Showing posts with label Merry Christmas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Merry Christmas. Show all posts

December 13, 2015

Release Day Blitz ~ SNOW AND MISTLETOE by Alexa Riley


snow and mistletoe banner.jpg

Let Noelle and Alex captivate you in Alexa Riley’s newest release in Snow and Mistletoe!

NOW AVAILABLE
snow and mistletoe cover.jpg
Blurb

Noelle's voice has captivated Alex, and she's become his greatest obsession. Since he hired her to read audiobooks, listening to her is the only thing that makes his lonely world bearable. Thank God she's never seen him. His scars would only scare her away.

Alex has starred in every fantasy Noelle's had since she first heard his voice over the phone, and reading erotica samples to him only fuels her desire. Listening to him on the other end of the phone is the best part of her day, and she's willing to do anything to please him.

On Christmas Eve a storm comes through, sending Noelle in search of her reclusive boss. Once she's at his cabin with no place to go, there's only one way to keep warm.

Warning: This is the sweetest, cheesiest, most Christmassy book ever! It's filled with late-night confessions, dirty deeds, and a lifetime of love. If you love this time of year, I've got some cheer for you!
snow and mistletoe teaser.jpg

Snow and Mistletoe Excerpt
“I…uh…” I say, trying to break the silence between us for the second time today. I’m totally getting fired. Hell, I kinda knew that when I popped on my audiobook and my voice wasn’t even on it. As much as I want to ask, I don’t feel like poking the bear he seems to have turned into.
I knew he was the silent broody type, but I didn’t think he bit. Now I’m not so sure. He could rip my heart to shreds with a few harsh words. Maybe this is why I spend so much time with my head in the clouds and my nose in books, dreaming in my own little world. This real-life romance shit is hard and scary.
“Follow me. I’ll show you where you can put your stuff,” he says without looking at me as he heads towards a hallway. It’s as if he wants to shove me into a room as quickly as possible. He won’t even look at me, and a lump starts to form in my throat. Forget it. I can’t do this.
“Maybe I should just…” I turn to grab the door handle, but I remember I don’t have my shoes on so I can’t make as quick of an escape as I’d like. Before I can turn to grab my shoes, big arms shoot out on either side of me, landing on the door. His warm body presses into mine.
“Don’t go.” His words are soft this time, and they tickle my ear. He doesn’t move, and I can’t seem to form any words with him pressed up against me like this. “Just let me show you to your room. You can take a warm bath if you like.”
“Okay.” The fight leaves my body at his deep, sensual voice. My answer comes out breathy, and it takes every muscle in my body to stop myself from leaning into him. I want to rub against him like a cat in heat. I’ve never done anything wanton in my life, but Alex makes me do a lot of things I’ve never done before. Like drive three hours in a snowstorm, pretending it was all about saving my job, when really I’m being a low-key stalker.
Maybe I can just say I’m cold or something if I rub against him. Oh my God, I’m totally trying to cop a feel! My cheeks burn with embarrassment at my own thoughts, but Alex still makes no move to release me. I can’t move until he drops the big arms that are caging me. God, how I wish I was facing the other way and staring into his dark blue eyes. I was so sure they would be brown when I pictured him, but my thoughts didn’t do those eyes justice.
“Don’t try to leave again.” The firmness in his voice is one I know all too well. I am about to tell him I’ll do whatever I want, but feeling him pressed against me banishes any thoughts I have of leaving this cabin. “It’s dark, the snow is falling thick, and the coyotes will be out.”
With that caution, the warmth of his body leaves mine, and I miss it instantly. Sadly, I think I could have stood like that all night and been utterly content. I turn, following him down the long hallway. The cabin is cute. It’s hard to make out much with so few lights on, but all the walls and floors are wooden. It’s rustic and homely and utterly perfect. The place looks like it was plucked right out of some catalogue. It would be the perfect place to spend Christmas.
The thought reminds me that it’s Christmas Eve. I haven’t heard anyone else, but I feel bad, not only for intruding but for possibly putting someone out of a bedroom. “Are we alone?” I’m prying for information, but I’m wondering if a girlfriend or someone like that is going to pop up.
“I’m always alone.” That makes me happy until the words really sink it.
He takes me upstairs, and we pass one door before we stop outside another. He turns the knob and pushes the door open. He half-turns to me, but the light is off, and I still can’t really make out his face. I can tell he has a strong jaw and nose, but seeing so little only makes me long to see more.
“Get some rest. I’m sure it was a long drive.” With that, he turns and heads down the stairs, his big body disappearing into the shadows of the cabin.
I go into the room he told me to take and flip on the nearby lamp. I ignore everything but the bed as I toss my bag onto it and let myself fall into its softness.
I’m always alone.

