Romantic comedy by Kayla Dawn Thomas

Tequila twang hit the back of my throat. Fighting the urge to grimace and twitch, I grabbed my glass of orange juice and took a slug. The alcohol warmed all the way down while the juice softened the blow. I smiled at the bartender, signaling I needed another round.

A short man with wide shoulders, a thick neck, and beefy arms took the stool beside mine. He looked like a brick. His hair was buzzed so short on his squarish head, it almost hid the gray beginning to sprinkle through it, and a close-fitting gray t-shirt created the illusion of a younger man. But I had an eye for male smoke and mirrors.

The bartender brought him a beer from the tap. He took a sip and then looked over at me and my fresh glasses of tequila and orange juice. “Interesting combo,” he said. Then his eyes slid over my fitted, white halter dress. He didn’t know the tie was cutting into my neck. I’d cinched it down tight in a desperate attempt to keep the girls corralled. I never knew when I’d have to launch into action.

“It works,” I replied. I had no desire to get into a conversation with this guy. I had a job to finish tonight. I checked the time on my phone. My “let him sweat break” was almost over, and there was no doubt in my mind Mr. Mendoza was sweating right now. I tipped back my second shot.

The Brick ordered a tequila and orange juice for himself and a round for me. What the hell. My job barely bordered on legal, so why not drive a little tipsy while I was at it.

We clinked shot glasses. I sipped my orange juice and watched him experience the combo for the first time. He smacked his lips. “Pretty damn good. Thanks for the tip.”

“Thanks for the drink,” I said, reaching for my purse.

“I’ve seen you in here before. I just haven’t been brave enough to approach you,” the Brick said.

I glanced over to where his left hand rested on the bar, noticing the white tan line in place of a wedding ring.

He ran a hand over his buzz cut as an excuse to flex his biceps. I pressed my lips together to suppress a laugh. Over the last couple of years, I’d learned a lot about the antics guys use to impress women. When one took a moment to dissect them, they became outright hilarious.

“Can I order you another round?”

“No. I have to get back to work.”

His eyes bugged a little. “You get to drink on the job?”

“I work for myself.”

He nodded like he got it, but I doubted he did. Next thing I knew, he was setting one of his meaty paws on my forearm. Despite its size, his touch was gentle. “Look, I can’t let you go before I ask you something.”

“Shoot.” I was pretty sure I knew what was coming. This wasn’t my first rodeo. In fact, these moments were what kept my HOA fees paid and expensive bags on my shoulder.

“I’m a personal trainer.” That explained the muscles. “And to keep up on what’s new in the industry, I go to conferences a few times a year. There’s one in Chicago next weekend.” He kept his eyes on the thumb stroking my arm. Aw, he was nervous.

“Anyway, I would love it if you came with me.” With the words out, he felt brave enough to look me in the eye.

“Is that so?” I arched one of my expertly waxed brows. Had his wife attended any of these conferences?

A flush spread across his cheeks, and he moved his hand to my hip. “Yeah.”

My phone dinged, signaling a new text message. I glanced at it. Mrs. Mendoza was ready for her delivery.

“I’ll think about it,” I said. “Do you have a card?”

While I paid for my first two rounds, he whipped out his wallet and eagerly slipped a card for a well-known meathead gym into my hand. “Call me.”

“Oh, I will,” I said, turning so his hand grazed my butt. I gave my hips an extra little wiggle as I left the bar. He’d hear from me, but Mrs. Brick would hear from me first.

The Collection

Think twice before you slip off that ring, boys.

Arriving at her parents’ house for an impromptu visit, Jenna Ray gets her own surprise when she finds her father lip locked with a strange woman. Then, her brother-in-law defiles her sister’s car with a waitress in a parking lot. Jenna Ray snaps the night she discovers her mentor with his receptionist wrapped around his waist and proceeds to dump the guy in nothing but his boxers at his wife’s feet. Discovering her hidden talent to seduce, Jenna walks away from her IT career and reinvents herself as a vigilante seeking justice for women who are too tired and hurt to stand up for themselves.

