Don’t trust lust at first sight.
EYE CANDY
Real Love #1
Jessica Lemmon
Releasing July 25th, 2017
Loveswept
Don’t
trust lust at first sight. One woman chooses
reality over fantasy in this friends-to-lovers romance.
Jacqueline: As an adult woman—and the vice president of a marketing firm—I shouldn’t be waiting by my office window to ogle the mystery man who jogs by every morning at 11:45. Sure, he’s a gorgeous, perfect specimen of the human race, but I can’t bring myself to hit on a total stranger. However, my best friend–slash–colleague Vince Carson thinks I should do more than talk to the guy. In fact, he’s borderline obsessive about “getting me laid.” (His words.) But the more time we spend together, the more it’s clear: The one I’m falling for is Vince.
Vince: Jackie Butler’s got it bad for some pompous, over-pumped A-hole who struts his stuff past her window. That doesn’t bother me. I know she deserves nice things. What does bother me is that she friend-zoned me big-time last year, so I can’t ask her out myself. But what if I set her up with Mr. Steroids? Then, when he breaks her heart, I can swoop in and save her like the nice guy I am. Everything’s going according to plan . . . until we share a ridiculously epic kiss. And suddenly anything is possible.
Jacqueline: As an adult woman—and the vice president of a marketing firm—I shouldn’t be waiting by my office window to ogle the mystery man who jogs by every morning at 11:45. Sure, he’s a gorgeous, perfect specimen of the human race, but I can’t bring myself to hit on a total stranger. However, my best friend–slash–colleague Vince Carson thinks I should do more than talk to the guy. In fact, he’s borderline obsessive about “getting me laid.” (His words.) But the more time we spend together, the more it’s clear: The one I’m falling for is Vince.
Vince: Jackie Butler’s got it bad for some pompous, over-pumped A-hole who struts his stuff past her window. That doesn’t bother me. I know she deserves nice things. What does bother me is that she friend-zoned me big-time last year, so I can’t ask her out myself. But what if I set her up with Mr. Steroids? Then, when he breaks her heart, I can swoop in and save her like the nice guy I am. Everything’s going according to plan . . . until we share a ridiculously epic kiss. And suddenly anything is possible.
VINCE
Admittedly, giving Jackie advice on how to
get a guy to sleep with her is not my best plan.
“Okay, Butler,” I say, fully focused on
Jackie now. “Let’s hear it.”
She stops scribbling on the napkin in front
of her, and I bite back a smile. Since I’ve given her a few tips, she has been
frantically taking notes. She’s a planner. I’ve always been more
go-with-the-flow.
She reads over her notes, squinting in
concentration, her lips moving as she reads. Then those golden brown eyes hit
mine and she gives me a resolute nod. “I’m ready.”
Her tongue swipes pink lips, making them
glisten and making me regret again the route I’ve chosen to take with her. Part
of me concedes I could call it off and tell her what I really want, but I know
her. She’s barely convinced she can ask a dude out, so her best guy friend
throwing a date on the table would be an automatic no.
“Let’s see it,” I say, kind of excited to see
what she’s come up with.
She takes the empty seat next to me and leans
heavily on an elbow, fist under her chin. “Hi. I’m Jackie.”
I blink several times in quick succession at
the transformation from my scatterbrained best friend to a gorgeous woman
giving me bedroom eyes. She’s pretending. I’d do well to remember that.
“Vince,” I introduce.
She straightens in her chair and frowns.
“Shouldn’t you pretend to be J.T.?”
“I’m not that good of an actor, Butler.” And
I’m not pretending to be that jerk.
“Fine.” She rolls her eyes, then slides into
seduction mode so swiftly I find myself impressed. She’s better at this than
she’s let on. “Do you have a last name, Vince?”
“You know my last name, Butler.”
“Call me Jackie.” She gives me a slow bat of
her lashes.
My smile is real, and when I lean closer, I
don’t even do it on purpose. “Well, Jackie. Last names are irrelevant, don’t
you think?”
Her chest lifts as she takes a breath, and
I’m not shy about checking out her cleavage, exposed down the V of her shirt.
Normally I wouldn’t look so obviously, but this is a game. Our game.