snow and mistletoe.png
Chapter 1 *Noelle*


“‘Please,” she begged. “I need to feel you inside me now. It’s been too long.” Annabelle pleaded with Sam before taking matters into her own hands, grabbing his hard cock and guiding it to her wet pussy. Wanting to make them whole once again, to never be apart from the only man she’d ever loved. Would ever love.
“I’ll give you what you want. Just give me what I want,” Sam demanded, pulling back just a little from her, the head of his cock barely touching her opening. She knew what he wanted, and she was sick of fighting these feelings. She’d find a way to make them work, no matter how different their worlds were.
“I love you. Only you.” She gave him the words he wanted because they were true. She knew it down to her soul.
Samuel thrust home into her welcoming body, his hard cock just as hungry for her as he was.”
The heavy breathing through the phone pulls me from my narration “Mr. Lockwood, are you okay?”
“Alex,” he grunts, sounding irritated with me. “Say it.”
“Alex,” I whisper. He’s been correcting me for months now, but for some reason I always still say ‘Mr. Lockwood.’ It reminds me of who he is—that he isn’t a friend I’m talking to on the phone. He’s a client and nothing more, no matter what my late-night fantasies tell me.
I hear a grunt, then the line goes quiet. I wonder if he’s mad at me, and I inwardly curse myself. I had steady work before I started narrating books for his company, All for You, but with him offering me more and more projects, he’s been my only client for well over two months now. It sounds silly, and I’m sure I can get more projects elsewhere, but I like working for him. He handles things a little differently than most clients I work with, but I like his way. Seems I like a lot of things about Alex, despite knowing very little about him.
The silence hangs in the air as I wait for him to speak again. His words do things to me. Things they shouldn’t. I’ve somehow latched myself onto him recently. Waiting for our daily calls has now become a little bit of an obsession, one I’m sure my mother would tell me was just as unhealthy as my lack of a social life.
“Hmm,” I mumble, trying to break the uncomfortable silence. I can’t bear the tension, but all I hear is his heavy breathing, something that reminds me of the many erotica books I’ve read. The hero would breathlessly pant into the heroine’s ear after a hard round of sex. It’s a sound I’ve never actually heard myself, but I find myself imagining what it would be like if Alex made the sound in my ear, his body on top of me.
“I think that’s enough for today,” he finally says, his deep voice rolling over my skin like a warm rough caress, like it always does when he speaks to me. If anyone one should be narrating a book, it’s Alex. He has a voice like I’ve never heard before, and I’ve heard many in my line of work. Voices that are supposed to be the best aren’t anything special compared to his.
“Okay, Mis— Alex,” I correct myself quickly, once again making myself look like an incompetent fool who can’t remember anything. “I’ll have the Scott book sent over this afternoon. Just a few more touches and it will be finished. Then I’ll start on this new one, if you liked the sample I just did.”
Alex likes to do the samples over the phone and also likes to check in daily on my project status, something that’s not normal with audio work. Almost everything could be done over email, but Alex says he likes to do it this way. For what he’s paying me to voice audiobooks, I’m happy to jump through hoops for the projects. Okay, that’s only partially true. I would jump through the hoops, but our phone calls mean more to me than just work.
Sometimes our calls dip into personal life, mainly about me and my life. Every now and then, I find myself rambling on, and he just listens. Maybe he’s really polite and feels sorry for me for having to carry on conversations with someone who is virtually a stranger. Though he doesn’t feel like a stranger anymore.
