REVIEW: Marine in the Wind (Always a Marine #15) by Heather Long

Marine in the Wind

Marine in the Wind
Always a Marine #15

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Freewill bound…

Greg Rainwater lost a piece of himself in the deserts of Iraq, a piece that his Shaman great-grandfather would call his soul. After months of grueling physical therapy at Mike’s Place, he’s still empty. When his discharge papers arrive, Greg has no idea where to go until A.J. calls and invites him to Freewill. The ranch turns out to be exactly what he needs—hard physical labor, horses, and the mountains soothe his injured soul.  If only Old Man Crane’s granddaughter didn’t look at him with such scorn in her eyes… Determined to put her out of his mind, he signs up for a one-night stand.

Under her skin…

Stuck in Freewill, Georgia Crane gave up her own dreams to look after her grandfather. She hates small towns, she hates busybodies, and she really hates outsiders, but she adores her grandfather, so she stays. If only the old man wouldn’t keep wandering off. The self-proclaimed medicine man insists on walking the hills and the mountains, communing with nature and the spirits. Her frustration increases when a new arrival encourages his lunacy.  Not content to hunger after the man replacing her in her grandfather’s affections, Georgia signs up for a one-night stand.

Sexual healing…

When Greg is paired with Georgia, his blood boils—the woman turns him inside out. Georgia’s as shocked as he is…after all, this is the guy her grandfather keeps wandering off with. Stuck together for the evening, distrust turns to attraction and irritation to desire, but can they bridge the distance in just one night?

The beautiful woman marched straight for them and sent all the blood in Greg’s body south. He’d spent most of his time on the ranch or at Mike’s Place. The women he knew were therapists, Marines, sailors—or A.J.’s girlfriend. This lady, with her mane of midnight black hair, sun kissed skin, and soft pink lips reminded him of all he’d been missing, a sprite of nature given living, breathing form.

“I’m sorry, son,” Crane muttered and picked up his pace. “Georgia…”

“Don’t you Georgia me.” The beautiful sprite turned into a fire-breathing dragon, right down to the heat flaming in her eyes. “You’re supposed to be taking it easy, Grandpa. This—?” she waved her arms toward the ranch and included Greg in her sweep. “Is the complete opposite of taking it easy.”


“I’m fine. Georgia, this is—”

“I don’t care who this is.” She exhaled a hard breath and looked at Greg. “No offense. I’m sure you’re very nice. I know you served, and we’re grateful. But this is my grandfather you’re dragging all over the back of beyond, not one of your Marines.”

“Georgia Crane.” The older man frowned.

“No. You’re an hour late. You didn’t tell me where you were going. You didn’t leave a note. I’ve looked for you everywhere. If I hadn’t run into A.J., I wouldn’t know where you were now.” She held up a bottle and shook it. “You’re supposed to take this, on schedule, three times a day. You can’t skip.”

Anger tightened the lines around her eyes and her mouth had a hard pinched look. Greg hadn’t encouraged the older man to take a long walk, but he hadn’t discouraged him either.

“It was good to meet you, Greg.” Crane turned away from his granddaughter pointedly and offered his hand. Greg shook it. “Don’t forget to keep listening.”

“I won’t. You two all right to get back to town?” He didn’t doubt for an instant the little firecracker could handle it, but in her current frame of mind, they might need a mediator.

“We’re fine.” The older man didn’t seem hurried. “Georgia, this is Greg Rainwater.”

“Mr. Rainwater.”

“Miss Crane,” he echoed her tone.

“Grandpa, come on. You need your meds and probably something to eat with them. We can pick up sandwiches on the way.” She may as well have acted like Greg wasn’t there, but since the pair seemed likely to engage in an argument at any moment, he left it alone.

After she loaded her grandfather in the car and walked around to the passenger side, she set her fierce gaze on him again. It raked him from head to toe before she gave him a grudging nod, although her expression didn’t ease one iota.

He stared after the car long after it disappeared into the distance and he listened.
If only he was certain what he listened for.

Sarah's review:

 Yes, it is another Always a Marine story!  This story is just the most recent in Heather's amazing series within Decadent Publishing 1NS series.  Not only is this a 1N story, we also head back to Freewill, Wyoming for this story.   Right after reading this, I sent Heather a message asking her if she was trying to bump Matt off my favorites list. 

