Candy Hearts – PICK ME by Tanya Hanson

Posted on January 28, 2016 by Charlotte Copper

BLURB:
Volunteering at a horse rescue has helped heal schoolteacher Kelsey Hunter after her celebrity ex’s betrayal. Life in the rural California community suits her better than the bling of Hollywood. When she seeks help for a classroom project, she’s thrown into the sphere of a down-to-earth organic farmer and horseman who could really steal her heart…

Landry Mills, successful mega-spokesmodel for a famed Westernwear line, returns to his hometown to regroup and reconsider signing the next contract. Meeting Kelsey explodes feelings in him he wants to make real. But finding out a fancy director’s son recently crushed her spirit has him take things slow. What will Kelsey do when she finds out he’s a celebrity in his own right? He might not be able to bear it…

EXCERPT:
Landry stalked to the house and banged the screen door behind him. His furrowed brow stared back at him from his sister’s hallway mirror. A long, long time since any woman had said no to being with him. He didn’t much like the feeling.

Truth was, most times he did the refusing. Holding off pop stars seeking Americana photo-ops, keeping at bay minor European royalty in pursuit of a Wild West cowboy. Or the current divorced/separated/estranged Housewife of Somewhere Stupid wanting to appear wholesome.

He grumbled. And coffee wasn’t even a date.

On his way to the kitchen, he passed a credenza crowded with framed pictures. All the right family ones, but far too many of him.

From inside Amy’s fridge, he grabbed a bottle of cold water, held it against his hot face, then slammed the appliance door. Grunted, wondered at his pique. Maybe because he had decided to come home. To stay this time. Maybe try to find what Amy and Declan had had. Something real.

Even though it hadn’t lasted long enough for his sister. Iraq…There was something different about Kelsey Hunter. Something real about a hard-working woman in tight jeans helping out critters. He took a long swig, remembered. Stretchy pink tank top damp in the right places. Righteous dirt underneath her fingernails. Cinnamon freckles sprinkled across her nose, bright eyes, and brunette hair just a tad lighter than dark-roast coffee mixed with cream. All delicious.

Coffee!

“My goodness, big brother, what’s the deal?” Amy interrupted, trudging in from the living room. She reached for her car keys from a basket on the granite counter. Joy flitted across her face even now. The old house’s kitchen renovation had been his gift to her two Christmases ago. Sometimes his shoulder still felt the damp tears of her gratitude.

For a flash, he glanced out the window up into the hills. He couldn’t see the construction site from here, but he knew exactly where it was. Winsome Hill, the eco-friendly house he was building for himself. Amy had great taste all her own. Her choices for the place had been spot on. Just the right touch of woman for a bachelor pad.

And not so much to threaten another woman.

“You look like you’ve gone and lost your best friend,” she said.

Landry grumbled. He hadn’t had any real friends for far too long. Just hangers-on. Sycophants. An “entourage” of butt-kissers eager for handouts.

BUY LINKS:
THE WILD ROSE PRESS
AMAZON

Candy Hearts – EVER AFTER by Candace Sams

Posted on January 26, 2016 by Charlotte Copper

BLURB:
Dillon Greenleaf is a member of Mythreal royalty and head of his planet’s security. Debutantes have been chasing him his entire adult life in order to wed a man of power, and he’s totally off women in general. But when he meets Keira Foley, an Earth officer, who he suspects is a pirate spy, he finds he quite likes the Plain Jane female.

Keira has been pegged brilliant and unattractive by her fellow officers, something she doesn’t mind until she meets the hot, royal stud-muffin who believes she is capable of treason against her own world. When they meet again at the Earth Embassy’s Valentine’s Day ball, Keira however blows Dillon’s mind.

Yet, in the midst of trying to find the real traitor, Dillon’s match-making grandmother, and a night made for love, Keira and Dillon must decide if they can put aside their differences in time to find a love that will be ever after.

EXCERPT:
What the hell was he thinking?

After raiding Earth’s greenhouses for a way to get his undivided attention, she’d traveled to the remote local in the woodlands, two hours away from any civilization. Aside from this being what she’d romantically referred to as her spot, she’d picked the location because it’d be free of any surveillance devices.

When the sound of a very fast, powerful shuttle sounded in the distance, she stood in the middle of the lovely glen. The time it’d taken him to arrive hadn’t diminished her anger one bit.

As he came closer, slowed the shuttle to a stop and hopped out of it, she didn’t miss the sidearm strapped to his side. Her own was handy on her left hip, being left-handed as she was.

If things went south, there was going to be an investigation that’d rock the whole planet to its core. She prayed he’d listen. But his treacherous act—his obvious sense of being above any laws—led her to believe he wouldn’t.

As he approached, with narrowed eyes and a warrior’s wary stance, she held onto the remaining threads of her temper. How dare he stare at her as though she was the one to be suspected? Where does he get off?

