Obsession cover reveal

   

OBSESSION Cover Reveal: S.M Phillips

SYNOPSIS:

Anna Jameson can't wait to escape the hell hole that her cousin has left her in. Desperate to escape her past, the idea of moving to stay with Holly whilst she got her head together sounded like the perfect plan... Until Holly upped and left, leaving Anna to pick up the mess that she left behind.

Jensen Blake knows what he wants and will not be told otherwise. Obedience and control are what he knows best. With demons of his own, he has spent most of his adult life traveling from place to place the moment things started to become predictable. When Jensen and Anna are pushed together, an instant dislike simmers between them. Anna hates bad boys. She has witnessed enough of them to last her a lifetime. The sexual attraction between them is evident but will that only make things harder for them both to handle?

Add Obsession to your Goodreads

   

About the Author:

Welcome to the crazy and hectic life that is me... A fun, loving mum of one special little boy, girlfriend (I'm sure it should be wife by now!!) and an overall crazy, happy go lucky girl from England.

I have always had a passion for reading and writing. Wherever I am, my book reader is never far behind along with a mug of coffee. I found myself wanting to write from a young age, I have quite a few hidden stories on my computer somewhere, maybe I will have to dig them out and play around with them at some point.

S.M Phillip’s debut Novel Escape Down under was released in July 2014 with the second installment Fallen down under due for release on November 2^nd 2014.

Social Links:

Facebook ~ Twitter ~ Goodreads

Lost Blood by Emma Raveling Cover Reveal

Lost Blood by Emma Raveling 

(Chancer, #1) 

Publication date: TBA

Genres: Urban Fantasy, Young Adult

Synopsis:

They are the Strange, those born of magic, myths, and legends. Beings who defy scientific explanation, whose physical and mental abilities far surpass the limitations of the human body.
When they first appeared, the world resisted, frightened by their powers. But after decades of bloodshed, humanity finally accepted that the Strange were here to stay.A tenuous peace exists. For now.
WELCOME TO BRANNIGAN CITY
Seventeen-year-old Delaney Corbeau is one of the Skilled. As a Chancer, she uses her magic to help humans find everything from misplaced keys and hidden heirlooms to lost pets.
She can find anyone and anything…except the two people she needs the most.
Liam Connelly is an Earth Shifter and son of Brannigan City’s Alpha. When his older brother goes missing, he must turn to his former childhood friend for help. Delaney’s the only person who can locate him.
The problem is they haven’t spoken in four years.
When a reclusive art collector hires Delaney to locate a stolen antique Japanese book, her path crosses with Liam once again. Soon, the simple retrieval job becomes something much more terrifying.
An old evil is stirring and it’s determined to punish every living being in Brannigan City, both Strange and human.
Delaney and Liam will have to work together if they want to survive.
Lost Blood is the first book in Emma Raveling’s new Chancer series, featuring two unlikely allies and a mysterious, thrilling adventure set in a dark world full of monsters and magic.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20510462-lost-blood?ac=1

AUTHOR BIO:

Emma Raveling writes a wide variety of fiction for teens and adults. She is the author of the young adult urban / contemporary fantasy series, the Ondine Quartet, and Lost Blood, the first installment of the forthcoming young adult urban fantasy series, Chancer. She’s also working on the first book in her new Steel Magic series for adults.

An avid traveler hopelessly addicted to diet coke and coffee, she currently resides in Honolulu, Hawaii with her husband and German shepherd.

Author Links:

https://twitter.com/emmaraveling

http://emmaraveling.com/

https://www.facebook.com/emmaraveling

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4633056.Emma_Raveling

Forever Hold On by A.L Wood + Giveaway

Blurb:

Jason, fun and easy-going has lived a normal life.

Raven, full of anger and resentment is stuck living in the past.

Can Jason's aggressiveness override Ravens hardened exterior?

Will Raven realize that she deserves more than what she's allowing herself?

Find out when you join Steele's Army on vacation.

Forever, Hold On is the fifth installment in the Rock Romance Series.