“That sounds perfect. I have a lot going on tomorrow, so I want this taken care of tonight and off both our to-do lists,” he says, slipping back into business talk. It’s crazy how he does that. Sometimes I wonder if maybe he has a crazy sex life, because my narrations always seem to run on the dirty side and they never affect him.
I usually end up in a pile of goo when we we’re done, with hard nipples and wet panties. We’d hang up and I’d have my hand down my pants before the line even cleared. It wasn’t narrating the books that turned me on. I’ve been doing romance narrations for years. Normally I did them alone so no one would hear. But somehow, reading aloud to Alex has me beyond turned on. It could be that the pieces he selects for samples are always the dirtiest parts, or it could just be him.
I told myself it was because Alex was playing with me. I thought maybe he even had a little crush on me like I did him, but after time went on, he never seemed affected. He never tried to be more friendly to me like I was with him, and after a while I thought maybe I made it up in my head. My mother always told me I live too much inside myself, and it seemed to have happened again. I’d built something up in my mind that wasn’t really there. Worse, the thought of not having this interaction anymore was terrifying in some weird way.
“Okay. I’ll send the file right over.” I try to keep my tone just as causal as his, but I’m still chewing on the fact that he has a lot going on tomorrow. It’s Christmas, so I should expect him to be busy. All I have planned is a TV dinner and Netflix.
“Have a merry Christmas, Noelle.”
“You too, Alex.” I hit End on the call, promptly wanting to disconnect from him. I drop the phone onto my desk and bring up my emails. I want to go ahead and send the file, but my internet won’t connect. After restarting the modem and my laptop, I make my way over to the window while everything reboots.
It really is a perfect Christmas Eve. Snow has already begun to fall, and the Christmas lights on my tree behind me reflect in the window. It’s as if they’re mocking me. My house is decorated like I’m hosting a Christmas party tomorrow. There isn’t a spot that isn’t covered in some kind of Christmas decoration. Why I do this to myself, I have no idea.
I’m an introvert and always have been. I made a couple of friends in college, always preferring to have my nose deep in a book. But since then they’ve dropped off one by one, slowly losing contact over time. No one wants to be friends with the girl who rarely leaves the house.
Who knows where my parents are this time of year. No one likes to travel more than they do. I still have no idea how I came from such social butterflies. I like things small and intimate, and I always wanted to spend a Christmas like that with my parents. When I was a kid, my mom would go all out, kind of like I did in my own home, but she always filled the day with people I hardly knew.
It’s almost laughable now. I hate how she’d do that, but now here I am in a house all made up for Christmas and not one soul to spend it with. I’m not sure which is worse.
My mind wanders back to Alex, wondering what his plans might be. Would he have a special person to spend his Christmas with? The thought sends an irrational surge of jealously through me.
Maybe I can come up with a reason to get in touch with him, or just call to wish him a merry Christmas. I chastise myself for the silly idea. Considering how fast he got off the phone moments ago, he probably has plans tonight.
Growling at myself, I pull my hair from my ponytail to relieve some of the tension I’m feeling.
Pull it together, I tell myself. I’ll finish this project for Alex, get into my Christmas pajamas, eat those cookies I spent all day baking and decorating, and watch my favorite holiday movies. I will not let myself have a pity party.