Finally he stopped five feet away. Since she’d called this meeting, she meant to go first.

“I believe this is yours?” she remarked as she held up the small, silver burnt casing of his bugging device between her right thumb and index finger, leaving her gun hand ready. What was left of the device after being remotely fried—in such a way that it wouldn’t even produce a small puff of smoke or any odor—wasn’t much. But the casing had stayed attached to the underside of the embassy desk. No bugging device could be completely eliminated from a remote local, though she was sure he’d counted on her ignorance in even knowing what the remnants of the little round case were.

“The device you used was so highly advanced it heavily scrambled our security camera’s recorded images,” she claimed, “but I managed to piece enough of the video together to see who you were and the date. There was no mistaking a megalithic Mythrealian planting something beneath the general’s desk. All I had to do was check the damned guest list for the last time you were in our compound. The date you were there matched what was on the image!” She slowly shook her head. “Did you honestly think nobody would ever run a security scan? Do you think we’re that backward?”

He lifted his chin and came clean. “I’ll say this for you…your technical skills are beyond good. You managed to reveal my actions so let’s not tarry. Let’s get straight to the point.” He took a deep breath. “Yes…I’ve done exactly as you claim. I bugged your embassy. The act was mine and mine alone. I had no orders to execute this plan.”

She slowly shook her head. “Why? Why, in the name of God, would you do such a thing?”

“Because of you!”

BUY LINKS:
WILD ROSE PRESS
AMAZON

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Candy Hearts – ONE KISS by Misty Simon

Posted on January 25, 2016 by Charlotte Copper

BLURB:
The last place Lorena Weber wants to be on Valentine’s Day is a singles party thrown by her newlywed best friend. But how can she say no? She’ll give it an hour—two, tops—and then she’s heading back to her normal life. But she didn’t plan on seeing the one man who had turned her world on its side New Year’s Eve with one kiss that opened doors she had firmly locked.

Caleb Manning got coerced into attending this ridiculous party by a co-worker. He’ll stay for an hour at most and then he’ll head home. That was the plan until he recognized Lorena across the room and had to see if that kiss was only New Year’s Eve magic or something more.

EXCERPT:
By thirty-three he was on the verge of a divorce. The heart attack never came to pass, but the divorce had finalized just before New Year’s Eve, in time for the taxes to be screwed up.

But at least it was over. And he had celebrated New Year’s by going downtown to a local celebration where his new town actually dropped an eight-foot wrench from a crane in celebration of the New Year. The absurdity of the eight-foot wrench had distracted him from his loneliness for the moment. But then he’d been alone while everyone else was hugging and kissing at the stroke of midnight. He’d turned and seen the woman next to him was alone, too. They’d both laughed, shrugged, and then hugged. He hadn’t meant to kiss her, but she’d looked up at him with her mismatched eyes, and he couldn’t resist. Something had flared between them, something impossible to deny. Hell, he hadn’t even tried. It had been short, as kisses went, but it had packed a wallop. He hadn’t been able to get her name, and that was his only regret.

“Caleb!”

He hadn’t moved fast enough into the room for the ball of energy that was Melanie. She must have thought he wasn’t doing enough to immerse himself in her party. “Hey, Mel.”

“Did Dillon get your coat?”

“Yep.” He tucked his hands into his pockets and hunched a little. He felt gargantuan next to her.

“Well, come in and get something to drink. Mingle. The games are going to start in a few minutes, and I want you hydrated.” She smiled, and he blew out a soft breath. He’d had no idea what to expect, and the prospect of games did not exactly inspire confidence in him. But he could always step outside into the frigid February air if he had to. At least she’d calmed down on the exclamation points that had infused her voice for the last ten days. She was like one of the perpetually happy people he wanted to throttle except they were just too cute for him to actually do anything like that.

“Are you sure I can’t help you with anything?” He wasn’t above offering himself to kitchen duty to get out of playing games with a roomful of single people. Knowing Melanie, it would probably be something like Spin the Bottle.

“No, you can’t.” She grabbed his elbow, and he let her lead him out into the living room. “Mingle. And I can find you if you try to sneak away, so don’t.”

With that, she walked away in her four-inch heels like a drill sergeant on a mission, to greet more people coming through the door.

He made no eye contact as he headed for the buffet set up in the spacious dining room. He’d promised Melanie he’d come to her party to get her off his back about finding someone, but he had not agreed to participate in party games. An hour tops and he was leaving.

A woman laughed at the front of the line with a bunch of other women. The husky sound shot like one of Cupid’s arrows down his spine and landed in his gut. Where had he heard that laugh before?

He didn’t place it for a moment. But it all zinged into place when she turned toward him and he caught a full-faced glimpse of her mismatched eyes.

BUY LINKS:
WILD ROSE PRESS
AMAZON

AUTHOR LINKS:

http://www.mistysimon.com
https://www.facebook.com/misty.simon.18
@mistysimon