​Book Excerpt

The ship collided against the rocks of Folly Bay. The hull shattered, releasing a loud groan, akin to a wounded animal in the throes of a death blow. Frantic passengers spilled onto the main deck from the hold. They climbed over and pushed one another, until they were finally tossed side to side and slammed over the edge of the ship.
Atia was pelted by flying debris. Her eyes briefly opened to behold a mountain of water as it rolled upon them. There was no air, only the rushing garble of the tide. Water relentlessly filled her ears and nose. Her lips recoiled into her mouth and her teeth clamped upon them. The water receded and she gasped, simultaneously sucking in air and spewing brine.
The rail began to buckle. Before her was a dizzying display of lightning. A short distance away, the rocks flickered and shined. Someone scrambled upon them. She recognized her ma’s long hair. The ship’s bow, only a few feet away, approached fast. With a potent hit, the front of the ship broke apart and her ma was crushed beneath it. Passengers flew mid-air, some landing in the water, others splitting apart on the rocks.
Atia opened her mouth to scream, but nothing came out. The rail broke loose and she was propelled forward, catching a ride along the spindrift to the stony beach. She landed heavily, her arms still gripped around the broken barrier. The scream finally escaped her throat and she belted it across the landscape. After unhooking her arms, she rose slowly, vomiting mouthfuls of salt water.
Behind her, the ship continued to splinter under the pounding waves. Flames erupted from the hatches of the hold. Unfortunate souls hurled themselves off the vessel to extinguish their clothes, only to be caught in the grinding undertow of the current.

About the Book

Title: No Quarter: Dominium – Volume 1
Author: MJL Evans and GM O’Connor
Genre: Historical Fiction / Action Adventure
Volume 1 of 6 begins in 1689 Port Royal, Jamaica with Atia Crisp and her sister Livia shipwrecked and sold into slavery. They are separated and Atia is used as a pawn in a deadly card game at the Swiftsure Tavern until she is liberated by sugar merchant Capitaine la Roche. Hunted at every turn, they take refuge at Cherry Red’s Boutique and meet up with allies including the medication loving Dr. Strangewayes.
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Series Description: 
Against the political stage of 1689 Port Royal, Jamaica, the unswerving Atia Crisp is thrust into the world of bondage, violence, beauty and love. Shipwrecked and sold into slavery with her sister Livia, the pair are soon separated and Atia is used as a pawn in a card game. Captivated by her beauty, Atia is swiftly liberated by sugar merchant, Capitaine la Roche (also known as the pirate, Gator Gar), whose past is stained with blood and grief. La Roche works with a network of friends and allies including local strumpet, Cherry Banks, Theodore Binge the card shark and the kindly, medication loving Dr. Strangewayes. Soon Atia and la Roche are ushered away to safety after a mysterious outbreak of scarlet fever wreaks havoc on the city.
Within the luxuriant tropical confines of Dr. Strangewayes’s plantation at the foothills of the Blue Mountains, bonds of friendship are formed and the fierce love between Atia and Capitaine la Roche becomes absolute. Atia is reunited with her sister, piratical father and unexpected old friends. However, nowhere is safe as spies seek out both Atia and la Roche for the bounties on their heads. Neither of them can escape the shadows of their former lives and must rely on each other’s strengths for survival. Their journey leads them to an inevitable conflict that threatens their world, but inches them closer towards freedom.
Now Available:
No Quarter: Dominium – The Complete Series and No Quarter: Wenches – Volume 1

Author Bio

MJL EVANS wanted to be a writer since she was ten years old. Her motto – it’s never too late in life to get your act together and do something you really love. No Quarter: Dominium is her first book series and she currently writing the next, No Quarter: Wenches. Her sense of humor has been shaped by Monty Python, Black Adder and Red Dwarf, while her dramatic side has been influenced by independent/foreign movies.
You can connect with MJL Evans on Twitter at @artistmjlevans or [email protected]
 
GM O’CONNOR is a huge movie fan, writer and visual artist. No Quarter: Dominium is his first book series and he’s busy writing No Quarter: Wenches. A lover of sci-fi and history, half his brain lives in the 17th century while the other half sails perpetually through space. He hopes to one day bring the No Quarter Series to film and/or graphic novel format.
You can connect with GM O’Connor on Twitter at @gm_oconnor or [email protected]

Links

Website: http://www.thenoquarterseries.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/noquarterseries/
Follow us on Twitter at: @noquarterseries
Email us at: [email protected]
Where to download:
Amazon
B&N
Kobo Books
Smashwords
Google Play
Apple iTunes