Greg won me over when he took that first walk with Crane, Georgia's grandfather.  He treated Crane like a person, not like a burden that many people treat the elderly as these days.   Even with Greg's own health problems, he took Georgia's concerns for Crane seriously and didn't downplay her feelings or what he was gaining on these walks.   

Georgia won me over with her concern for Crane.  While at first, it appeared that she was overwhelmed with her grandfather taking off and she was stressed about not being able to find him, Georgia was truly concerned and didn't know how to handle it.  Once she knew that Greg was also going on these walks, she relaxed slightly.  

What I enjoyed most about these two was that they had to work a little bit to get the other to open up.  While they interacted occasionally, they still didn't know much about each other.  Once they both realized that they were each other's date, it was fun to watch Georgia's reaction.   My favorite part of their interactions during their date was:

“So tell me….” He teased the tip of her nose with his, just the lightest of touches. Her eyes widened and her breath grew shallow. “…what do you do?”

“I write erotic romance."

 I always get a kick out of it when an erotic romance author has one of the characters be an erotic romance author.  It doesn't happen a lot though. 

I have to be honest and say that these characters jumped right into the top 5 of my favorite Marine couples.  The thing is that they are tied with others.

REVIEW: Fractured Paradise by Alexa Bourne

 This book is part of Decadent Publishing's Honor Guard series. All 3 of my Honor Guard stories involve 1 character from the International Protective Network, or IPN. (IPN was my creation, Honor Guard was Decadent's.) I also have 2 more stories that I will, for sure, be submitting for the Honor Guard series later this year.

BLURB:

Technical analyst Rachel Grant arrives in Sunderland intent on tidying up her grandmother’s cottage, but the disaster she discovers requires more than a gentle sweep of a dust rag. Determined to please the most important person in her life, she trades her computer keyboard for a hammer and nails to make the repairs. She doesn’t count on the chilly reception from the locals who want to claim Nan’s home as their own.

Tour guide Aidan Camden wants to buy the cottage. He’s determined to acquire the property no matter how attractive he finds the current occupant. However, when tragedy strikes, throwing them both into a tailspin, he discovers he wants more than the house. He longs for the sexy American as well. Can Aidan put his own ghosts to rest in time to save the woman who’s claimed his heart?

EXCERPT:

“A bit of a disappointment, I expect.” A rich, deep voice with a twinge of an English accent drifted from behind her.

She whirled around. Her hair whipped against her cheeks and made her wish for the hundredth time today she hadn’t packed all her hair clips.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to frighten you.”

The stranger paused beside the edge of the clearing, and her heart stuttered. Although no one would mistake him for a Hollywood leading man, this guy could command attention by stepping into a room. Or onto an island.

“That’s okay. You didn’t.” She permitted her gaze to wander over him.

He kept his hands stuffed into the front pockets of faded jeans. The wind tore at his gray long-sleeved shirt, outlining the contours of a well-defined chest. Unruly light brown hair touched his collar. High cheekbones accented his deep-set eyes. Not friendly eyes, but no threat lay behind them either, at least none she could uncover.

He pulled a hand from his pocket and held it out. “Aidan Camden of Dawson Tours, your neighbor from across the water.” He tipped his head toward the way he’d come.

Camden. His name sounded familiar, but why? She shook his hand with a hint of hesitation. “Rachel Grant.”

His fingers warmed her skin, his grip strong and confident. Awareness trailed along her arm. Then again, it could be the accent that made her skin tingle. British accents never failed to stir her emotions.

A trace of a smile danced on his lips. “Aye, the American.”

Huh. “You know of me?”

A low rumble of laughter slipped from his mouth, the sound relaxing her from deep within. “Word travels fast here. I saw you paddling your way out.”

Paddling? No, he’d seen her fighting with the oars. Until today, she’d never set foot on a boat, much less held an oar. But she would consider swimming across the Atlantic Ocean if it would make Nan happy.

“Tell me, Mr. Camden, are you in the habit of following foreigners?”

“No, lass, but you’re all the talk of the Roker area. The mighty Grant descendant, come to see about selling the family cottage.”

Selling?

Sarah's Review:

I need to first thank Alexa Bourne and Decadent Publishing for the copy of this story.  I am normally able to read one of DP's book within an evening, however my schedule this past week prevented that.  I am a huge supported of DP, so when this one, which I hadn't heard of, was part of the book club,  I was intrigued.  

I have to say that there are so many things that I love about this story.  From my perspective, this story is about love, loss, grief and second chances.  Both of these characters have experienced or experience all of those emotions during the course of this story.  Grief and loss is a difficult topic in general because each person responds differently to grief.  Ms. Bourne gave us two different views on grief and loss yet, these two characters connected over their losses. 