Social Media Links





Facebook: www.facebook.com/ALWood

Twitter: www.twitter.com/ALWoodAuthor

Website: www.ALWoodAuthor.com 

US: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MR6UQBI

UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00MR6UQBI
CA: http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00MR6UQBI
AU: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B00MR6UQBI

GIVEAWAY!

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Soulfire by Juliette Cross + Giveaway

Soulfire

The Nightwing Series

Book One

Juliette Cross

Genre: Urban Fantasy Romance

Publisher: Kensington Publishing/Lyrical Press

Date of Publication:  October 20, 2014

ISBN: 978-1-61650-561-5

ASIN:

Number of pages: 109

Word Count: 32K

Cover Artist: Renee Rocco

Book Description:

In a world divided by prejudice and hatred, only love can bridge the chasm.

Tensions are rising in the Gladium Province. The boundary between humans and Morgons has begun to blur. While the human aristocracy strives to maintain distance between their daughters and the dragon-hybrid race, fate has other plans.

As the daughter of the corporate king, Jessen Cade is duty-bound to honor her arranged marriage to a man she detests. Feeling trapped by family duty and a loveless future, she longs for more, straying to the Morgon side of the city.

Lucius Nightwing is the eldest son of the powerful Morgon clan, and the greatest enemy of Jessen’s father. When a bar-room brawl thrusts Jessen into his arms, his dragon roars to the surface, craving to sate his carnal hunger in the brown-eyed beauty. The beast in Lucius recognizes her as his own, even if the man refuses to admit the truth.

Available at Kensington

Excerpt- Prologue

Thousands of years ago, Radomis, the dragon king of the North, took flight on the last full moon of winter. Beating great, black wings, he soared away from his mountainous kingdom, lured by some unknown force to the sultry lands in the west where humans dwelled. Dragons and humans had always lived apart.

On this same night, Princess Morga honored the fertility rite of bathing under the full moon the night before her wedding. As she stepped from the natural steaming pool, rivulets of water glistened over milk-pale skin, ebony hair slicked over her breasts and down her back. The dragon king saw her. Instant desire ensnared his beastly heart. He descended.

Shifting into human form, a man of might and beauty, he murdered her guards and handmaidens. Horrified, Morga could do nothing when the dragon king took her in his arms, hard lust in cold eyes. The moment his tongue licked into her mouth, she felt the burning of soulfire—the dragon elixir meant for his one and only mate. Golden heat melted through blood and bone, filling her with euphoric pleasure, bonding her to him forever.

Radomis took her on the ground among bloody bodies and moon-shadows, intent to sate his hunger. One night would never be enough. Shifting into dragon form, he carried her in his claws back to his kingdom. She would be his queen, trapped in a gilded cage of opulence as the object of his endless desire.

From their union, a child was born—an abomination. A human body with dragon wings and dragon strength. The boy, Larkos, was outcast among dragonkind, including his father. Only Morga showed him any love.

When Larkos reached manhood, he wielded his rage with an avenging sword, tracking and killing all of dragonkind. Even in beast form, his father could not match him, finally falling to the forgotten son’s sword. What Larkos did not know was that soulfire bonded his loving mother to the beast in such a way that when his dragon-heart stopped beating, so did hers.

This is the tale I’d been told when my body began changing from child to woman, a warning for young girls to beware of Morgon men.

“Never stray from your own kind, Jessen,” my mother would say, “or you could end up like Princess Morga, a slave and outcast to be abhorred.”

The problem was, I’d never been a very obedient daughter. Never the one to do exactly as I was told. And fairy tales have no meaning when the stars align and Fortune spins her wheel, weaving her own story for your heart.

About the Author:

Juliette calls lush, moss-laden Louisiana home where the landscape curls into her imagination, creating mystical settings for her stories.

She has a B.A. in creative writing from Louisiana State University, a M.Ed. in gifted education, and was privileged to study under the award-winning author Ernest J. Gaines in grad school.

