Friday, February 27, 2015

The Homesick Texan's Family Table: Lone Star Cooking from My Kitchen to Yours - Lisa Fain

Kindle
Nook
Print
Cookbook 
From beloved food blogger Lisa Fain, aka the Homesick Texan, comes this follow-up to her wildly popular debut cookbook, featuring more than 125 recipes for wonderfully comforting, ingredient-driven Lone Star classics that the whole family will love.

There are few things finer than a delicious, homemade meal shared with family and friends. Take it from Lisa Fain, a seventh-generation Texan who loves to cook and serve up the best dishes her home state has to offer—even though she now lives half a country away.
     The Homesick Texan’s Family Table showcases more than 100 of Lisa’s best and most-loved recipes, ranging from down-home standards (think cheesy nachos, comforting chicken and dumplings, and fiery wings) to contemporary riffs on the classics (who knew adding Mexican spices to a German chocolate cake would taste so good?).
     All of Lisa’s recipes are made with fresh, seasonal ingredients, yet still packed with real Texas flavor that will make your grandmother smile. Whether you’re looking for a party-friendly snack like Pigs in JalapeƱo Blankets, a Mustard Coleslaw to bring as a side to your next potluck, a weeknight- and family-friendly meal like Steak Fingers with Cream Gravy, or a mouthwatering dessert like Ruby Red Grapefruit and Pecan Sheet Cake, The Homesick Texan’s Family Table has you covered. After all, with some mighty fine food and mighty fine people to enjoy it, any meal can be cause for celebration.




This is a fun recipe with cute stories and great recipes. My favorite was the Chicken spaghetti. I had to adjust the amount of jalepno for my diet but it was AWESOME! I've never used fresh jalepenos before this book. I loved it and will do it again and again.
I gives The Homesick Texan's Family table

.5

Thursday, February 26, 2015

Quiet Angel - Prescott Lane Blog Tour


QUIET ANGEL
Release Date: Feb. 24, 2015

Blurb:

We all have that someone we can’t forget, the summer it all began, and the sleepless nights wondering what went wrong.

For Gage Montgomery, that someone is Layla Baxter. When he was 18, he took one look at the chocolate-haired bookworm with porcelain skin and knew his life would never be the same. But it all came crashing down when Layla suddenly and mysteriously disappeared from St. Simons Island -- leaving him with nothing but her angel wing pendent around his neck. For 12 long years, Gage couldn’t shake what happened, if he’s the one to blame, wondering where Layla might be. When their paths finally cross, he’s determined to get the answers he’s spent his life searching for -- and to get the girl, too. Quiet Angel is a story of hope, survival, and lost love made new again.

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Belong to Me - Laura Howard Cover Reveal

Belong to Me by Laura Howard
(A Moore Crossing Novel)
Publication date: March 31st 2015
Genres: Contemporary, New Adult, Romance

Synopsis:
Kate and Noah thought they had the kind of love that could last through anything. Until their world crumbles out from beneath them.
After months of separation, the tragic death of Jack, Kate’s twin and Noah’s best friend, throws them back together. As they try to heal from the horrific loss, will they be able to overcome old wounds or are they destined to live separately forever?

Preorder: Amazon 








AUTHOR BIO:
Laura Howard lives in New Hampshire with her husband and four children. Her obsession with books began at the age of 6 when she got her first library card. Nancy Drew, Sweet Valley High and other girly novels were routinely devoured in single sittings. Books took a backseat to diapers when she had her first child. It wasn’t until the release of a little novel called Twilight, 8 years later, that she rediscovered her love of fiction. Soon after, her own characters began to make themselves known. The Forgotten Ones is her first published novel.

Author links: 



Monday, February 16, 2015

Winter's Rain - Katie Mettner Release Day







Winter Cheyne was a child bride, sold for the price of a gambling debt. After years of abuse she knew breaking free of his hold would be dangerous, maybe even deadly, but it was a chance she had to take. The freedom she found as Winter Rayne was an illusion, instantly shattered by the high beams of an oncoming car.

Dr. Jedidiah Raintree never knew the truth about what happened to his best friend, Winter Cheyne. Growing up on the reservation together they were inseparable, until fate intervened and tore them apart. He’s spent the last twenty years looking for the girl with the long black hair and almond eyes, but ran into dead ends at every turn. Where he didn’t expect to find her was huddled in his cabin, pointing a gun at his chest.

With the first snowstorm of the season bearing down on them, Rain convinces Winter he can keep her safe until the storm passes, but quickly learns safety is an apparition. The only choice he has is to risk everything to save the girl he once knew.