I enjoyed reading the strong characters that Ms. Bourne gave us.  I love that despite the feelings that each one had toward each other in the beginning, they still found each other.  I can't really explain why I enjoyed this story so much.  It resonated with me on a few different levels and maybe that is why.  

Do you like sports and hot men? Try a sports romance!

Cassandra Carr here - thanks to Sarah for letting me take over her blog. ;-) I wanted to talk today about a burgeoning subgenre in romance: sports romance! What is sports romance? Basically, if the hero or heroine

One of my bull riders...

is/was an athlete or the book is set in the world of sports but perhaps the h/h aren't actually athletes, it's a sports romance. Authors like Susan Elizabeth Phillips and Jaci Burton write sports romances, and there are more coming on the market every day.

What's the allure of the sports romance? Well, I think a lot of that lies with the hero, though stories with female athletes can be very hot too. But what's not to like about a man who's really, really good at something and makes a lot of money doing it? Yes, there have been stories in the news about guys like Tiger Williams who think the world is their personal orgy opportunity, but by and large athletes are decent people.

Why do I write sports romance? Because I love sports, particularly hockey, though I write bull riders and will be expanding into some other sports in the next year or so. I know for a fact there are millions of female sports fans, so it follows that at least some percentage of them are also readers. BAM! A market for what I want to write. Yay!

Yep, sports heroes are pretty hot...

It's not just female sports fans who read sports romance, though. I know plenty of women who don't care for sports, but love reading romances featuring athletes. They like the excitement of the story and the action.
They love the Alpha males who tend to show up in sports romances.

So here are my questions - IF you read sports romance, why? IF NOT, why not?

If you want a great list of sports romances, check out this page on the sports romance-centered blog I started with my friend Jami Davenport, Romancing the Jock:

http://romancingthejock.com/rtj-book-list/

Now I need to go. I'm in the middle of revisions on...a sports romance!
-- Cassandra

For more information about me or my books, check out my website at http://www.booksbycassandracarr.com. You can like me on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/AuthorCassandraCarr or follow me on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/Cassandra_Carr.

Wednesday w/ WNY Author: N Kuhn and her Parlor Tricks

Title: Parlor Tricks

Author: N Kuhn

Publisher: Nevermore Press

Blitz Organizer: Free Ebooks Galore

Release Date: June 25th

Link to Book

Amazon
$0.99 cents!

Blurb:

Have you ever wondered what really goes on in the tattoo shop? Lots of hot guys, testosterone, ink and lust. Here's a compilation of short stories that divulge the innermost fantasy of what happens after the ink.

Author Bio:

N Kuhn stands for Nicole Kuhn. She raised in a small town, in the middle of nowhere. Small town life is something she cherishes. Having spent her afternoons outside or with a book, she grew up with a love of reading and writing. Her mother and grandmother fully encouraged this in her. Many years later, after a husband and children, she made a promise to her dying grandmother to fulfill her dream of being an author. Her grandmother lived to see Nicole's name in print. This was a turning moment for her. Driven by ambition and a promise made, she has since published her first trilogy (The Mohawk Series). N Kuhn has also signed on with WheelMan Press for the much anticipated Tucked In (The Hollywood Files) series as well as Nevermore Press for Travis, the first in her Buffalo Rocker Series.

Nicole has several other books that will be out later this year. When she's not writing, she works full time, runs her blog, and promotes for other authors. She spends as much time with her family as possible. Nicole is known to exist purely on Coffee and Rockstar energy drinks!

Check her out on facebook. www.facebook.com/nkuhnauthor

You can also follow her on twitter @mrsnkuhn

Check her Goodreads Page http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6966339.N_Kuhn

Parlor Tricks http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18072374-parlor-tricks

Follow her blog: http://nkuhnebooks.blogspot.com

And show some love to Nevermore Press https://www.facebook.com/NevermorePress

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REVIEW: Private Message by Danielle Torella

Private Message
 Blurb: 

 ---Adult themes and situations MATURE CONTENT---

Tess has never had sex. Believe it or not, she’s never had a decent kiss.

The aspiring Seattle painter and photographer is still recovering from the trauma of being beaten and nearly raped at a rock show nearly three years before. So she keeps life simple: she goes to school, goes to work in a coffee shop, goes home, goes on living.