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Giveaway

About the Book

Title: Running to Stand Still
Author: Lauran Rosolino
Genre: NA Romance
Collin was who he was: simple and easy.
                Me? I was jagged and complex. I wanted everything.
                And despite how he made me feel—safe—it was clear to me that we’d never work out in the end.
                That divide between us would always be there.
                Because I’d never ask him to give up on the things he wanted.
                And, while I sometimes wished I could be that person, I wasn’t.
Just seven more months. Then Jamie Benson can leave this goodbye town behind her and start her new life in Chicago. She can leave this place of broken glass and cracked sidewalks and rusted fences. This place that holds nothing good. She can leave the ghosts and spinning rooms and shattered promises in her rearview mirror and never look back.
But all the stories she’s been telling herself are threatened when, one night, while tending bar at her father’s hole-in-the-wall dive, she meets Collin—a boy who is good and honest and sincere in a world where everything is harsh and cold and detached. A boy who makes her feel safe.  A boy worth staying for.
Will Jamie be able to untangle the truths from the lies? Or will the sins of the past swallow her whole?

Author Bio

Author of The Charm Necklace and Running to Stand Still. Writer of stories about finding beauty in brokenness.
She is a storyteller. Adventuer. Partner. Coffee drinker. Magic believer. Rebel with a gypsy soul. Lover of the woods and books, the woods and walks.

Born and bred in Detroit, Lauren grew up reading Harry Potter, watching Gilmore Girls, listening (and dancing) to a lot of music, and wondering why people do what they do. She graduated from Wayne State University with a BA in Psychology. Lauren lives with her husband, dog, cat, and bunny in Charleston, South Carolina.

To find out more and read her blog, Wonderstruck, visit www.laurenrosolino.com.

Links

Website: www.laurenrosolino.com
Amazon: Amazon
Goodreads – https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8306807.Lauren_Rosolino
Twitter: twitter.com/laurenrosolino
Instagram: instagram.com/laurenrosolino

Giveaway

Book Excerpt
​She knew he stood behind her without turning around. The now familiar scent of bergamot, horses, and starched linen surrounded her. Her body tingled, and butterflies took up residence in her stomach. Her awareness of everything surrounding her increased. The air was crisper, the flowers along the edge of the patio, brighter. But all conversation on the patio receded until the only thing she heard was Redgrave’s voice.
“Grayson, Draper. I’m glad to be here.” Redgrave moved into their circle and looked first at Genevieve. “Lady Genevieve, you are looking lovely, as usual.” He bowed over her extended hand.
He turned to Mary. “Lady Mary, I had hoped you would be attending. Is Her Grace with you, as well?”
“Yes. She is resting in her room.” Thankfully her voice came out normal, despite her dry mouth. This was ridiculous. Even when she’d been fascinated with Claremont—before he’d turned into such a scoundrel, she had never had this reaction to the man.
“I hope she is not ill?” His piercing gaze had the butterflies in her stomach dancing a lively cotillion.
She offered him a slight smile, hoping the flush she felt on her face was not visible to all. “No, merely tired from the trip. She will be joining us for dinner.”
He continued to stare at her. “Ah. I shall plan on wishing her a pleasant visit.”
“I am sure she would like that.”
“As will I.”
Silence descended on the group, until Grayson said, “Well. It seems the rest of us have been forgotten, eh?”
Mary’s gaze swung from Redgrave to Grayson, who regarded the two of them with a puzzled expression. Whatever am I thinking? By dinnertime rumor would have them practically betrothed and headed to Gretna Green.

About the BookTitle: The Earl’s Return
Author: Callie Hutton
Genre: Regency Romance
London, 1819. Four years ago, Darius, the Earl of Redgrave fled London two weeks before his wedding to Lady Mary’s sister and married another woman. Now a widower, he has returned to seek a new wife.
 One woman catches his eye  . . .

At first, Lady Mary doesn’t recognize the handsome lord as the cad who ran out on her sister. After giving him the cut direct in a London ballroom, she finds herself running into him everywhere she goes, and fighting a forbidden attraction. Not only has Mary sworn off men, Redgrave is so very wrong for her. But she cannot stop thinking of his kisses. Redgrave means to stay away from Mary but it is impossible. Passion between two people who can never be together is a dangerous game.

Author Bio

The USA Today best selling author of The Elusive Wife writes both Western Historical and Regency romance, with “historic elements and sensory details” (The Romance Reviews). She also pens an occasional contemporary or two. Callie lives in Oklahoma with several rescue dogs, two adult children, and daughter-in-law (thankfully all not in the same house), and her top cheerleader husband of thirty-eight years. She recently welcomed twin grandsons and loves being a grandma. Callie loves to hear from readers, and would welcome you as a “friend” on Facebook. You can contact her through her website: www.calliehutton.com, or write her directly at [email protected]

She is past president of the Oklahoma chapter of The Romance Writers of America and PAN Liaison for Hearts Through History Romance Writers chapter of RWA.

Website: http://calliehutton.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorCallieHutton/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Calliehutton
Newsletter: https://app.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/p1n5h1
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5349775.Callie_Hutton
 
Links

Amazon.com
B&N
Kobo
Amazon.co.uk
Amazon.ca

​Giveaway

​Please tell us about yourself. 