Her love of mythology, legends, and art serve as constant inspiration for her works. From the moment she read JANE EYRE as a teenager, she fell in love with the Gothic romance--brooding characters, mysterious settings, persevering heroines, and dark, sexy heroes.

Even then, she not only longed to read more novels set in Gothic worlds, she wanted to create her own.

Website: https://www.juliettecross.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/juliettecrossauthor

Blog: http://www.juliettecross.com/blog

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Juliette__Cross

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/crossjuliette/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7795664.Juliette_Cross

~*Tour giveaway*~

5 ebook copies of Soulfire

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Time to Begin by Patti Korbet + Giveaway

   

BOOK INFORMATION

TITLE – Time to Begin SERIES – Ward Sisters, #5 AUTHOR – Patti Korbet GENRE – Contemporary Romance PUBLICATION DATE – September 15, 2014 LENGTH (Pages/# Words) – estimated at 125k words PUBLISHER – Patricia Korbet COVER ARTIST – Patti Korbet

   

BOOK SYNOPSIS

She'd been dealt too many blows to count. He'd always lived life on easy street. Are they Yin and Yang or a mistake of epic proportions?

Makeup artist Reggie Reynolds has endured a life as colorful as her ever-changing hair. After a painful childhood and a tragic adolescence, by sheer force of will, she found success – first in Hollywood, then on Broadway. Returning to her hometown offers a chance to help her aging grandfather and realize her dreams, not to mention soothe a broken heart. But even her storied past won't prepare Reggie for what happens in her next chapter.

When reporter Eddie Besson meets Reggie on a flight to New York City, he thinks he's at an all-time high-point in his cushy, perpetual-youth life. Twenty-four hours with Reggie changes Eddie's perspective. Despite the fact she doesn't want anything to do with him when he leaves, Eddie can't stop thinking about the girl from New York City long after he's gone from the Big Apple.

As Eddie's perfectly-orchestrated life falls apart, he has some tough decisions to make, with only one thing certain: there will be consequences to pay for his lackadaisical approach to adulthood. Reggie's own soul-searching reveals some painful truths, including guilt about passing judgment on the guy from Maine. When she runs into Eddie again – this time on his home turf – sparks fly and decisions must be made, choices that aren't universally well-received. Will this unlikely pair go all-in, find a way to balance the scales and live life on their own terms? Or will tragedy tear them apart for good?

BUY & TBR LINKS

AMAZON KINDLE – BARNES & NOBLES NOOK – KOBO - ITUNES – GOODREADS

 

