Sunday, December 18, 2016

PROMO Blitz - The Game That Never Ends


Romantic Action, Drama
Date Published:  October 2016

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In 1953 Sandy and Alex meet and fall in love in Adelaide, South Australia. She comes from a wealthy Catholic family and he is the son of a shopkeeper and an Anglican. Her mother has marriage plans for her and takes Alex to Italy to keep them apart. He goes to Oxford University where he achieves great success in cricket and rugby football. For the next seven years their love has to overcome many conflicts and is sorely tested by a tragic event and her Catholicism. In 1961 now working in San Francisco and believing Alex lost to him forever, Sandy falls in love and marries Kate but Alex, now finally free of her marriage, returns to him plunging his life into chaos. Will he be able to bring an end to this never ending game?





Excerpt

She woke me up in the morning at eight saying their group was departing at ten and I should leave before anyone saw me. The Italians knew she was married to Paolo but in true Italian style would never say anything about last night, but it was probably best not to be seen together in the morning. I was getting dressed when she picked up my jacket to hand it to me and she noticed there was something heavy in the pocket.

“She said. “Oh there’s something here in the pocket.”

I had totally forgotten about it but her hand went in and brought out Eva’s watch.

She looked at me strangely. “It’s a ladies watch. Why do you have a ladies watch in your pocket?”

I tried to look nonchalant. “Oh, it’s Eva’s. She gave it to me when Göran gave her a new watch as a birthday present. I’ll give it back to her in the office on Monday.”

“But why did she give it to you?”

I stammered a little. “Well… well, I was sitting next to her when she took it off.”

I saw the disbelief growing in her face and I had a flash back to the Darlene’s gold chain incident in Naples.

“Don’t lie to me Sandy. She gave it to you because you were going to take her home and sleep with her, weren’t you?”

I shook my head. “No, no.”

“You’re lying Sandy. You were going to have her last night until I came along. How inconvenient for you, but then you had me instead. Is she better than me Sandy? How long have you been sleeping with her?”

“Alex, I did not lie to you. I’ve never had sex with her.”

She was completely furious now. “Just a month ago you promised me you would wait for me and marry me when I am free. Is that a lie too?”

“Alex please calm down.”

In answer she hurled Eva’s watch at my face, hitting me on the forehead. I caught it as it bounced off me.

This was too much and I lost my temper. “Alex I did not lie to you but my God how long do you expect me to wait for you? How long will you remain married to Paolo and expect me to stay celibate while wait for you to pop up occasionally? You tell me you don’t sleep with him and I believe you, but when I told you I have never slept with Eva you don’t believe me. If you don’t trust me then maybe we should forget the whole thing. It’s a crazy situation anyway.”

I had gone too far and instantly regretted it.

She burst into a torrent of tears. I went to her but she pushed me away and said “just go”. I put on my jacket, slipped the watch into my pocket and walked out. I could feel blood trickling down my nose and put my handkerchief over the cut in my forehead.  

I stayed in my hotel room and drowsed through all of Sunday. I went over the whole scenario, over and over again. I wished I could take it all back. I shouldn’t have reacted angrily to her charges. I would have slept with Eva so she was partially right but I had not lied when I said I had never slept with her. But poor Alex had all the stress of a loveless marriage and her secret. I knew she loved me and I could understand her being upset when she saw me dancing romantically with another woman. But where does that leave us now? By dinner time I had decided that I should wait for her to contact me again. She knew I had another year at Oxford. Despite everything I was still in love with her.

On Monday morning I went straight to Göran’s office. He looked up smiling at me as I walked in. Then he saw the small elastoplast on my forehead.

“Oh no Sandy, please don’t tell me she hit you.”

I pulled Eva’s watch out of my pocket and placed it on his desk.

“She found it in my pocket and threw it at me.”

He felt its weight. “My God Sandy, what a woman. Adrian had told me about her and she was exactly as he described her. Adrian and Pete call her the movie star. Did you know that? What a beauty and she’s violent too. What a combination. You are a lucky man.”