But then Ben’s naked body crashes—almost literally—through Tess’s wall against the world.

Ben is doing his dad’s art-teacher girlfriend a favor when he agrees to pose nude for her drawing class. But what he draws is the interest of the irresistible punk-looking girl—and it’s interest he reciprocates, with interest.

Their sexual chemistry is too much to resist. But it’s when they have their clothes on that their heat quickly slips on ice. Ben’s womanizing history is one thing, but it’s history of another kind—related to that fateful night at the rock show—that threatens to tear the young lovers apart forever.

Excerpt:

At the end of last week’s drawing lesson, Ms. Sawyer, my middle-aged hippie-chick art instructor, informed us that we would have a male model to observe and paint for tonight’s class. I never gave it a second thought beyond God I hope it’s someone remotely attractive after last week’s lesson of trees. Like seriously, trees?

As always, I am the last to arrive. But, hey, this time it wasn’t my fault. I swear my car keys had more of a social life than me and had a fling with the sneaker I couldn’t find while getting I was getting ready. Rushing into class, I assumed my usual position in the corner table away from “the action,” as Ms. S liked to put it. I flip past last week’s assignment to an open page. God I can’t draw a tree to save my life….

I look to my right to see another student halfway through his drawing, scanning from the top of his pad down to the bottom, and that’s when I notice the subject. I snap my head up so rapidly I think I got whiplash. He’s sitting perfectly still on top of a table, his back to me, thank God, because I realize that my mouth is hanging open. Ms. S clears her throat and I glance at her, as she waves her hand in the direction of the model and forms her hand to look like she’s hold a pencil and drawing… yeah yeah I’m getting to work.

I take in his midnight dark short hair, casually styled as a faux hawk, then I scan to his neck, down to his toned shoulders, which adorn a collection of black and gray tattoo work, but I can’t make out the detail. Man, I should have gotten my shit together and got to class on time. Then maybe I could have grabbed a seat a little closer. One of his arms is bent and appears to be holding him up. His right leg is bent and I can only assume the other is out in front of himself but stupid me—being late, I got stuck only looking at his back straight on…so much for interesting…

I begin to sketch, and by the time I get down to the lowest part of his back, I find myself biting my bottom lip and just staring. Come on, Tess, get your crap together if you want to finish the assignment!

“All right, everyone, class is dismissed. Next week we will continue with our model here,” Ms. Sawyer announces, while winking in the direction of the beautiful creature up on display, and obviously before I can even finish. Damn shame too…

“Tess, a moment please, after you clean up,” she says as I pack up. I look back up to the table for a quick look at the face of the back, but I get only a quick profile look and notice his sleek black leather jacket that hugs his slender frame. Total damn shame…

Sarah's Review: 

REVIEW: Love on the Rocks by Lorraine Nelson

Love on the Rocks

Love on the Rocks, Sweet Confection
The story begins at The Rocks in Hopewell Cape, NB.  Caroline Davis, our normally strong, independent and fun-loving heroine, is deeply distressed at having to ‘abandon’ her baby, but she has neither money nor home and is hiding from an abusive and obsessive ex-boyfriend. 

Our sexy hero, Anthony Jacobs, has sworn off women due to a previous relationship gone sour, but he finds the child, takes her home and arranges care for her.  Caroline applies and is hired as her own child’s nanny, but is fraught with tension at the possibility of being found out. 

The hero and heroine are attracted and the romance is going well until trouble arises in the form of her ex-boyfriend, who appears on the scene with custody papers in hand.  Caroline runs with the baby, certain that Anthony won’t want her when he discovers how she has deceived him. 

Anthony follows, wanting to get to the truth. Will that truth bring them closer together or tear them apart forever?

Excerpt

"Since you slaved away to prepare such a feast, I insist on doing the washing up."

"What? No beeper?" Caroline chided.

"Not tonight. Guess I was too tired to arrange a get-a-way. I'll have to do better tomorrow," Anthony said with a wink and a chuckle.

Picking up Charity, she shot back, saying, "That figures. Oh, well, I'll enjoy tonight's respite and take our little princess upstairs to get her cleaned up. What do you think of that, sweetheart?"

"Fine with me," Anthony answered unexpectedly, then must have caught himself because he turned back to look at them as Caroline erupted into laughter. "Uh, you weren't talking to me just then, were you?" he asked sheepishly.

"No, but you sure do look good in red," she quipped, giggling at his embarrassment as she went on her way.