Hidden somewhere in her are the secrets she's being hunted for. Hidden somewhere in him is the strength she will need to face them and be free. Hidden somewhere in their past is the key to their future. As the snow falls hard around them, desperation, deceit and death must work in harmony to fulfill their destiny.



Today I'm interviewing Katie Mettner about Winter's Rain and how she came to write a character as complex at Winter Cheyne. Don't forget to sign up for the giveaway below!

Tobi: Thanks for agreeing to do this interview today. I know you're a busy lady!

Katie: I'm happy to be here, Tobi. I love your blog and I hope your readers enjoy the interviews we do together.

Tobi: Me too! Let's get started. Tell us a little bit about Winter.

Katie: When you meet Winter Cheyne in Autumn Reflections you get the feeling that she’s a woman in danger. She comes to the clinic where her best friend's works and she's hurt. She’s keeping a secret that could end up leaving her dead. Her secrets are many and in Winter’s Rain you learn what they are.

Tobi: I read all your books and I know that there is a little bit of you in each one of your characters. Do you care to share what part of you is in Winter?

Katie: Of course! Winter has a lot of me in her. One of the smallest things you learn in the beginning of the book is that she is allergic to peppers, and that's ALL me LOL I'm very allergic to all kinds of peppers, but that's not where the similarities end. As I wrote Winter so much more of me began to come out and that is in her struggle with her body image and bulimia. 

Tobi: So you struggled with the same thing? Is that what you're saying?

Katie: Yes, exactly what I'm saying, Tobi. I started struggling with my weight when I was about eleven, much like Winter. I didn't really have a weight problem in my mind, until the doctors started telling me I did. It wasn't so much that I was overweight as I was under tall LOL That sounds funny, but it's true. Once I grew into my body so to say I've been the same weight for years, but unfortunately the damage was done. I went to a "clinic" or what would now be considered a fat camp of sorts, twice, between the ages of eleven and thirteen to learn healthy eating and exercise. Clearly I failed the first time since I had to go back a second time!

Tobi: So was this a stay away for a week kind of thing like Winter describes in the book?

Katie: No, it was a few nights a week at the local hospital. It was the very beginning of trying to fight the obesity epidemic, but back in the 1980s they maybe didn't think out the damage it could have on kids of impressionable ages.

Tobi: Damage?

Katie: Damage to their self-image and their psychological view of themselves. My parents were doing what the doctors recommended, and I understand they did what they were told was best. Those nights spent at Shape Shop were the reason I became bulimic. 

Tobi: So you were bulimic as a teenager like Winter?

Katie: No, I am bulimic, I'm just a recovered bulimic. Though that sounds a little ridiculous its true. It's very easy to slip back into those old habits when you feel like your body isn't what others want it to be. You have to work hard to accept yourself for who you are and not for what you look like, but unfortunately that's easier said than done in this world. 

Tobi: I can understand that. The media tells everyone that skinny is beautiful and big is not.

Katie: Exactly! Or as Winter tells Rain if I'm beautiful why do people have to put big in front of it? Why I can't I be beautiful without being big. In my case I'm an average American woman now, but the damage to how I looked at myself was done too many years ago to undo. I have learned to only trust the words of four people in my life, my husband and three kids, because I live for them and no one else.

Tobi: That's a good way to look at it! Can you tell us a little bit about Jedidiah Raintree? I have to admit I found him incredibly sexy!

Katie: Isn't he though? Can you imagine how life changing that had to be to find the one person you've been looking for forever finally? Jed, or Rain as Winter calls him, is a simply complex guy. Oxymoron? Yes, but it's true. He simply has loved Winter all his life and that made him complex because he couldn't find her, no matter how hard he tried. He tried to move on and have other relationships, but the memory of that one woman was too much. He's a doctor and has made a life for himself, but emotionally he could never really relate to women. He calls them a foreign language. In fact, even after he finds Winter again you notice he has some trouble really believing it's her. 

Tobi: No, I would agree, I found him to be very complex, but very romantic. He really had some insight that helped Winter, I think anyway. Thank you for coming by today and telling us a little bit more about Winter and Rain. I know you brought an excerpt so I'll let my readers read that and then my review! 

Katie: Thanks for having me, Tobi, and I can't wait to read your review. I always find a nugget of wisdom in them that I didn't get from the book when I wrote it. 




“Did I hurt her?” I asked, pointing at Maggie.

He sat her down by Pumpkin and held my hand. “Of course not, why would you think that?”

“I fell asleep holding her, so she had to have fallen when I jumped. I have to be careful. She’s so thin and I’m so fat. I could really hurt her.” I pointed at the dog who was now lying between Pumpkin’s paws getting a bath.