About the Author
alexa riley banner.jpg

I'm Alexa Riley! Mom, wife, and business woman by day and smut writer by night. I specialize in the Dirty Date Night reading. I wrote my first book, Owning Her Innocence, because well, I just couldn't find any daddy books to my liking. So I sat down and just started writing, bringing the fantasies I find myself often dancing to in the dark of night to life, one page at a time.
Alexa Riley is my alter ego. I can't let the other soccer moms know what I'm up to or the guys at work for that matter. Little do they know that they've got nothing on my dirty talk.
I'm here to give you a quick fix of filthy dirty smut. Got a few hours to kill? Then I'm what you're looking for.

December 10, 2015

Wrapped with a Bow Anthology Blog Tour

Title: WRAPPED WITH A BOW
Tag: The Crazy Lady Authors Present A Blizzard of Books - 9 Holiday Stories as Unique as a Snowflake.



Blurb: Come warm your toes by our fire, relax, and indulge yourself with this box set of amazing tales. In the spirit of the season, the Crazy Ladies present this gift of heartfelt stories that will make you laugh, cry, and give thanks for the many blessings in your life. From our heart to yours, we wish you a very Merry Christmas.
Stories:

Aubree Lane — The Kissing Ball

Cherime MacFarlane — A White Cat For Christmas

RE Hargrave — Sugar & Spice

Teri Riggs — True Love Never Dies

Ella Medler — Frozen Heart

Mychele E. Gwynn — Sophie’s Wish

Jennifer Bryan Yarbrough — Christmas for Faith

Samantha Jacobey — Christmas Candy

Holly Barbo — The Crystal Snowflake


Add to Goodreads:


https://goo.gl/VEMP7y
The Kissing Ball
Aubree Lane
Bio:
Aubree Lane lives in the beautiful foothills of Northern California with her husband, two wonderful sons, and a super special peek-a-poo named Tanner.
Blurb:
Sparks fly when the non-profit One in One-Fifty and Melissa Ellison team up to create mistletoe magic for the town’s Christmas dance. The hanging spheres of kissable kindness kickoff holiday happiness and ornamental optimism, but all is not what it seems. An evil elf lurks in the shadows, conspiring to prey on those most vulnerable. Will Melissa find the miracle she needs to protect the ones she’s grown to love and respect?
*
A White Cat For Christmas
Cherime MacFarlane
Bio:
Born in New Orleans, I am proud to call myself an Alaskan. I have lived here for 38 years, I have seen -40 degrees, hauled water, made bear bacon and still live in a cabin. I have used a fishwheel to catch salmon coming up the Copper River. I have cut firewood on shares and worked as a cocktail waitress during pipeline days in a small lodge on the Richardson Highway. I was my second husband's chief mechanic's helper and roadie.
My second husband, a Scot from Glasgow, was the love of my life. When I write Scots dialect, I personally experienced hearing it from my in-laws. When my husband got on the phone to Scotland, after 5 seconds I could barely understand a word.
We moved to Wasilla to get warm. It barely drops past -25 degrees here in the winter. I became a paralegal and worked for over 26 years for the same firm. Thousands of documents I have written have been before various judges all over the state.
Alaska is my home. I never thought I would love it so much I’d never want to leave. The beauty of Alaska is a draw I cannot resist. I love the people and the history. I have been captured by a place I came to under duress. Life does play some interesting tricks on one. I lost my first husband to alcohol. My second husband, the love of my life, died as a result of disease. We were not apart more than 24 hours for 20 plus years. I never wanted to be anywhere but with him. He was a man to run the river with and was my biggest fan.
Blurb:
Mike has a very good reason to be careful. His business leaves him open to threats and possibly violence. He is suspicious of the woman hanging around the old dilapidated garage near the road. What is she doing on his property?
Angie saw the little kitten on the way to work. The poor little thing is living under the old shed. She wants to rescue it before the temperature drops so low it freezes to death. The big man is intimidating, but the kitten needs help, and she’ll take on the irate homeowner if she has too.
*


Sugar & Spice
RE Hargrave
Bio:
R.E. Hargrave lives on the outskirts of Dallas, TX where she prides herself on being a domestic engineer. Married to her high school sweetheart, together they are raising three children from elementary age to college age. She is an avid reader, a sometimes quilter and now, a writer. Other hobbies include gardening and a love of a music.
A native 'mutt,' Hargrave has lived in New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Alabama, Texas, and California. She is fond of setting her stories on location in South Carolina and Texas, but its anybody's guess as to what the genre will be!
Blurb:
Lacey Harrison has been dealt an unexpected hand in life: being a single mom. With her father's help and that of the residents at Royal Hills Nursing Home, she thrives and goes on to become a successful baker. She is content with her life but knows that she and her daughter Candy are missing something. Will things change for the better when Trent Childress moves into town and adds some spice to her sugar?