A side effect of the job is losing her ability to trust any man. So, when she finds herself getting lost in Thad Benson’s hypnotic blue eyes, Jenna fights the attraction with all she’s got. But Thad’s a patient man, who’s up to the challenge of taming Jenna.

With a cast of quirky friends, clients, and family, the Jenna Ray Stories will have you laughing and cringing at Jenna’s predicaments.

Get it on Amazon.

Kayla Dawn Thomas

has been telling stories since she could talk, telling her wild tales to a jump rope until she learned to read and write. Her mother was relieved when she made the transition to paper.

Today Kayla writes contemporary romance, weaving her experiences growing up on a cattle ranch into her work as well as whatever is striking her funny bone or curiosity at the moment. When Kayla isn’t writing she enjoys swimming, reading, and spending time with her husband, daughter, and two dogs.

Learn more about Kayla and her books at her

• BestSelling Reads author page
• Amazon Author page
•  website.

It’s summer! Time for relaxing, beaches, cottages, lakes. Time to stretch out with a good book.

Your favorite bestselling authors have some excellent books ready for your summertime reading enjoyment.

A Soldier’s Fear

Military romance by D.G. Torrens

LOVE IS THE ENEMY… Dominic is a soldier for the British Army and Olivia, a freelance photojournalist. They meet by chance in Iraq after Olivia persuades Dominic’s commanding officer to allow her to tag along with Dominic’s convoy. Their fate is forever sealed on Mount Sinja. An all-consuming passion between them takes Olivia’s heart hostage and she falls irrevocably and irreparably in love with Dominic. Then, a cruel twist of fate on Mount Sinjar changes the course of their lives forever.

“This book will test all your emotions, and keep your attention to the very end.”—Tom Elder, Amazon

The Hilo Bay Mystery Collection

Three cozy mysteries by J.L. Oakley

The past never forgets. No one gets away with murder.

Auntie Bee Takahashi is a retired fourth grade teacher. Her great-niece, Tawnie Takahashi, is a hard-nose Honolulu TV crime reporter. When crimes from the past touch friends and family, Auntie Bee and Tawnie face down the past in hopes of finding justice and healing for the victims and their descendants.

In Coconut Island, a box of letters from a WWII soldier stationed on the Big Island found at the Big Island Historical Society, unlocking painful memories for Bee. Her older sister was swept away in the 1946 tsunami, but now Wendy suspects she was murdered first.

In Volcano House, plans for a big celebration at historic Volcano House take a dangerous turn in the form of a long missing manuscript of The Bottle Imp, Robert Louis Stevenson’s great horror story. It’s tied to an unsolved murder 125 years old, and the secrets behind two warring families spanning four generations.

In Hilina Pali, Auntie Bee receives a mysterious envelope. Items in it point to an old injustice with tragic consequences. She, Wendy and a local historian race to prevent the recurrence of a tragedy at Hilina Pali 75 years ago.

Mist-chi-mas: A Novel of Captivity

Romantic thriller by J.L. Oakley

Everyone is bound to something. Englishwoman Jeannie Naughton never intends to run away from life, but in 1860 a woman’s reputation is everything. A scandal not of her own making forces her to flee to an island in the Pacific Northwest, home to Coast Salish people and Hawaiians working for the Hudson’s Bay Company. Jeannie settles into life at English Camp where she meets American Jonas Breed. As a youth he was captured and held as a slave—a mist-chi-mas—by the Haida. Jeannie forms a passionate, hidden liaison with Breed.Jeannie and Breed plan to run away and marry. News that Breed has been killed in a fight leads Jeannie to marry Andrew Pierce. Twenty years later, recently widowed Jeannie receives news that Breed may be alive. She now embarks on a journey to find him, and stirs up an old and dangerous struggle of power and revenge.

“A masterful work of historical fiction”— Chanticleer Book Reviews

Take No More

Conspiracy thriller by Seb Kirby

This book will take you a ride to Florence and Venice—ideal for a summer break.

When James Blake discovers his wife murdered in their London home, he is determined to find her killer. As the prime suspect, he flees England and sets out on a journey that takes him to Florence and Venice and into a dark underworld of corruption, a trail that will lead him to the killer – and the shocking truth behind the mystery.