Anthony could hear her giggles as she went up the back stairs. To his astonishment, he had truly enjoyed thinking she'd called him 'Sweetheart,' and it had seemed so natural, too.

Oh, boy! Am I ever in big trouble, he told himself as he realized he'd fallen head over heels for the woman. What am I going to do now? How do I find out if she feels the same without bringing on a sexual harassment suit? Why did she have to be Charity's nanny...an employee...and a darn good one at that! He didn't want to scare her into running away. Think, Anthony! Think! He knew he'd figure out something. He'd just have to play it by ear and take a chance when the opportunity arose. 

Sarah's Review:  

I need to thank the TBR Pile for their giveaway that featured this story.  I would not have found this story had it not been for them.  I would also like to thank Lorraine Nelson for the copy that she emailed me because of the giveaway.  

It took me a couple weeks since receiving this book to read it because I was leery due to the topic, domestic violence (DV).  However, I was pleasantly surprised!  Yes, DV hits a little too close to home, but I was able to read it with very little flashbacks to my own history.  For that, I am thankful.  Ms. Nelson did a very respectable job when taking on DV.

I am going to express what I loved about this story because I feel like I will give things away if I do it like I normally would.  

I loved that Sara was strong enough to leave the POS that abused her.  I love that she fought hard to protect herself and Charity, her daughter.  I love that Sara was careful about how she placed Charity in the cave and was watching to make sure her daughter was safe.  I didn't feel that Charity was in true danger and that Sara would have made sure of that!  I love that Sara was able to find a way to still be part of Charity's life, even though she had to lie about it.  I love that she was able to stay strong even when she was the most vulnerable.  

I love that Anthony stepped up when he could have passed Charity on to the foster care system.  I love that Anthony showed interest in Charity's safety from the beginning.  I loved that Anthony was able to keep the fact that he heard Sara say that she was Charity's momma through the baby monitor and not immediately take action. I wondered if Anthony knew subconsciously that Sara was Charity's mother.

While there were parts that were more heart-wrenching than others, I thought this story was well written and did not glorify DV in any manner. 

REVIEW: Eleven Years On by Kate Richards

Eleven Years On

Blurb:

Jillian Schmidt’s bitter mother  took her thirteen year old daughter  far away from her father, friends, and her home. Now grown up, Jillian still struggles with the broken heart the move caused. Why has no one ever contacted her? Did they all forget her? Her father’s death rips the scab off the finally healing wound, forcing her to return to Hadleysville, but will she find any answers to the questions haunting her?

Toby Archer, attorney at law, finds himself in the unique position of handling the estate for Jillian’s father. He will have to face her with professional aplomb. If she had any feelings for him, she would have been in touch. But one look at her grown-up beauty sends his good intentions out the window and reminds him why he still misses Jillian Eleven Years On.

Tagline: Love’s heart beats true, even if it cannot be heard.

Dedication: To Dominique Eastwick, whose kindness makes everything good.

Author Bio: Amazon and All Romance bestselling author Kate Richards lives in Southern California where the mountains, beaches, and deserts are out there, when she can get away from the worlds of her characters to enjoy them.

Excerpt:

“Jillie, let’s take this inside.” He tried to modulate his voice, but it emerged louder than he intended. No wonder. The woman had him off balance with her tears and accusations. Steadying himself, he took her fisted hand and pried it open. As he’d thought, the key lay in her palm. He set her away from him and unlocked the door, then stepped back to wave her inside.

She balked, her angry façade crumbling. “I can’t.”

He paused, struggling to stay on the emotional roller coaster without flying off into space. “You can’t what?”

“I can’t go in there.” She backed away “This is a mistake. I thought I could handle it, maybe…but I should have let your father handle things. I’m going to go.”

His father? She thought… Interesting. She turned to flee but he grabbed her hand again. “Jillie, of course it’s emotional. Your father died and anyone would be sad, upset.”

Her face clouded, her eyes swimming again, and he took advantage of her softening to tug her into the house behind him and on into the living room. Pushing her down into a worn paisley armchair he remembered from their youth, he then knelt in front of her with a quick, rueful thought to his best suit. The dusty floor wouldn’t do it any good, and he needed it the next day.

But her quivering lip focused him again and he patted her hand, fighting the urge to soothe her with kisses and cuddles. Too much time had passed for that to work—and the girl he remembered would have socked him anyway. He smiled, unable to stop a flutter of happiness at being in her presence.