I grew up in Fort Wayne, Indiana, but for over thirty years have lived in Atlanta, Georgia.  Although my first few decades in Atlanta were consumed by raising three daughters born in a four-year span and caring for my parents, from early childhood, I knew my calling was to write stories.   I had to find a way to make that happen, so even though overwhelmed with parenting and working as a secretary in support of my family, I kept the dream alive by writing books for children.  Once my kids were grown—and 15 published children’s books later, including novels, picture books and a young adult book chosen by Barnes & Noble as a “Discover Great Writers” selection—I turned to what this old English major was born to do, writing novels about misunderstood historical figures. 

My mission is to write stories that get to the heart of the human condition, using the lives of legendary people as my vehicle.  It’s important to me to ground my books in historical facts--I want my readers to be confident when they read my novels that the events in them either did happen or could have happened.  I don’t tamper with the framework of facts around which I tell my stories, but instead aim to connect the dots between events that really happened in my characters’ lives.  To this end, I travel and research extensively, making a point of visiting every scene in my books.   This is my idea of fun!
It amazes me—honestly, it hasn’t quite sunk in—that after decades of working toward my childhood dream, that this Atlanta housewife somehow inched her way to the title of “best-selling author.”   Being singled out by People magazine, Oprah.com, and NPR, and having my books highlighted at Costco and the Target Book Club doesn’t seem quite real, either.  I’d keep on working and researching and trying to make sense of our short lives regardless.  But connecting with readers around the world has become a joy I’d never looked for.   I’m so grateful for this opportunity.

Tell us about your book.

In 1909, Mark Twain turned on his secretary of nearly seven years after she had devoted her life to him.  She’d taken care of his difficult grown children, (one of whom needed constant care for her severe epilepsy,) managed his personal affairs, planned his travel, paid his household accounts, built his home, bought his clothing, played hostess for his guests, entertained him nightly with endless card games, even washed that white hair!  Yet when she married Twain’s business manager, with Twain’s blessing, Twain not only fired her a month later, but started a scorched-earth slander campaign that ruined her for the rest of her long life.  Twain’s End explores why such a beloved benevolent legend as Mark Twain could have behaved in this way.
 
What inspired you to write Twain's End?
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Twain’s End was written for all the secretaries in the world (of which I was one for decades.)   I had to know why a man known to be such a champion of the underdog would have turned on the woman who, he admitted himself, knew him best.  I found my answers in Twain’s childhood, and in the emotional wounds he received during his early years.
  
How much time per week do you spend writing/editing your work?

Now that my kids are grown, I work full-time on my writing.  I put in 8 hour days under my laptop, unless I’m on a research trip or speaking to groups.  I visit book clubs weekly, either in person locally or by Skype.   Even though I put in long hours simply writing, I make a point of spending time with my children and grandchildren.   They are more important to me than books.  So as you can guess, I’m always in a time crunch.
What are you working on at the moment?
Set in 1934, BETTY KNOWS BEST is about a Midwestern widow whose mysterious infatuation with kitchen wizard Betty Crocker sends her and her reluctant daughters on a Wizard of Oz-style quest to meet Betty.  While Betty Crocker advertises knowing "15 Ways to a Man's Heart," Dorothy and her two grown daughters learn the one true way to a woman's.  

About the Book

Title: Twain’s End
Author: Lynn Cullen
Genre: Historical
Now in paperback for the first time from the national bestselling author of Mrs. Poe, Lynn Cullen, comes TWAIN’S END (Gallery Books; June 7, 2016; Trade Paperback; $16.00), a fictional imagining of America’s iconic writer Mark Twain and the woman who knew him too well.
In March of 1909, Mark Twain cheerfully blessed the wedding of his private secretary, Isabel V. Lyon, and his business manager, Ralph Ashcroft. One month later, he fired both, wrote a ferocious 429-page rant about the pair, and then—with his daughter, Clara Clemens—slandered Isabel in the newspapers, erasing her nearly seven years of devoted service to their family.
In TWAIN’S END, Lynn Cullen “cleverly spins a mysterious, dark, tale” (Booklist) about the tangled relationship between Twain and Lyon. A silenced woman, Isabel’s loyal service and innocence were not enough to combat the slander, and she has gone down in history as the villainess who swindled Twain in his final years. She never rebutted Twain’s claims, never spoke badly of the man she called “The King,” and kept her silence until she died in 1958. How did Lyon go from being the beloved secretary who ran Twain’s life to a woman he was determined to destroy? TWAIN’S END explains.

Author Bio

Lynn Cullen lives in Atlanta surrounded by her large family, and like Mark Twain, enjoys being bossed around by cats. Follow Lynn Cullen on Facebook or visit www.lynncullen.com.  

Links

Buy the book on Simon & Schuster