“Wow! This is action-packed from page one.”— Sibel Hodge, author of Into the Darkness

The Bonding Spell

Paranormal urban fantasy by
M.L. Doyle

Hester Trueblood can’t deny having an ancient, Sumerian goddess in her

head has its perks.

She enjoys her new strength and fighting abilities, things that would have been useful when she was a soldier. And the two handsome men dedicated to serving and protecting her are a nice bonus too.

On the other hand, there are drawbacks.

Having Inanna’s voice inside her head 24/7 can be annoying, and the constant threat of demons and monsters is a dangerous nuisance. The bitchy goddess and the evil hordes are problems Hester can handle, but the adoration of a demigod has Hester off balance.

None of that matters when an old secret threatens to destroy Hester’s family. To battle the goddess of witchcraft, Hester will need all of Inanna’s powers along with the help of her devoted soldiers—and even a love-struck demigod—if she wants to survive.

“The perfect combination of supernatural suspense, some spicy romance and a twisting mystery.”—K.L. Wilson, Amazon

Wildfire

Wine country mystery by Scott Bury

Wildfires swept across California wine country in 2017, destroying thousands of homes and businesses and killing dozens of people. Law school grad and single mother Tara Rezeck finds herself in the middle of the catastrophe. She has to evacuate with the rest of of the staff of Sonoma’s most award-winning winery. When she returns, she finds her employer’s body in the ashes.

The question that challenges her brains and her legal training is: was it an accident? Or was his body burned to hide evidence of murder?

“It starts out at a run, and keeps you hooked till the end.”—Diane G, Amazon

The [Stolen] Series:
Once Upon a [Stolen] Time

and Once Upon a [Fallen] Time

Historical fantasy by Samreen Ahsan

2015…

All her life, Myra Farrow has been obsessed with medieval castles—and the kings and princes who once inhabited them. Now, wealthy videogame designer Steve Bernard wants her to model for a princess character in his new game, filming inside the mysterious Hue Castle—a cursed, barren, colorless place forbidden to visitors for centuries. Unknown to Myra, her soul is bound to Hue Castle by blood and sorcery. When she enters it, she awakens dark powers that will reach through time—stealing her past, torturing her present, and rewriting her future.

“This is a wonderful , magical book.”—Paula, Amazon reviewer

Fight to Survive

Military thriller by Alan McDermott

Eva Driscoll Thriller Book 3

Ex-CIA assassin Eva Driscoll has found a new life in Australia and believes she’s outrun the Executive Security Office, the most powerful and secretive organization on the planet. But the ESO has been watching her every move and when they approach her with a high-risk mission in North Korea, Eva is forced to co-operate with the organization she once vowed to destroy.

But releasing a high-ranking defector proves costly, and Driscoll is captured and imprisoned in a secret camp on the Chinese border. What she witnesses there will haunt her forever . . . so she decides to take matters into her own hands. But how long can she keep the ESO thinking she’s working in their interests rather than her own?

When her handlers become suspicious, Eva knows time is not on her side.

Incendiary is the fourth book in the Eliza Carlisle Mystery series. For Eliza Carlisle, starting a new year means making tough choices, even if those decisions mean losing friends and possibly getting kicked out of culinary school. She’s all set to take her life in a new direction when her demented half-brother Simon’s reappearance changes everything.

Back Side of a Blue Moon

Historical fiction by Caleb Pirtle III

2018 BEVERLY HILLS AWARD WINNER for Historical Fiction

BEST OF TEXAS BOOK AWARDS for Historical Fiction

Times are hard along the Sabine River, and the little East Texas town of Ashland is crumbling under the weight of the Great Depression. Families are giving up and leaving town. No one can save Ashland. It is as isolated as the back side of a blue moon.

Into town comes Doc Bannister, the miracle man with a homemade doodlebug machine that, he says, can find oil beneath Eudora Durant’s blistered farmstead and make them all rich

Eudora thinks Doc is a flim-flam man. The Sheriff believes he is a con artist. The town knows Doc may be crooked, but he has brought hope to a town that had no hope.