*

True Love Never Dies
Teri Riggs
Bio:
Teri Riggs was destined to be a writer.  As a small girl she didn’t read bedtime stories, she made up her own.  Who needed Little Red Riding Hood or The Three Little Pigs when there were so many great tales bouncing around in her head?  When she grew up and became a mother to three little girls, she continued the tradition of making up bedtime stories.  On the occasions she chose to tell conventional fairytales, Teri usually gave them a bit of tweaking here and there or added a new ending.  Her girls loved it.
After her daughters had the nerve to actually grow up and leave home, Teri discovered she had a passion for writing and jumped right in.  It came as no surprise she chose to write mysteries and happily-ever-after’s since that’s the genres she loves to read.
Teri lives in Marietta, Georgia with her husband, one of her daughters and two dogs that seem to think they rule the world.  And some days Teri thinks maybe they do.
Teri still frequently tells herself stories as she falls asleep.  The only difference now is she wakes up the next morning and turns her bedtime stories into books.
Stay in touch with Teri:
Blurb:
Samantha has mourned the tragic Christmas Eve death of her husband for three years. During that time, she’s moved to a home in the small town of Heaven’s Beach, has made plenty of new friends, and owns the local art gallery. She should be happy. Instead, she misses Nate, the love of her life, to the point of distraction. To make matters worse, her mind seems to be playing tricks on her lately and she begins to see images that can’t possibly be real.
With the help of her friends and mother-in-law, Sami has finally decided it’s time to pull her life together once and for all. But is it ever truly possible to move on?
Or is it a fact that True Love Never Dies?
*

Frozen Heart
Ella Medler
Bio:
Ella Medler is a U.K. author and editor. She writes fiction in many genres in a seemingly vain attempt to slow down her overactive brain enough to write non-fiction on subjects she knows a thing or two about. She also does not believe in the starchy use of English and ignores the type of rule that doesn’t allow for a sentence to be finished in a preposition. Her books are action-driven, and well-developed characters are her forte. Loves: freedom. Hates: her inner censor.
And in many other questionable places.
Blurb:
Quiet and listless, the glass heart sat hidden under layers of unremarkable clutter, its secret safe. The human hands had touched it often through the strata of debris, but until now, had never uncovered it fully. At last, the yellow duster cut through the grime, and the heart began to shift. It would most likely have frozen over again, up on its high shelf, if the cat’s careless pouncing hadn’t made if fall into a box full of tinsel. This is how the history of time and place began to change – with the story of the frozen heart.
*

Sophie’s Wish
Michele E. Gwynn
Bio:
Michele E. Gwynn spent eight years writing as a freelance journalist for newspaper, magazines, and contributed to sites online such as Yahoo Voices, Open Salon, FashionErotica.com, AlwayzTherro.com, and Examiner.com to name a few. Still, she always loved a good story and after an attempt at screenwriting for the debut of Project Greenlight in 2000, she decided that fiction was what she really loved creating so her fingers began to type. She is now a published author (briefly under the umbrella of Beau Coup Publishing before going Indie) of three series; the Kriminal Erotic Series (a crime/detective series with steam), the Angelic Hosts Series (a spiritual action/adventure suspense/mystery with a twist of romance), and the Harvest Trilogy (a horror/sci-fi series inspired by a true event). She has authored a stand-alone contemporary romance, Waiting a Lifetime, which is currently an official selection for nomination in The Romance Reviews Readers Choice Awards Winter 2015, and will be publishing her very first dark paranormal romance, Darkest Communion, Halloween 2015. She has a lot of literary irons in the fire planned for 2016 to include the first novel in her new series, The Ghosts of Cardiff, (a supernatural murder mystery series), and a collaboration with a fellow author as well which is still under wraps so "Sssh!"
Blurb:
A child of destiny, Sophie Fairchild’s origins were a mystery to her parents, Nanette and Charles. Unable to conceive on their own, Nanette had prayed to God every day at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Montmartre located on the Rue du Chevalier-de-Barre in Paris that He would bless her and her husband with a child. Found on their doorstep one winter morning tucked away in a wicker basket, surrounded by two fat cats and several doves, Sophie was the answer to their prayers. Five years later, the Fairchild’s find themselves once again wondering from where and whom Sophie came. After bringing home countless animals from stray cats to injured birds, she has now befriended a homeless girl with no family of her own. Dogged by tragedy, the young girl experiences heartbreaking loss. Stalked by darkness, she enters the Basilica seeking change to buy bread, but ‘borrowing’ from the donation box turns disastrous. Sophie watches as a child with sticky fingers runs out of the church as if the very devil himself was in hot pursuit. Concerned, she takes off after her, finding her hiding in a dark alley. Still, Sophie knows she has nothing to fear, and once again, she brings home a homeless stray determined to help, unaware that darkness follows. With Christmas fast approaching, Sophie seeks a way to give her new friend, Cecilia, a very special gift…with the help of an angel or three. But will she be safe from the prophesy that her kind act has put into play?
*