EXCERPT

The girl with the pink and black striped hair kept looking at him. Eddie thought he was just being paranoid at first, but she was definitely staring. He didn't think he could possibly know her – after all, she looked like part of a Punk crowd, and despite his appreciation for the genre, that was definitely not his speed of social group. Maybe they'd had classes together in college. She might be around his age. But though he felt like he knew her somehow, he didn't recognize her. Pink Hair didn't make any effort to engage him. Nonetheless, there she was, staring again. This time, though, her eyes watered and she looked like she struggled to keep the tears away. Maybe she wasn't staring at him so much as through him. He should probably ignore her. But then her eyes drifted shut and a tear escaped, running down a surprisingly angelic face. Shit, he thought. Don't do it, Besson. Just stay where you are. Too late. He got up and moved to sit next to her. When he put his hand over hers, she jumped a little and looked at him, confused. “Hey, you okay?” Eddie asked. “Um, not really. But it's nothing. Don't worry about it.” “If it was nothing, then you wouldn't be crying. Want to talk about it?” Jesus, what was it with him and providing an ear these days? First Kay and her marital troubles, now a stranger? Who next? Maybe she'd say no. Hopefully. “No, that's okay.” Oh, good. That's a relief, he thought. Eddie's hand was still covering hers and she looked down at it. Since she didn't pull her hand away, Eddie left his there. Maybe it comforted her. Maybe it would be enough and she wouldn't use him as a sounding board. She sniffed and when she looked up she smiled at him. “I'm Reggie.” “Eddie. You headed to New York?” “Yeah. You?” He nodded. “I've got a meeting.” “Oh? You in finance or something?” Eddie laughed. Hardly. “No. Reporter. I work at a small-town newspaper up north. My boss is sending me to meet with a potential new buyer for the paper.” She'd bristled a little at the word 'reporter', but relaxed again when he said he worked at a small-town paper. Huh. “Because you run things?” “Nah. They want to meet with all the editors and I was away when they came last month. I guess it's nearly a done deal and they want to figure out where we all fit in their organization.” “Oh. How long are you in the city?” “A day. Fly down today, fly back tomorrow. What about you? Why are you headed to NYC?” “I live there. Well, in Brooklyn, anyway. I work in the city.” “What do you do? If you don't mind my asking. Sorry. Reporter's instinct to ask questions.” “It's okay. I'm a makeup artist.” “Oh yeah? Where do you work? In the movies?” “I did. For a long time I worked in L.A. on movie and TV sets. I've been on a Broadway play for the past seven months. We were supposed to be done after six weeks. Then it stretched to six months. We're regrouping right now, but we're back to work tomorrow. They're talking about a long-term run.” “Sounds like you're pretty excited about it.” “It's basically my dream job. I always wanted to work on Broadway, but it's hard to get into the business there. Much easier in Hollywood, where there are a million different productions. Eventually, if you meet the right people, you're set. I got lucky and hooked up with a stylist when he was just getting started. That led to where I am now.” Eddie smiled. “Seems like you made some smart moves.” “I did. Now I get to work in my hometown and be near my family.” Eddie laughed. “Me too. But somehow, I don't think my hometown quite compares with yours.” “No? Population isn't in the millions? No loud noises, smelly exhaust or ridiculous traffic?” “No all-night takeout, no clubs with up-and-coming music. No way to escape your family, even when they're driving you nuts. I love everything about New York.” “Me, too,” Reggie said. “Those are just people's usual complaints. But everything you said, that's the reasons why I love living there. Plays, music, art, culture, food, history. It's all there.” Now boarding Delta Flight 1220 to New York's LaGuardia at Gate 8. Please have your ID and boarding passes ready. “I guess it's time to board. Where are you sitting?” Eddie asked. “Um, 14C,” Reggie said, looking at her boarding pass. “No way. I'm in 14A. Looks like we're sitting together.” Reggie smiled. “Good. I was going to have to ask your seatmate if I could switch. Now I don't have to do that.”

 

AUTHORS PLAYLIST

Beautiful Disaster – Jon McLaughlin Falling – Jon McLaughlin Faster – Matt Nathanson Wake Me Up – Avicii Love Stinks – The J. Geils Band Who Says – Selena Gomez and The Scene Thank You – The Shapes Escape From New York – The Shapes Claim Your Prize – The Shapes Overflow – The Shapes New Revolution – The Waking Hours How Does It Feel – The Waking Hours Survive – The Moog I Like You – The Moog All On Me – The Shys Bom Bom Bom – Living Things Not Thinking Straight – Pint Shot Riot Five Year Rut – Supergarage Turn Me On – Bromheads Jacket I Couldn't Imagine – Julie the Band Pretty Good Day – Best Not Broken Take My Picture – Best Not Broken Restless Heart – Matt Hires The Mess I Made – Parachute Hanging By A Moment – Lifehouse Absolutely (Story Of A Girl) – Nine Days It's Time (Live London Sessions) – Imagine Dragons Static Waves (Featuring Katie Herzig) – Andrew Belle Baby, I Love You – Ramones Blitzkrieg Bop – Ramones I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend – Ramones Family (featuring Tim Armstrong) – The Interrupters Strangers – The Kinks

 

CHARACTER BIOS

Eddie Besson is that guy, the one who still acts like he's in college, despite entry into his 30's. As the sports editor for his small, hometown newspaper, he lives above his parents' garage, spends his free time hanging out at the one bar in town and strings along his high school girlfriend. The kicker is that he doesn't really think there is anything wrong with his life. Until he meets Reggie Reynolds, and suddenly, his world seems pathetic and wasteful.