“You’re not fat, Winter. Maggie is fine,” he soothed.

“You don’t have to be nice, Rain, I know I’m fat. I see the tags on the clothes and the numbers on the scale. It’s not a secret and you don’t have to be all politically correct about it,” I seethed, pulling my hand from his.

“I wasn’t trying to be politically correct, Winter. You are who you are, why does that have to be bad? Why I can’t I appreciate the fact that there’s an exquisite woman sitting in front of me without having to question the numbers on the tags of her clothes or the scale? Why can’t I be attracted to you regardless of whether you’re a size one or a size twenty one? When did the eye of the beholder become the holder of the scale?” he questioned, resting one hand on my knee and the other on his outstretched leg.

“You think I’m exquisite?” I stuttered. “I’m so not exquisite.”

“Yet when I look at you that’s the word that comes to my mind. You have a rare charm about you that tells me you’re filled with innocence about some things, but that same charm tells me you’re anything but innocent about others. Since I first laid eyes on you this morning I had to fight with myself. I couldn’t decide if I wanted to protect you and keep you safe or if I wanted to kiss you senseless. That, in my mind, is the definition of exquisite.”




First thoughts after…
I can't wait for Phoenix's story!

How distracted did I get?
Winter's Rain is a story unlike any other I've read.  Katie Mettner stepped away from the differently abled and dove right into a more delicate subject of domestic abuse and it's survivor.  Winter is one tough cookie.  She's been through hell and back.  She's a fighter with survivor instincts.  Rain is a protector, healer and alpha.  The love and care between Winter and Rain was electric.  Yet Rain is amazingly patient and caring.  This is a wonderful story about survival, love, trust and self discovery.
Winter's Rain shows love is patient and kind, and love prevails over all.
I give Winter's Rain....

5 baskets!!!!!

Follow Katie:




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Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Gifted - Liz Long/Wanton Wednesday


Kindle
Nook
Paranormal/Fantasy
Even in a world of freaks, being a Firestarter is considered a dangerous Gift.
Lucy was born with the ability to create and control fire. She longs to leave the human world for one filled with Earthshakers, Transporters, and Chameleons, to name a few. When she rejoins the circus, it’s everything she hoped it could be - new friends, a potential love interest or two, and a place where she can be herself.

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Hunted: A Donovan Circus Novel - Liz Long Cover Reveal

HuntedFBCover
Hi everyone! Thanks so much to those special authors and bloggers helping me with today's cover reveal. I'm so excited to show off the new cover. It always makes the upcoming release a little more real for me, you know? Anyway, I hope you love it as much as I do. HUNTED is Book 3 of the Donovan Circus Series, with more adventure, romance, and chaos that will lead to murder. In case you haven't read it, you can run away to the supernatural circus and start with Gifted for just 99 cents on Amazon, B&N, and iBooks! You can visit this page to learn more about the 3rd book in the series and what to expect - or worry about! HUNTED Donovan Circus Cover
Back Cover Synopsis
Lucy Sullivan finally belongs with the gifted Donovan Circus. Members are finding their rhythm, even the new folks from the Grayson Circus who joined after the last attack. Lucy feels like a trusted leader who can win the gifted battles and prevent humans from discovering their existence. When tragedy strikes camp, a distraught Sheffield sends Lucy and her gifted team to hunt down the enemy – Alex, a Chameleon with a wicked ability for war. He’s out for blood and won’t stop until Lucy and her friends are dead. This time, it won’t be Lucy’s gift that is tested – it will be her morality. To save her circus, the price will be greater than she ever expected. This time, she will lose someone she loves. And it will change everything.
About Liz:
Liz Long, indie author
Liz Long is a ridiculously proud graduate of Longwood University with a BA in English. Her inspiration comes from action and thriller genres and she spends entirely too much time watching superhero movies. Her fabulous day job as a social media strategist includes writing for a publishing company in Roanoke, VA.
All titles, including the Donovan Circus Series, A Reaper Made, and Witch Hearts, are available at Amazon on Kindle and paperback.
To learn more about Liz, visit her website: http://lizclong.com.

Friday, February 6, 2015

Hit & Miss Groom - Nana Malone & Misty Evans Blog Tour


Authors:  Nana Malone & Misty Evans
Release Date: February 2, 2015
Tour Dates: February 2, 2015 – February 6, 2015
Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance
Buy Links: Amazon Nook

Book Summary:

**The second book in a New Adult contemporary romance series!
**This contemporary New Adult romance is intended for readers 17+. Contains adult content, language, and situations.