Christmas for Faith
Jennifer Bryan Yarbrough
Bio:
Jennifer Bryan Yarbrough is the author of the Porter Kingston Series. Lost and Found is her first published novel in this series. Other books in the series are Found By Love (Book 2), Found at Last (Book 3) and her recently released book, Eden's Kiss (Book 4).
Jennifer also writes under the name J B Yarbrough for teens. You can check out her short story under that name, The Tree House, on Amazon.com.
Jennifer currently resides in Oklahoma where she was born and raised and lives with her husband and 3 children. When she isn't writing she is spending time with her family or reading and finding new authors to love.
Blurb:
Christmas... That one word brings so many different emotions to the surface for Faith, and none of them good. After her boss forces her to take a holiday vacation, she spirals down into terrible loneliness.
Having no friends or family in her life, Faith finds herself spending most of her time at the local diner. It's there that she meets her first friend; Prudence, a loud and opinionated waitress who turns out to be the mother figure Faith always dreamed of having.
When Prudence's single, gorgeous nephew, Alek, appears out of the blue, Faith starts to question why she has always chosen to be alone. Alek tries his best to show Faith the life that she has been missing out on, and decides to show her the true meaning of Christmas. His charm forces her to let down her guard, to have a little faith, and to trust him, but in the process, she begins to question everything about herself. Can Faith trust a man she barely knows not to hurt her as her own family has done? Will love heal her lonely heart, and will there finally be a happy Christmas for Faith?
*


The Crystal Snowflake
Holly Barbo
Bio:
Holly's world is shaped by her love of family, the beauty of the natural world and an irrepressible creative drive. She has always been curious and sees life through questions. These four characteristics color her writing voice and her stories frequently evolve from her asking “What if....?” Her tales tend to have non-urban settings with nature contributing to the plot, building discordant themes inside a seemingly peaceful refrain.
Holly weaves alternative worlds with threads from today.
Find more of Holly’s books here:
http://www.amazon.com/Holly-Barbo/e/B0082ZGU7M
Blurb:
When Chayse’s friend is murdered before he can get protective custody, she and her department in Homeland Security are thrust into a race to stop a destructive cyber worm from wiping out all bank and stock market records during Christmas break. The good news: there's an inoculating code which will stop the worm. The bad news: it's hidden in a special crystal concealed in the sculpted walls of a beautiful ice hotel in the Lapland region of Sweden and the terrorists are searching for it too. As the snow flurries of November freeze into December, each side rushes to find the crystal with entirely different goals. Will the Christmas holiday bring destruction for the Western financial systems?
*


Christmas Candy
Samantha Jacobey
Bio:
Anyone who knows me could tell you, I am a friendly kind of person, never met a stranger and take up conversations anywhere at any time. I work hard, and my mind never seems to shut down, as I wake up often in the middle of the night with ideas pouring out and demanding to be dealt with. Of course that means much of my books were written in the middle of the night.
I grew up and still live in the great state of Texas where everything is bigger, where we have warm weather and a central location. I love my state, my town, and my family, which includes my four sons, my significant other, and many friends as well.
I have thoroughly enjoyed writing this story and hope that you will love reading it just as much. And of course, there will be many more adventures to come.
You can follow Samantha Jacobey at:
Blurb:
Life isn’t always sweet, even for girls called Candy.
Candice Parker’s life has never been easy. Plagued by losses and setbacks, each day is a struggle for the petite brunette and her young son. When fireman Gary enters her world, he is one mistake she refuses to make; but after tragedy strikes, she may not have a choice.
Gerald Ford has never been what anyone would call settled. Always keeping things simple, he lived a fast and furious lifestyle, with no intentions of slowing down. However, when he inherits his family’s ancestral mansion on his thirtieth birthday, he considers the possibility that it’s time for a change. Could this complicated young woman be his Christmas Candy?

Buy Links:






Unusual Christmas Traditions 
Around the World

#5



Spain, Caga Tio – The Christmas Crapper




The tió is a tree trunk with a hole inside, little legs and a face painted on it. Each night, the children give the tió a little bit to "eat" and cover him with a little blanket so that he won't be cold at night. On Christmas day they put the tió partly into the fireplace and order it to poop. To make him poop, the children beat him with sticks, while singing various songs of Tió de Nadal. Out come candy and nuts!



Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...