“That’s very assuming of you, Mr. No Last
Name.” She quirks her lips in that way she has, and my smile broadens. “But
let’s say”—she moves her half-full wineglass onto the cocktail napkin she wrote
on—“for argument’s sake, you’re right, that last names are irrelevant.” She
runs the tip of her finger along the rim of her glass like she’s doing it
absentmindedly.
She’s doing it on purpose. I can tell.
Damn.
She’s good.
“We should have a real date before making
plans, don’t you think?” she asks, her eyes on mine.
“Yes.” Hell, yes. “Dinner, at the
very least.”
“And then if dinner works out . . .” She lets
that statement hang and my heart beats triple time as I wait for what comes
next. “We can talk about dessert.”
“We can talk about dessert now.” I’m
transfixed on her and the idea of exploring our new dynamic.
“Ohmygod.” Her eyes go wide. “Would he
say that?”
I give myself a mental shake when I realize I
was caught up in the conversation. It was one I wanted to be real, and she was
thinking about Running Man.
“Probably,” I say, the spell broken. “Guys
are assholes. Like I said.”
I lean back in my chair, find a TV, and stare
blankly.
“But if that’s the case, I’ll have to have
sex with him sooner than I planned.”
“No, you don’t, Jackie.” I hear the anger in
my own voice. Because . . . “You don’t have to have sex with anyone. You could
go to drinks, dinner, and dessert with this guy—you could end the night with
tonsil hockey on your front porch or his, and you can still say no.”
She purses her lips. I hate the idea of her
kissing that jackass. No matter what kind of person he is—even if he’s a
volunteer firefighter who raises orphaned squirrels so they can perform at the
local senior center—I hate him.
“Tell me you know that,” I say.
“I know I don’t have to.
That’s not what I meant. I don’t want to chicken out. I want to get the first
one over with. Like you did.”
I tip my head back and groan aloud. I can’t
help it. I’m the example for her return to the dating world? Much as I don’t
want to admit it, fair is fair. I salved my wounds with girls like Polly, so
why can’t Jackie do it with J.T.? Jackie’s my friend and I care about her. I
can’t make a double standard now.
“Besides, he’s really hot,” she says, her
face going glowy.
“Spare me.”
A
former job-hopper, Jessica Lemmon resides in Ohio with her husband and
rescue dog. She holds a degree in graphic design currently gathering dust in an
impressive frame. When she’s not writing super-sexy heroes, she can be found
cooking, drawing, drinking coffee (okay, wine), and eating potato chips. She
firmly believes God gifts us with talents for a purpose, and with His help, you
can create the life you want.
Jessica
is a social media junkie who loves to hear from readers. You can learn more at
her website.
A reality TV producer falling for her would-be star:
a Montana heartthrob who wants nothing to do with the show.
a Montana heartthrob who wants nothing to do with the show.
READY TO RUN
I Do, I Don't #1
Lauren Layne
Releasing Aug 22, 2017
Loveswept
The Bachelor meets The Runaway Bride in this addictive romance novel about a reality TV producer falling for her would-be star: a Montana heartthrob who wants nothing to do with the show.
Jordan Carpenter thinks she’s finally found the perfect candidate for Jilted, a new dating show about runaway grooms: Luke Elliott, a playboy firefighter who’s left not one but three brides at the altar. The only problem? Luke refuses to answer Jordan’s emails or return her calls. Which is how she ends up on a flight to Montana to recruit him in person. It’s not Manhattan but at least the locals in Lucky Hollow seem friendly . . . except for Luke, who’s more intense—and way hotter—than the slick womanizer Jordan expected.
Eager to put the past behind him, Luke has zero intention of following this gorgeous, fast-talking city girl back to New York. But before he can send her packing, Jordan’s everywhere: at his favorite bar, the county fair, even his exes’ book club. Annoyingly, everyone in Lucky Hollow seems to like her—and deep down, she’s starting to grow on him too. But the more he fights her constant pestering, the more Luke finds himself wishing that Jordan would kick off her high heels and make herself comfortable in his arms.
PRE-ORDER TODAY!
Damn. Charlie hadn’t been lying about
the hot blonde.
The woman walking straight toward him
was all tight jeans, high heels, and confi-dence. And hot. Very, very hot.
Charlie muttered something admiring
under his breath, and Luke’s gaze flicked to the man beside the woman. Tried to
place him. Couldn’t.
Not too many guys around here who
wore light-purple shirts and white pants with the same easy comfort that Lucky
Hollow residents wore jeans and flannel.