Eudora has everything Doc wants. She is a beautiful woman who owns cheap land. In Ashland, she is known as the scarlet woman. Whispers say she murdered her husband.

She holds the fate of Ashland in her hands. Will she let Doc drill? Is there really oil lying deep beneath her sunbaked land? Can Doc find it? Or is he more interested in finding love than oil?

“Writing at its finest. Caleb Pirtle makes you sweat in the scorching sun and choke on the dust that fills your nostrils and clogs your throat.”—Kelly Marshall, Amazon

A Case of Sour Grapes

Mystery by Gae-Lynn Woods

Meet Maxine Leverman, lover of expensive shoes, beautiful handbags, and her lingerie wearing ex-husband’s hush money. When she pleads her way into a job at family-run Lost and Found Investigations, Maxine’s only goal is to gain the concealed carry license and PI skills she needs to find the man who attacked her, and then kill him. (Or maybe just put him in jail, that decision can wait.)

But when she secretly takes a missing husband case on her first day at the agency, she stumbles into a high-stakes game of blackmail and murder. Maxine must unravel the links between a forgotten folk-punk band, an international drug cartel, and the tangled history of the missing husband to keep the women in his life alive.

“An adventuresome, enticing and enjoyable read.”— Nancy While, Amazon

Meant for Her

Sports romance by Raine Thomas

Evan isn’t open to help from anyone, however. His focus is on his Major League career and making himself as marketable as possible for his upcoming free agency. He plans to ride out the season in Atlanta and then sign with another team, away from the painful memories that haunt him.
Someone’s eager to send him on his way, too. Between anonymous threats and equipment sabotage, it’s clear he’s earned himself an enemy along the way. To him, it’s one more sign that he’s right to move on. But Sierra threatens his conviction. Her contagious smile proves hard to resist, as does her kiss. She tempts him in ways he never anticipated, making him question his plans for the first time. If he’s not careful, she might just convince him that he’s meant for her.

“This was a great read. The story captured my imagination, the characters moved right into my heart and, as always, the writing style was creative, smooth and wonderful.”—The Book Hookup

Ghosts of Witches Past

Paranormal suspense by Corinne O’Flynn

From a USA Today Bestseller comes the story of magical families with a joined history full of secrets, lies, and murder…

A mother’s love. A dying wish. Secrets from the grave. The past never forgets…

Forced into seclusion after a traumatic event with “city ghosts” as a child, Wavy never leaves the safety of her riverside village, where the local ghosts are easy to spot and avoid.

Running for his life from the people who were supposed to protect him, Niall seeks out the only living witness to the murder that ruined his outcast family.

When an accidental meeting brings the two witches together, clues to a new mystery begin to unfold. Unraveling the threads of long-buried secrets brings connections to light that will haunt both their families forever.

“I love a GOOD ghost story, not just A ghost story, and O’Flynn does it perfectly!”—Montzalee Wittmann, Amazon

Velvet Rain

Science fiction by David C. Cassidy

A mysterious drifter, Kain Richards is the last of his kind—and a man on the run. Once a tortured prisoner and pawn in a clandestine government experiment, his freedom hangs in the balance against the relentless pursuit from Brikker, an obsessed and ruthless madman who will stop at nothing to possess him. 

Born with the Turn—the godlike power to reverse time—Kain’s ability is constrained inside a “bubble” that alters time within it. The further back he turns, the larger the bubble, the larger the effect—and the greater, stranger, and more dire and unpredictable the consequences.

“A great page turner that would make a great movie. “—Herb Fogler

Coming by the end of summer

Razor Rocks

Mystery by Toby Neal

Paradise Crime series, book 13

Coming August 15

Someone is attacking and robbing luxury yachts as they sail the Hawaiian Islands—their passengers missing and presumed dead. Sergeant Lei Texeira, with her typical leap first, look later style, dives into a case with the Coast Guard to find answers that lie as deep as Davy Jones’ locker.

Lei is back, solving crime again! Pre-order this fast-paced mystery with a twist of romance, and take a trip to Hawaii with the series that’s sold more than a million copies!

• Amazon
• iBooks
• Barnes & Noble
• Kobo
• Google Play