Fasten your seatbelt…

Marketing Program Manager, Vanessa Rodriquez, is driven to succeed and keeps the finish line in sight at all times…until one unexpected pit stop at her best friend’s wedding sends her skidding off course. Sleeping with Alex McIntyre wasn't supposed to make her feel this way—scattered, unfocused, and in need of another sexual tune-up. If only he didn’t make her feel so alive.

Yield to oncoming desire…

Alex can’t resist the beautiful Vanessa any more than he can resist his need for speed as an amateur race car driver. Even though she claims to hate him, she keeps coming back for lap after lap in his bed. When he ends up moving in next door to her, their sexual chemistry turns to deep desire. Ready to go full throttle, he convinces her to be his grid girl on—and off—the track. Van, however, puts on the brakes.

Race against love…


If Van can just course correct, it’ll be smooth sailing toward her goals. Or will it? Alex is smart, sexy, and way too much of a distraction, but maybe she needs to shake up her world and do the one thing she swore she’d never do…follow her heart. Will she risk it all to cross the finish line? Or will she and Alex crash and burn before they have a chance at love?

Van was pulling down the zipper of her dress when she noticed that instead of the cobalt blue of her Chase credit card sitting on the bureau, it was a clear card with American Express printed on the front. Thanks to laser eye surgery, she could read the name clearly. Alex McIntyre.
Damn it. She couldn't even go to bed in peace. She jammed her feet back into her shoes and snatched up the card, along with her key, and stomped out of her room. There was no way she was spending the night with his card sitting there taunting her. She was going to get rid of it, and then she was going to get some sleep. Alone.
Then, she was going to forget all about Alex McIntyre.
Taking the stairs, she hoped to work off some of that frustration, but by the time she knocked on his door, panting, she was more annoyed, not less. Heels and stairs did not mix, and if he hadn’t distracted her at the bar, this wouldn’t have happened in the first place.
He didn't answer for a minute. As she stood there, she refused to give in to irrational annoyance and kick his door. No doubt he'd picked up a willing participant from the reception crowd and was currently occupado. Fabulous.
She bent down and balanced herself against the door with one hand as she used the other to shove the card under it. She was not sleeping with the thing in her room.
This is irrational.
Yes it was, but she didn't care. All she wanted to do was forget him. Get back to center. Go on with her life as if she'd never met him. Why did that have to be so difficult?
Suddenly the door swung open and she lost her balance. Tumbling forward, she landed at his feet.
As she got her feet, heels, and all back under her and untangled herself from her dress, she slid her gaze up his body. His feet, big and bare. Like really big. Do not think about correlations between feet and
Too late, because immediately she wondered what kind of equipment he was working with under his pants. Rookie mistake. As she continued to rise, her eyes locked on just where her imagination wanted to take her. And...
Wow.
That couldn't be right.
Though she wouldn’t put it above him to stuff his boxers. Just one more thing to enhance the perfect package.
“You keep looking at him like that, he's going to want an introduction.”
His deep voice startled her and she straightened too quickly, losing her balance and stumbling backwards. He snapped out a hand and steadied her elbow.
Two things happened at once: electricity shot through her body at contact with him and her brain and body simultaneously realized he wasn’t wearing a shirt.
Holy shit.
Forget ripped. The man looked like he was carved from stone. Wide shoulders were packed with muscle. His chest looked like it belonged on the cover of Men's Health...or a romance novel. A few scattered freckles.
And those abs. Was an eight pack the new six pack?
He worked at a non-profit. When the hell did he have time to work out so much? Like an engraved invitation with her name on it, a russet colored trail of hair led into his slacks.
“Like what you see?” His voice was low, sexy like warm whiskey on a cold night.
For the first time in a long time, Van had no instant retort. As if his hotness had wiped her mind clean of anything but dirty thoughts.
And man, were there dirty thoughts.
Since she couldn't force her mouth to speak or her brain to think, all she managed was a wide-eyed stare as she waved the card in his face. All the while, her eyes refused to focus on anything but those abs.
For some reason she kept losing count at four. She’d get distracted by the happy trail and have to start all over again.
He tugged her inside and shut the door, snapping her out of it.
She yanked her arm back. “What the hell are you doing?”
“Ah, she speaks. Tell me, Van how many abs did you manage to count?”
What the fuck? How did he know? “I was not counting your abs,” she lied smoothly. “I was just surprised that the carpet matched the drapes so perfectly.”
Alex’s head fell back in a full unabashed laugh. The motion and contraction of his muscles did wonderful things to his upper body. She almost started counting again.
“I don’t think I've ever had someone say that to me before.”
Damn her tongue. She really shouldn't be allowed out without a mouth chaperone.
He went to his nightstand. “I have something for you in my wallet.”
Something for her? In his wallet?
Condom. Oh, God, no. Why did her brain automatically go there?
“Your card,” he said. “I didn’t even look when I grabbed it.”
She frowned. What was he talking about? Card. Wallet. Oh yeah, the whole reason she came down here. He was not getting condoms out of his wallet. He was getting her card. Despite the blasting air-conditioning, she was suddenly too hot.
When they exchanged cards, she was careful not to let their fingers brush. “Well,” she said, unsure of what to say now that she'd ogled the top half of him and wondered more than a dozen times what he looked like naked. “Goodnight.”
As she turned for the door, he stayed her in the doorway with another hand on her elbow. “No fair, you stared at my chest. Turnabout’s fair play.”
The man should come with a Danger label. “You already did or don’t you remember?”
His responding smile was unabashed. “Oh, that was nothing. I can’t do proper justice if you’re not shirtless. Or in this case dress-less.”
“What, and feed into that stockings and stilettos kink of yours? Really, I'm doing you a favor. I’d ruin you for all other women.”
His gaze dipped, but not to her chest. It went to her lips. Before she could step back, he moved into her space. “I'll never sleep again if I don’t do this just once.”
He slid his hands into the loose braids at the nape of her neck and wound an arm around her waist, bringing her flush against his body. With her shoes on, they were the same height, bringing her core directly in contact with his cock. The hard length of him pressed against her and she ached.
The slide of his lips over hers was surprisingly soft, but the emotions that came with it hit her with a force strong enough to knock her over. Hunger, need, desperation, loneliness. Of all of them, desire reigned supreme.
She spent so much of her life focused on her career goals. Her life goals, her father’s goals. For one night, what if she threw caution to the wind? What if she did what she wanted and didn’t think about the consequences?
Alex sucked at her lips softly as if waiting for permission. Waiting for her to respond.
Van made her decision.
She parted her lips and sighed, dropping the credit card and sliding her hands up and over his shoulders into his hair.
The moment she raked his skin with her nails, the tone of the kiss changed. He growled low and deepened the kiss, sliding his tongue into her mouth. He tasted like mint and vodka and something spicy and hot.
Yes, this was what she wanted. For one night, she could let go.