No doubt about it—neither was from
around here. Not by a long shot.
The man was a half step behind the
woman, and Luke assessed that the woman was calling the shots.
His eyes narrowed as he realized that
she hadn’t once wavered in her approach.
She knew what she was after:
Him.
She got closer and Luke saw that the
face matched the body. Wide blue eyes, full lips, sassy shoulder-length blond
hair that was just tousled enough to make a man wonder how it had gotten that
way—to want to be the one to muss it.
Her gaze flicked over him, and
Charlie whistled and muttered under his breath. “She just checked you out,
man.”
She had indeed, but Luke was far from
flattered. It hadn’t been the assessment of a woman checking out a man so much
as a predator evaluating its prey.
As though she was evaluating him for
. . . something.
Blondie stopped in front of him, and
the second her blue eyes locked on his, Luke felt a little jolt of awareness
and was irrationally annoyed. It had been a long time since he’d been quite so
aware of a woman.
Once, he’d enjoyed the feeling—sexual
chemistry was almost the perfect combination of pain and pleasure. A subtle
punch in the gut that you wanted to experience again and again.
These days, though, he was having a
hard time getting past the pain part. The shitty parts had outweighed the good
parts just one time too many. Now he mostly settled for casual hookups with a
divorcée a few towns over who was even less interested in com-mitment than Luke
was.
He had zero use for attraction to a
pretty, bold woman in high heels.
Luke noticed that for a sheer moment
she had a slightly off-balance look, as though she too had felt the annoying
zip of arousal when their eyes met, but she recovered quick-ly.
Pasting a sunny, generic smile on her
face, she stuck out her right hand. “Luke Elliott. I’m Jordan Carpenter. This
is my colleague, Simon Nash.”
Good manners had him setting down his
equipment and extending his own right hand toward hers even as his brain caught
on her name. Familiar, and . . .
Shit. Shit!
He managed to stop from jerking his
hand back, but just barely. Instead, he gritted his teeth, gave her hand a
perfunctory shake, and then fixed her with a glare. “You’re wasting your time,
Ms. Carpenter. And mine.”
Blue eyes narrowed. “Aha. So you did
get my emails.”
Those. The voicemails. The letters.
“Sure,” he said with a nod, shoving
his hands in his pockets. “Just like I suspect you got the message that I
didn’t want to be a part of your show.”
Charlie looked from the woman to Luke
and back again. “Show?”
Ryan ambled over, his shit-eating
grin telling Luke that this damn woman had already spilled the beans on why she
was here. “Luke’s gonna be a national heartthrob.”
“International,” said the blond guy
in the purple shirt.
Jordan Carpenter didn’t look at her
companion, but all three firefighters did.
The other man gave the sort of easy
smile that probably had him making friends easily. Luke didn’t want a new
friend.
Especially not one who wanted to use
his shitty romantic past for the sake of TV ratings.
Lauren
Layne is the New York Times bestselling author of romantic comedies.
She lives in New York City with her husband.
A former
e-commerce and web marketing manager from Seattle, Lauren relocated to New York
City in 2011 to pursue a full-time writing career. She signed with her agent in
2012, and her first book was published in summer of 2013. Since then, she's
written over two dozen books, hitting the USA TODAY, New York
Times, iBooks, and Amazon bestseller lists.
Release
Week Celebration for THE HUNTING GROUNDS by NYT Bestselling Author, Katee
Robert!
"Katee Robert has definitely picked up the
romantic suspense genre and made it her bitch. I can’t wait to see what we get
next. Given some of the books I see she’s been using for research, I know it’s
going to be frightening and amazing at the same time."—Goodreads Review
Download THE
HUNTING GROUNDS and add it to your TBR pile on Goodreads! Then keep reading to get an EXCLUSIVE sneak peek at THE
HUNTING GROUNDS and to enter the giveaway for a $25 Amazon gift card!
Title: The Hunting Grounds
Author: Katee Robert
Series: Hidden Sins #2
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Release Date: July 25, 2017
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Print Length: 318 pages
Format: Digital and Paperback
ISBN: 978-1503946705
Synopsis
For two FBI agents
with a past, love becomes a matter of life and death in the new Hidden Sins
novel from New York Times and USA Today bestselling
author Katee Robert.