“What? You aren’t laughing at me, are you?” She tugged her fingers free and wiped them on her black jeans. He winced.

“No.” He rocked back on his heels and stood, moving to sit on the edge of the threadbare, maroon tweed sofa. Jillian’s father’d had less-than-stellar housekeeping standards; dust swirled in the streams of sunlight admitted by the ragged drapes, and Toby resigned himself to wearing his old suit to court. “I was glad to see you.”

She swiped at her cheeks with the heel of her hand. “I’m surprised.”

He frowned. “I don’t know why you would be. After all, we do have an agreement.”

“We what?” Outrage colored her tones, and she shoved to her feet. “I am sure I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Sarah's Review: 

I have to thank Kate Richards for reaching out and letting me know about this story coming out.  I did not know she had a new one coming, I don't recall seeing her talk about it on Facebook.  Did I miss those posts?  Probably with my schedule I seem to be missing a lot lately.   I adore Kate's Virgin Series through Decadent Publishing and have read some of her others stories as well.  I am a fan of her work and look forward to reading more of her work. This story is a little different because it is more of a sweet romance than a hot, steamy romances.  I enjoyed it so much that I delayed working on an important paper for grad school. 

We first meet Jillian when she receives a letter pertaining to handling her father's estate.   Jillian and her mother left the town Jillian had grown up in in a quick and hasty manner, but we don't find out why until closer to the end of the book.  The first person she runs into is her childhood best friend when she was being told she couldn't park in a certain spot.  After she stops at the attorney's office to get the key, she heads to the house she grew up in and then she ends up in the arms of her first love, Toby.  

Toby is the town attorney that is handling Jillian's fathers' estate and also Jillian's first love.  He always wondered why Jillian never returned his letters and when he brings out a child hood promise of the two getting married when they turned 25, I had to laugh!  It was so romantic but such bad timing on his part.  Toby didn't tell Jillian that he was the lawyer handling her father's estate until the meeting with her after seeing her a couple times.  

These two made me laugh and they made me cry.  After 11 years apart, these two had chemistry that had grown from a childhood crush to a love story in the making.  I loved the teasing that they did to each other but I also understood the hurt that they went through being apart.  Discovering what the reason they were separated together was such a monumental part of them beginning to heal.                    

Reminder: Giveaway for 50 followers

Just a friendly reminder that if I can hit 50 followers within the next 9 days, I am giving away 5 $5 Amazon or B&N gift cards!!  If I don't hit 50, I will only give one $5 gift card away, same as last month. 

The only glitch that I am seeing is that if you follow by email, I may not be able to see it.  So here is where I ask for your help in making sure that my followers section is correct.

If you follow and it is showing on the main page, then please know you are automatically entered in. 

If you follow but you don't see an icon representing you, please let me know!  You can email me or leave a comment so I can make sure you are entered in. 

Authors:  If you have cover reveals coming up, please let me know, I would love to promote it for you!  If you have an upcoming romance release, I would love to promote it.   After all, I am doing this because I love reading! 

COVER REVEAL: Betting It All by Cate Masters

Betting It All

by Cate Masters

Historical romance novella

(about 29k)

Coming soon from Decadent Publishing http://www.decadentpublishing.com

Blurb

Can the daughter of a well-known prostitute start a new life where no one knows her family history? Norah Hawkins is sure going to try. When a letter arrives deeding her property in San Francisco, she packs her bags.

Irishman Gerard MacKenzie likes his life free and easy, but is tired of the snobbish East Coast folk. San Francisco has enough vice and folly to suit his needs. Meeting Norah gives him the opportunity to bartend in her saloon. Maybe he can convince her to let him play the piano, too. She’s a shrewd businesswoman, and negotiating with her makes his blood boil. Damn if she doesn’t make his blood boil in other ways.

The morning of April 18, 1906, a terrible earthquake buries their dreams beneath the city’s ruins. Can Norah and Mac rebuild their lives? Will rebuilding their dreams bond them forever, or tear them apart?

About Cate

Cate Masters has made beautiful central Pennsylvania her home, but she’ll always be a Jersey girl at heart. When not spending time with her dear hubby, she can be found in her lair, concocting a magical brew of contemporary, historical, and fantasy/paranormal stories with her cat Chairman Maiow and dog Lily as company. Look for her at http://catemasters.blogspot.com and in strange nooks and far-flung corners of the web.

Cate loves to hear from readers! Email her at: cate.masters@gmail.com

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