Broadway and Hollywood makeup artist Reggie Reynolds fought hard for the life she has now. Abandoned by her parents, she clung to her beloved grandparents as long as she could. But her grandmother was taken by illness, and now her grandfather is succumbing to age. She has never been lucky in love and is sure she is doomed for a life without it. Then she meets Eddie Besson and the world gets a little brighter, even if just for a moment.

 

DREAM CAST

Inspiration pictures at my Pinterest page

 

AUTHOR BIO

For a majority of her life, two things have been true about Patti Korbet: she loves to read and she has a very active imagination. You can often find her with a book or her Kindle in hand. And in the last few years, she's frequently been typing away at her little netbook, turning the myriad thoughts that run through her head into story ideas.

Her career path to author has had many twists and turns, but Patti has been making up stories in her mind for as long as she can remember. Just as her son turned 9 months old, she made serious work of molding those stories into works of fiction. She put her nose to the grindstone in the fall of 2012 and hasn't looked back since.

When not reading or writing, Patti pretends to be a gardener, loves to dance, watches a variety of shows with compelling characters and most importantly, takes care of her family of four. She hopes one day to convince her husband that fiction writing is a worthy pursuit. In the meantime, she's proud to see the seeds of imaginative storytellers and prolific readers in her daughter and son.

AUTHOR FOLLOW LINKS

AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE – WEBSITE / BLOG – FACEBOOK – TWITTER

 

GIVEAWAY

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The Blue Effect by Rose Shababy

The Blue Effect

Renegade Heroes

Book One

Rose Shababy

Genre: Adult Urban Sci-fi/Fantasy

Date of Publication: September 8th, 2014

Cover Artist: Regina Wamba

Book Description:

Blue Brennan is jaded and bitter despite her pinup girl looks and quick wit. Night after night, she scours the Seattle club scene looking for someone or something to fill the emptiness inside.

When she meets the mysterious Kasey, her world stops… literally. He claims she has the ability to control time and stuns her even further when he reveals his own gifts.

Blue is inexplicably drawn to Kasey and reluctantly enters his world filled with a new breed of humanity. They’re misfits like her, blessed or cursed with powerful abilities, struggling to hide their differences from the rest of society.

Then the group discovers a nameless, faceless sociopath with nightmarish powers; and he’s coming for Blue. She’s left reeling when they discover her gifts are the key to defeating his terrible evil and saving them all.

Now she must race against the clock to harness her own powers and save her new friends. Can she be more than a renegade? Can she be a hero too?

Available at Amazon  BN  iTunes  

~*Excerpt*~

“Kasey,” I yelled stupidly, knowing it wouldn’t do any good but unable to stop myself. “Kasey, where are you?”

I burst through another door to find the bathroom, a layer of steam frozen in the air. I pulled the curtain back without even thinking about who might be in the shower, and slumped with relief when I found Kasey. He held a washcloth to his face as a stream of water rained down on him, frozen in place.

“Kasey,” I breathed happily, and reached out to grab his hand.

As I touched him, the same spark I always felt when we made contact erupted and the world came to life again. Water spewed all over me, soaking my clothes, spilling over onto the floor, but I didn’t care.

Kasey startled and yelped a little when he saw me. He recovered quickly. “Blue? What happened?”

I smiled, my tears mixing with the hot water from the shower as I launched myself at him, hugging him tightly. He smiled back and wrapped his arms around me.

Thank god I found you! I thought. “I’m so glad you’re here,” I whispered in his ear.

“I knew you would come back,” he whispered back, just before his lips found mine.

About the Author: 

Rose Shababy and her family reside in eastern Washington State. Rose grew up in the Northwest but swears she’s going to move to warmer climates someday. She’s claimed this for over 20 years, however, and has yet to move more than 75 miles away from her mother.

Rose has a deep love of all things Star Trek and yearns to travel the heavens, as well as an intense desire to be bitten by a radioactive spider.

