money. The little amounts added up after a while. By the time they retired they had enough money saved to give our family a down payment on a house. My mon and dad live in that house until the day they died. I learned this lesson well, but I’m afraid my sister didn’t. She was great at learning the fourth thing, though. 

 Number 4 Love and help your friends and neighbors if they need it.My grandmother had a friend with a large family who lived across the road from them. They had little money and seldom had the small treats that my grandmother had for her children. So every Sunday morning before church she baked a cake, and my grandfather took across the road to her friend. She did things of this kind all the time. When she died there wasn’t a dry eye in the church. 

 Number 5 My grandmother was a religious woman who delighted in her church and faith. She told us Bible stories and made the stories come alive. She was never phony, and like everyone who knew her she exemplified the tenants of her faith. Was she perfect? No but she was perfect in my eyes. Tell us a little about your grandmother. I bet she taught you a lot too.

Monday, August 26, 2024

Summer With the Single Dad

Title: Summer with the Single Dad
Series: The Single Dads of San Camanez: The Brew Brothers
Author: Whitley Cox
Genre/Tropes: Forced Proximity; Small Town; Single Dad; Military; Brotherhood; Medical/Heroine Doctor
Release Date: August 24, 2024


What happens when the stubborn island prince falls for the mysterious stranger with a secret?

Welcome to San Camanez, a humble, peaceful little island in the Puget Sound and home to the McEvoy brothers. Four sexy single fathers—and one childless snack with a beard—who run a brewpub on the beach, raise their kids together, and hope to find love and happiness in the chaos that is life. This is Bennett’s story ...

Single Dad and CFO, Bennett McEvoy, is determined to give his daughters a fun summer despite the money woes plaguing his family business. He needs the brewpub and cabins he owns with his brothers to be more prosperous than ever. Because right now, things are tight. His focus is on profit and sustainability. He doesn’t have time for the mysterious beauty in cabin five. But when her cabin floods, he insists she move into his house, because he absolutely does not want to see her go.

Dr. Justine Brazeau, a renowned cardiothoracic surgeon, made a mistake and killed a patient. Clearly, she’s not cut out to practice medicine. But now, she has no direction or purpose. She’s lost. She’s sad. And she’s lonely. Well, not anymore since she’s living with Bennett, and he’s making it very difficult for her to figure out her future—that doesn’t involve him without a shirt (or pants).

Can Bennett make the money his family business needs this summer, and heal Justine’s guilty heart? Or is she too consumed with her own pain to see that together they are stronger, better, and a lot less broken?








His eyes widened, and a soft sadness entered his heated blue gaze.

“It’s fine,” she dismissed. “I’ve come to terms with it. I also got checked after my ex …”

He nodded, understanding and not making her say the rest.

Then he helped her hop up on his hips and he was inside her in two thunderous heartbeats. How she managed to get so wet and turned on by their last conversation eluded her, but she was. She was slick and ready when he notched himself at her center and slid home. Their collective sighs of relief made her smile as she clung to him and he began to hammer her into the tree.

Nothing about this was conventional, or romantic, or sweet.

But holy hell, was it ever hot.

She’d never had sex anywhere but a bed before, let alone outside, on the side of the road with somewhat of a stranger.

And yet, no part of her—not even the voice of her mother, which sat permanently in the back of her brain criticizing her—told her this was a bad idea. Her mother’s voice would later. It was probably still asleep, that was all.

So since nothing was telling her to stop, and everything was telling her to take, to soak up the dopamine and oxytocin, and find some joy, she tilted her face skyward until her head hit the trunk, allowing his teeth to rake her neck and jaw, for his kisses and his thrusts to push her deeper into euphoria. She smiled at the pink and blue sky as the morning sun shot streaks of light through the clouds. She smiled at how incredible it was to feel joy without guilt and to be with someone who understood what it was like to want to run from joy because they didn’t feel they deserved it.

Bennett’s grunts and groans brought her back to reality, and she tightened her hold around his neck while locking her legs behind his back and tilting her hips. That made him groan, and she followed it with a moan of her own, because now his pubic bone was hitting her clit just right and she could see the edge she wanted to leap from. She ran toward it, met him thrust for thrust as best she could, clawed at his back, and dropped her mouth to his neck and nipped him.

“Christ,” he growled, holding the backs of her thighs and increasing everything: his speed, his effort, and even his vocalization. He was grunting more and louder as he hammered her harder and harder into the tree. If she wasn’t full of endorphins and dopamine the bark might have hurt, but everything—even the pain—felt good. It felt better than good, it felt incredible.

His fingers dug into the backs of her thighs, and his cadence began to wane. He was getting closer. Thank god, because so was she.








A Canadian West Coast baby born and raised, Whitley is married to her high school sweetheart, and together they have two beautiful daughters and a fluffy dog. She spends her days making food that gets thrown on the floor, vacuuming Cheerios out from under the couch and making sure that the dog food doesn't end up in the air conditioner. But when nap time comes, and it's not quite wine o'clock, Whitley sits down, avoids the pile of laundry on the couch, and writes.

A lover of all things decadent; wine, cheese, chocolate and spicy erotic romance, Whitley brings the humorous side of sex, the ridiculous side of relationships and the suspense of everyday life into her stories. With single dads, firefighters, Navy SEALs, mommy wars, body issues, threesomes, bondage and role-playing, Whitley’s books have all the funny and fabulously filthy words you could hope for.



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