Nana Malone:

USA Today Bestselling Author Nana Malone’s love of all things romance and adventure started with a tattered romantic suspense she borrowed from her cousin on a sultry summer afternoon in Ghana at a precocious thirteen. She’s been in love with kick butt heroines ever since.

With her overactive imagination, and channeling her inner Buffy, it was only a matter a time before she started creating her own characters. Waiting for her chance at a job as a ninja assassin, Nana meantime works out her drama, passion, and sass with fictional characters every bit as sassy and kick butt as she thinks she is.

Nana is the author of twenty novels. And the books in her series have been on multiple Amazon Kindle and Barnes & Noble bestseller lists as well as the iTunes Breakout Books list and most notably the USA Today Bestseller list.

Connect with Nana: Website / Facebook / Twitter / Goodreads / Newsletter


~ ~ ~

Misty Evans:

USA TODAY Bestselling Author Misty Evans has published over twenty novels and writes romantic suspense, urban fantasy, and paranormal romance. As a writing coach, she helps other authors bring their books – and their dreams of being published – to life.

The books in her Super Agent series have won a CataNetwork Reviewers’ Choice Award, CAPA nominations, the New England Reader’s Choice Bean Pot Award for Best Romantic Suspense in 2010 and the ACRA Heart of Excellence Reader’s Choice Award for Best Romantic Suspense in 2011.

Her Witches Anonymous series was dubbed a Fallen Angel Reviews Recommended Read. The Super Agent Series, Witches Anonymous Series, and the Kali Sweet Series have been on multiple Amazon Kindle bestsellers lists. Her culinary romantic mystery, THE SECRET INGREDIENT, and the first book in her Deadly series, DEADLY PURSUIT, are both USA TODAY bestsellers.

Misty likes her coffee black, her conspiracy stories juicy, and her wicked characters dressed in couture. When not reading or writing, she enjoys music, movies, and hanging out with her husband, twin sons, and two spoiled puppies.

Connect with Misty: Website / Facebook / Twitter / Goodreads / Newsletter / Pinterest




Misty and Nana are giving away a $25.00 gift card to Amazon or Barnes & Noble as part of the tour. Just fill out the Rafflecopter Form below to enter!


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