Unfortunately she sucks at science and math so she hasn’t been able bring her dreams to life, instead living vicariously through books, comics, television and film. She hopes to someday make a million dollars so she can afford to buy her way to the international space station, but she’d settle for being able to fly around the world and leap tall buildings in a single bound.

Rose also loves to cook and worked for years in a gourmet Italian grocery and deli where she learned to hone her skills. She prepares culinary masterpieces for her family, but fervently wishes the dishes would wash themselves. Especially now that her dishwashers/children are nearly grown and only one still lives at home.

Rose likes to use her free time wisely. For instance, she likes to daydream, will often read for hours until she falls asleep on the couch with an electric blanket and a warm tabby cat curled up on her hip, as well as spending cozy weekend days watching Syfy movies like Sharknado and Mega Piranha with her husband.

If Rose were a cartoon animal, she’d prefer to be a wise old owl or a sleek and sexy jaguar, but in reality she’d probably be a myopic mole with coke-bottle glasses.

http://roseshababy.com/

http://roseshababy.com/category/roses-brain/ 

https://www.facebook.com/rose.shababy

https://twitter.com/RoseShababy

https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/6063741-rose-shababy

Author Spotlight Garrett Addison

How do I write?

I marvel at the authors who meticulously plan and plot out their stories and then put pen to paper to implement their plan.  It seems like such a logical way of writing and I appreciate how rewarding it must be to watch it all come together.  That said, despite the obvious merits of that approach … I cant bring myself to write that way.  Instead, I tend to write completely without a plan, making it up entirely as I go.  I know I’m not the only one who writes this way and I don’t know if we are in the minority, but I would like to share why writing by the seat of my pants works for me.

To me, it’s all about the freedom of writing without the constraints imposed by working to a plan.  Each time I write, I get to focus on what seems to be the most pressing element of my story.  Sometimes it’s a scene or a character, and other times it’s some dialogue.  I don’t need to write in any logical sequence or chronological order … I just need to write.  

Of course, without a plan I’m liable to be very influenced by what happens in my life.  All those little inconsequential things that go on around me when I’m not writing have a way of affecting the way I write and the story at large.  How I feel, miscellaneous stresses, real life conversations, people I meet, the weather; it all finds it’s way into my writing, sometimes in the plot, sometimes in the subtleties of character of development.  So what I think is the story at inception is never the same as the finished product. 

Sooner or later, a draft is completed and then comes the fun of giving it a fresh read.  I know it’s going to be all over the place, but it’s a start and from that read I’ll be able to see what it needs and what it doesn’t.  I accept that there will be a lot of cutting and many hours of effort will disappear with liberal use of the ‘delete’ key, or perhaps filed away for later use.  The point is that if it doesn’t belong in this story, it can’t stay in this story so it needs to go.  Re-write after re-read follows until the nature and volume of necessary changes gradually reduces to zero. 

Then it’s ripe for a few trusted first readers to give their thoughts.  My take is that all feedback my first readers give is golden and 100% correct.  If they like it, great.  If they don’t ‘get’ something or didn’t like a character or anything, it becomes a beacon to something which needs to be fixed.  I don’t argue, I just treat it as golden guidance.  Then the re-read and re-write cycle continues.

So there you have it; writing by the seat of my pants.  I don’t get the pleasure of being able to track my progress by percentages or according to my outline, but I do get to see something gradually evolve and I never get writers’ block.

Author:

Follow Garrett online:

Twitter – https://twitter.com/garrettaddison

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/garrettaddisonauthor

Goodreads – http://www.goodreads.com/GarrettAddison/

Website – http://www.garrettaddison.com/

Amazon Book Links:

The Traveller – http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AW4EP8W/

Minions – http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AW4EP8W/

Seventh Grave and No Body by Darynda Jones + Giveaway

Seventh Grave and No Body

by Darynda Jones

Blurb: 

Twelve. Twelve of the deadliest beasts ever forged in the fires of hell have escaped onto our plane, and they want nothing more than to rip out the jugular of Charley Davidson and serve her lifeless, mangled body to Satan for dinner. So there’s that. But Charley has more on her plate than a mob of testy hellhounds. For one thing, her father has disappeared, and the more she retraces his last steps, the more she learns he was conducting an investigation of his own, one that has Charley questioning everything she’s ever known about him. Add to that an ex-BFF who is haunting her night and day, a rash of suicides that has authorities baffled, and a drop-dead sexy fiancé who has attracted the attentions of a local celebrity, and Charley is not having the best week of her life.