“Well I’m not so lucky now. I think she’s finished with me this time.”

Göran looked upset. “Oh no and it’s entirely my fault because I set you up with Eva.”

I told him it was not his fault and that our relationship was very complicated but I was sure she would come back. I wasn’t really sure but I didn’t want Göran feeling guilty about it.

Except for this one incident I had a wonderful summer in Stockholm. I’d met Mr. Axel Persson, Göran’s father, and he seemed interested in me. Perhaps that would lead to other opportunities. Had cricket opened another door?  


About the Author


David Adamson Harper started his working life as a British naval officer serving out of the Hong Kong station, which became the backdrop for his first novel KWANGCHOW. After leaving the navy he joined the management program at Grace Line in New York and spent many years in Panama and San Francisco. He then joined United States Line as a senior executive and ran their South Asia Division from Bombay and later the Africa Division stationed in Durban, South Africa. He returned to San Francisco where he ended his career as a maritime consultant to major west coast ocean carriers. Wherever he went he was always involved in the game of rugby football and was a referee for many years. On retiring he moved to Mexico to become a full time writer. He and wife Susan live in a village on the north shore of beautiful LakeChapala at 5000 feet in the Sierra Madre Mountains. THE GAME THAT NEVER ENDS is his third novel and follows the critically successful HOW TEDDY TOOK PANAMA.

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Monday, December 12, 2016

#BOOK BLAST - Never



Write Now Literary is pleased to announce Never, Book Release Tour with author Joy  Avery on December 13, 2016.
Publication Date: November 14, 2016.
Genre: Contemporary Romance
ASIN: B01MSLP8FO


About The Book

Never say what love can't—or won't—do.
Balloon Artist Gadiya Lassiter never imagined waking up without the love of her life, small-town fire chief Nico Dupree. Then one day, it becomes her tortured reality. Fast-forward two years…he's back and making his intentions to rekindle their flame known. But she vows to never love him again. As determined as she is to keep her heart out of his hands, love seems to have its own agenda.

For Nico, returning home to Mount Pleasance, North Carolina is not without its benefits. The most valuable, Gadiya. He’s determined to reclaim her heart—despite her obvious goal to hate him. But he’s not giving up on her; not again. He’ll just have to convince her the disdain she harbors for him is far less potent than the love he knows she still has for him. And he'll do it one scorching kiss at a time.

As their attraction grows hotter and hotter, will Gadiya be able to escape the flames, or will Nico's fire consume her?



About The Author

By day, Joy Avery works as a customer service assistant. By night, the North Carolina native travels to imaginary worlds—creating characters whose romantic journeys invariably end happily ever after.

Since she was a young girl growing up in Garner, Joy knew she wanted to write. Stumbling onto romance novels, she discovered her passion for love stories; instantly, she knew these were the type stories she wanted to pen.  Real characters. Real journeys. Real good love is what you’ll find in a Joy Avery romance.

Joy is married with one child. When not writing, she enjoys reading, cake decorating, pretending to expertly play the piano, driving her husband insane, and playing with her two dogs.

Joy is a member of Romance Writers of America and Heart of Carolina Romance Writers.

Excerpt

Nico allowed Gadiya to escape his hold. He may not have broken her shell, but he’d surely cracked it. As she made her way across the floor, he said, “I’ll tell you what’s a waste of time. Your fighting this. You have a right to be pissed at me, Gadiya, but you can’t deny you still feel something for me.”

This stopped her in her tracks. Whipping around, she charged him like a raging bull. “Anything I may have felt for you in the past is long gone. I feel nothing for you now, Nico Dupree. Nothing. And I never will.”

“Is that why you’re still single?” He regretted the words the moment they escaped. There could have been a myriad of reasons why she wasn’t in a relationship, none of them having anything to do with him.

Gadiya slowly shook her head, something in her expression turning sad. “The reason I’m still single has nothing to do with you. But if you must know, I decided to never give my heart to another man, because the one man I trusted with it, shattered it into tiny pieces. I loved that jerk, that coward, far more than he deserved. I loved him far more than breathing, which was okay, because, with him, I never feared suffocating. He gave me life. Then he took it away.”