Maggie Gaines used to
be an FBI agent—top of her class and one of the bright, up-and-coming
stars—until she spectacularly fell apart during her first high-profile case.
That was eight years ago. Now she’s a ranger at Glacier National Park, and
she’s found some measure of peace. But when the body of a murdered woman is
discovered, she must finally put the past behind her and work with the one man
she thought she’d never see again.
For months, Vic
Sutherland has been hunting a killer who’s been targeting unsuspecting hikers
in national parks—and now the predator has come to Glacier. Vic knows the case
will bring him face-to-face with his former partner, yet nothing can prepare
him for seeing Maggie again after all these years, or for the memories of
passion it stirs in both of them.
As
the investigation brings them closer together—and closer to the killer—Maggie
and Vic fear they have only each other to trust. But even that might not be
enough to make it out of Glacier alive.
Download at:
My Review
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Amazon Gift Card and eBook copies of THE DEVIL'S DAUGHTER (Hidden Sins #1) from
Katee Robert!
The Hunting
Grounds Excerpt
Copyright © 2017
Katee Robert
Vic’s gaze fell on his phone. Maggie’s number was now in the
contacts folder. It would be easy to dial it, just to check on her.
Except it was late, and she hadn’t asked for him to babysit her.
He’d gone years without seeing her, and now that they were in the
same general area, it was like they were two magnets that could barely resist
the pull. He wanted to hear her voice, to sit her down and share a meal that
wasn’t military issue, to actually talk.
His phone rang, which startled him so much he almost dropped it.
Vic stared at the screen for several precious seconds, wondering if he was more
tired than he’d thought, because it sure as fuck looked like Maggie was calling
him. “Sutherland.”
“It’s me.”
He sat on the edge of the bed, suddenly painfully aware that he
wore only a towel. It shouldn’t matter. She couldn’t see him, didn’t know what
he was or wasn’t wearing, but it did matter. “Hey, Maggie.”
“I have to apologize.” He could almost feel her soft sigh. “You
were right, and I was acting like a stubborn kid. This whole thing—the murders
in the park and having to deal with my past and you—has got me all twisted up.”
Maybe it was the events of the last two days, but he was so
goddamn tired of doing the noble thing. He never put himself or his personal
shit before a case. Not once.
He’d never wanted to before.
“I twist you up?”
“As if you didn’t know. I had something of a crush on you when we
were partners—which I’m sure you knew after I threw myself at you—and
apparently I didn’t outgrow it as much as I thought.”
The dimness of the room evoked an intimacy he didn’t deserve. Was
Maggie sitting in her bedroom in low light, too? He liked the picture that
made. “You have nothing to apologize for.”
“I’ve been making an ass of myself since you stepped off that
helicopter.” She shifted, the sound painfully loud in the near silence. “And
I’m doing it again, apparently. My whole point was that I’m sorry and I’ll be
professional from now on. You don’t have to worry about any breakdowns or hissy
fits.”
If he was smart, he’d take her apology for what it was and allow
it to move them back to solid ground. There were lives on the line and a
condensed timeline that was only going to get more condensed with each body
that popped up.
But when Vic spoke, he didn’t move them back to firm ground. He
threw them right over the edge of the cliff. “Fuck being professional. I want
you, Maggie. Not the former FBI agent. Not the park ranger. I want you.”
Praise
for The Hidden Sins Series
“…a captivating read, made all the more rewarding
when good triumphs.” —Washington Post
“Robert
shows off her impressive versatility in this fast-paced and inventive new
Hidden Sins series. The small-town setting is a masterful blend of quaint and
oppressive, which ratchets the menace and thrill factor. The protagonists carry
the full weight of their pasts with them, making their growing relationship as
compelling as the mystery element in The Devil’s Daughter. With
plenty of twists and betrayals, this is a book that is sure to earn Robert a
wealth of new fans.” —RT Book Reviews
Other Books in the Hidden Sin Series
THE DEVIL'S DAUGHTER
About Katee Robert
New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Katee
Robert learned to tell her stories at her grandpa’s knee. Her 2015 title, The
Marriage Contract, was a RITA finalist, and RT Book Reviews named it 'a
compulsively readable book with just the right amount of suspense and
tension." When not writing sexy contemporary and romantic suspense,
she spends her time playing imaginary games with her children, driving her
husband batty with what-if questions, and planning for the inevitable zombie
apocalypse.
Connect
with Katee at:
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