A tad north of hell, a hop, skip, and a jump past the realm of eternity, is a little place called Earth, and Charley Davidson, grim reaper extraordinaire, is determined to do everything in her power to protect it.

We’re doomed.

Excerpt:

In an act of desperation, I summoned Angel—a thirteen- year- old gang kid who’d died in the ’90s—my best investigator. But he’d been AWOL for a couple of weeks. Ever since I found out he wasn’t exactly who he said was. From the first time we’d met, he told me all about his family, how his mother was a hairdresser and had a shop with his aunt. He told me about his nieces and nephews, his uncles and cousins. And it had all been a lie. He’d been posing as his best friend, the one who’d died the same fateful night he did, and pretending his friend’s mother, along with her entire family, was his.

Who could blame him? He’d come from nothing. Grew up with nothing. Unfortunately, he thought that just being Angel— the precious boy I’d grown to love the way someone who’s grown numb to the pain of tattoos learns to love them— wasn’t enough. As though he could ever fall short in my eyes. He could be a royal pain in my donk, but he was family.

So, I understood why he did what he did. Deep down, he knew that— but he was embarrassed nonetheless and hadn’t come around for a while. I was trying not to force the issue, but I needed advice. And grim reaper info.

He popped into the backseat, one foot on the hump thing in the middle of the floorboard, an elbow propped onto his knee as he, too, stared out the window to pout. I had a lot of pouters today. I really wanted to say, A pouter’s a doubter, but couldn’t think of how it applied to this situation.

“Hey, mister,” I said, hoping to brighten the somber mood.

“Who’s the babe?” he asked without looking at me or Jessica.

She turned around, fuming with a spark of indignity until she spotted him. He had his usual bandanna headband worn low over his brow with a smattering of peach fuzz along his young jaw. He’d been on the verge of becoming a man. No, he’d become a man the night he stopped his best friend from fi ring into the house of a rival gang member by crashing the car they were in and killing them both.

Jessica chilled instantly. “That’s rude,” she said, facing front again.

“Sorry.”

“You haven’t been around much,” I said, looking at him in the rearview. “No complaints about how you were in the middle of one of your nieces’ birthday parties or at a quinceañera when I summoned you?”

“You know they aren’t my family.”

I pulled Misery over, even though we were only a couple of blocks from our destination. Turning in my seat, I nailed him with my best nurturing glower. “Angel, you heard what Mrs. Garza said. You were like a son to her, and she welcomed you into her life with open arms.”

And she had. Mrs. Garza, who’d been hoping the presence she was feeling was her son, was not terribly disappointed when it turned out to be her son’s best friend. She’d loved Angel. I could tell. But getting him to face that fact now could be difficult. Stubborn little shit.

Buy Links:

Amazon

iBooks

B&N

Meet Darynda Jones:

  NYTimes and USA Today Bestselling Author Darynda Jones has won numerous awards for her work, including a prestigious Golden Heart®, a Rebecca, two Hold Medallions, a RITA ®, and a Daphne du Maurier, and she has received stellar reviews from dozens of publications including starred reviews from Publisher’s Weekly, Booklist, and the Library Journal. As a born storyteller, Darynda grew up spinning tales of dashing damsels and heroes in distress for any unfortunate soul who happened by, annoying man and beast alike, and she is ever so grateful for the opportunity to carry on that tradition. She currently has two series with St. Martin’s Press: The Charley Davidson Series and the Darklight Trilogy. She lives in the Land of Enchantment, also known as New Mexico, with her husband of almost 30 years and two beautiful sons, the Mighty, Mighty Jones Boys. She can be found at www.daryndajones.com.

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