Nico hadn’t expected her powerful summation. He couldn’t speak, couldn’t move toward her, could hardly breathe. All he could do was dumbly stare into her glistening eyes, then at her back as she turned to leave.

Gadiya stopped at the door. Over her shoulder, she said, “On second thought, I guess my being single has everything to do with you. I never want to see you again, Nico. You are dead to me. Just like the idea of me ever loving you again.”

With that, she was gone.


Connect with Joy


Tour hosted by Write Now Literary Book Tours 
Click here To Follow the Tour 

#MondayMotivation - 2 Corinthians 11:26-27 – Persevering

For this Monday Motivation post, I thought I'd share a short devotion I wrote for a publication. CLICK HERE to read it.  I hope it blesses you! 

Tuesday, December 6, 2016

The Gilded Cage - #TeaserTuesday

TEASER TUESDAY


YA/Historical
Date Published: 12/1/16

Masie, the flaxen-haired daughter of notorious bootlegger Dutch Schultz, returns home from boarding school to find her family in crisis. Her mother is dangerously unstable, her father’s empire is on the brink of ruin, and the boy she once loved has become a ruthless killer for hire. To keep her family’s dangerous secrets Masie is forced into a lie that will change the course of her future—and leave her trapped in a gilded cage of her own making. As she watches her world fall apart, Masie must decide whether to take her place in the hierarchy, or spread her wings, leaving the people she loves, and the life she despises, far behind her.

Excerpt


“How you feelin’, Mas?” Vinny asks.

Relaxing back into the chair I look up, unable to keep the sour grin from my face. “Never better.”

Releasing me he steps around the table, helping himself to a seat. “That’s not how I hear it. I hear you lay in bed all day feelin’ sorry for yourself”

“Can you blame me?” I ask harshly, straightening in my chair.

He’s still for a minute, then pulls the fedora off his head and plays with it in his hands. “I’m sorry about your ma, she was a fine lady.”

I snort, the booze in my belly making me bold. “She was a nut job and everyone knew it.”

Now he looks up, his thin lips downturned at the edges, “She was good to me.”

Sighing I stand, helping myself to the crystal decanters on the tray. “She loved you like her own,” I offer gently as I pour myself another drink. “It’s the only thing she was good at, loving people. Wasn’t great at taking care of them, though.”

She’d tried to take care of Daddy at first. I know she always secretly hoped he’d change his ways, as if her love could make him a better man. But, as much as they may want to, people don’t really change. Time passes, choices are made, but we are who we are in the end.

“Is there anything I can do?” he asks, twisting in his chair to look at me.

I just hold up my glass, “This seems to be helping.”

Standing, Vinny walks over, taking the glass from my hand he swallows back the contents in one gulp. “Never drink to feel better, Mas. That’s not how the stuff works.”

I frown, pushing past him, “Don’t tell me what to do.”

He stops me, grabbing my arm and pulling me toward him until the tip of his crooked nose is touching my forehead, “I’m not gonna let you throw yourself away like she did.”

His words are sharp and they cut like glass

I shut my eyes against them, against the closeness of him, the heat radiating off his body, the smell of bourbon on his breath. Part of me demanding to push him away, the other part wanting to lose myself in him.

“You left,” he continues, his tone accusatory. “You left so you wouldn’t have to watch—but I watched. I watched the light in her go out. I won’t watch that happen to you, Masie. I can’t. So you’re going to have to be strong. Because we need you. I need you. It’s awful dark here, Mas. We need you to be the light.”

The first tear slips from beneath my closed lids. Maybe it’s the desperation in his voice, or the fact that he’s right, but something in his words strikes me to the core. It’s tempting, far too tempting, to drink the pain away, to let it eat me from the inside out until there’s nothing left to hurt.

But I can’t.

I can’t be like my mother.

I won’t.