Melissa Keir-Small Town Romance Author
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Melissa's Musings

Sweet Nothings #Newrelease #newromance

1/24/2023

 
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There is just something about those sweet nothings you love says to you. The smoldering look in their eyes, the gentle touches. It all adds up to a moment where time stops. It is the epitome of romance. 

Author Elsa Winckler has her hero in ADORING STACEY, her latest romance, use just those moves to remind her heroine of what might happen if she lets down  her guard. I love that Stacey is speechless after Jason says his piece. 

ADORING STACEY is now available in ebook and print and features a cute little American town filled with warm and friendly people but it's the sparks that fly between Jason and Stacey that will get your heart thumping.

Blurb:
Can he convince her that what’s between them is much more than just biology?

Stacey Lawrence is happily single even though the folks in Alisson, Montana seemed bent on getting her the last thing she wanted: a husband. And babies? The mere thought has her shuddering, and that is not because of the cold Montana winters. If she can now only stay away from the very sexy ex-FBI agent turned self-defense instructor, Jason Coleman until her dopamine and norepinephrine levels have settled, she’ll be able to continue her happy single life as the computer whizz in town. But when Eleanor Johnson needs Stacey’s help with the upcoming bachelor auction, avoiding Jason becomes a problem. Turns out, he’s going to be one of the bachelors.

Since the moment his eyes met Stacey Lawrence’s gorgeous blue ones in one of his self-defense classes, Jason knows she’s trouble. He likes women but he’s not interested in anything more permanent than a few dates. Avoiding her isn’t initially a problem. Turns out, the lady is also trying to avoid him. But when he’s roped in to take part in the ridiculous bachelor’s auction, he ends up spending more time with the elusive Stacey until he forgets why he wanted to avoid her in the first place.

Too old to play games, Jason suggests they spend time together but Stacey seems convinced that they’re attraction is just biology. Is she right or are his feelings for the redhead much more than a mere chemical reaction?

 
This matchmaker romance brings to mind the contemporary romances of RS Lively and Rosalind James and will have you chuckling along with Stacey and Jason’s avoidance antics. Love and Marriage is booming in Alisson, Montana. Come along for the ride!

EXCERPT:
But he continued grinning. “See? We’re finally getting to know one another. I didn’t know you’d been a waitress before you moved to Alisson.”

She stopped in the middle of the bar and faced him. “I don’t know what your game is, but—”

But before she could finish her sentence, his hand reached out and warm fingers touched her face. Her mind froze. The angry words vanished.

It was just a fleeting gesture, but one she felt right down to the bottoms of her soles. “I’m too old to play games, Stacey. You’re breathtakingly beautiful. I ache for you.” His eyes darkened, his voice turned gravelly. He dropped his hand. “But I get the message. You’re not interested. If you ever change your mind, though, let me know. We’ve tried avoiding each other…”

She opened her mouth to disagree, but he put a finger on her lips, effectively making it impossible to form thoughts, let alone say a single word.

​“You’ve been avoiding me. And I’ve tried to stay out of your way. It’s not working. I still think about you all the damn time. Maybe we should try something different. I want you even more now than I did when I first laid eyes on you in the dojo. And don’t even try to tell me you don’t remember that moment. You reacted to me as well. I noticed. I notice everything about you.” With a final touch to her arm, he walked away.


Buy Links:
Amazon
Kobo
BN
Apple

And be sure to check out the rest of the books in the Unexpected Love Series!

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About the Author:
Elsa has been reading love stories for as long as she can remember and when she ‘met’ the classic authors like Jane Austen, Elizabeth Gaskell, Henry James The Brontë sisters, etc. during her Honors studies, she was hooked for life.

She married her college boyfriend and they are fortunate to live in the picturesque little seaside village of Betty's Bay, South Africa.

She adores writing kissing books with strong, beautiful, feisty, independent and headstrong heroines and dashing Alpha heroes who loves fiercely and protects the ones they love. Her stories typically incorporate the family background of the characters to better understand where they come from and who they are when we meet them in the story.
 
Webpage: http://elsawinckler.com 
Personal Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/elsa.winckler
Author Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ElsaWincklerRomanceAuthor?ref_type=bookmark
Twitter: https://twitter.com/elsawinckler @elsawinckler
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6557709.Elsa_Winckler
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/elsawinckler/
Wattpad: http://www.wattpad.com/user/elsaw1
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elsaw1/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@elsawinckler

Small Town Romances Fill my Heart! #coverreveal #newromance

1/23/2023

 
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Having grown up in a small town, I love small town romances. There is something wonderful about everyone knowing who you are, or at least your family. People treat you like neighbors rather than strangers and find that people are connected. Just the other day, I was chatting online with an older woman from my home town. We learned that her brother dated my mother. Her son dated my sister and she went to school with the father of my best friend. 

Isobel Reed writes about a small town where families know everyone. In EXPIRY DATING, she brings together a former military man who simply wants to live life quietly and the sister of a woman who was looking to escape some harsh reality. These two come together in a combustible way!!

Blurb:
Sparks start more than a fire… They start an explosion.

Alice is not happy. Her ex screwed her over, literally. One day her mother is dreaming of a white wedding, the next, Alice is hurling hardbacks at a naked boyfriend caught in bed with her best friend. So she did the only logical thing she could think of. She got the hell out of there. In fact, she left the country.

It’s not long before she discovers the perks of small-town living, and she even finds herself a job. There is just one thing stopping this all from being perfect though. One infuriating person she just can’t seem to shake. Brady Mitchell. It figures that the hottest man she’s ever seen also just so happens to be the most annoying one on the planet.

Brady is back home and trying to come to terms with life outside the military. Adjusting to a new job and new limitations from his injury, he expected to settle into a slower pace of life, maybe even a quiet one. That was until Alice Hart came bulldozing into his world. The woman was anything but quiet. Loud, angry and sexy as hell, yes. But definitely not quiet.
​
Alice and Brady ignite inside and outside the bedroom. But will they survive the burn?
 
EXPIRY DATING- the second book in the Bluestone Series is a funny, wild romp along the lines of Stephanie Berget’s cowboy romances or Sarina Bowen’s True North series. EXPIRY DATING features a retired marine and the feisty young woman who steals his heart. While it is a part of a series, Expiry Dating can be read as a standalone. Grab your copy today.

Preorder Today
Expiry Dating releases Feb. 21st
Amazon
Kobo
BN
Apple

Don't Miss the first book in the Bluestone Series- Out Now

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About the Author:
Isobel was born and raised in London. She still lives along the River Thames with her husband and her substantial book collection. Ever the hopeless romantic, she fell in love with the genre from a young age and was inspired to write her own stories. When she's not feasting on romantic comedies or binge reading her hoard of contemporary romance novels, Isobel is writing.
 
https://www.facebook.com/isobelreedbooks
https://www.instagram.com/isobelreedbooks/
https://www.isobelreed.net/
https://www.amazon.com/author/isobelreed
https://www.goodreads.com/Isobel_Reed
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/isobel-reed
 

Happy Book Birthday CRAZY FOR YOU! #newromance

1/16/2023

 
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Happy Book Birthday!! It's so exciting when a new book comes out! It's like a new child! Susan's latest is a wonderful rom-com about a woman who has to give up the one thing she loves in order to get an inheritance. 

I loved the book. It's cute and sweet with a wonderful message. The redemption of the heroine, Georgia, is heartwarming! CRAZY FOR YOU is now available in ebook, available at all major retailers. 

Blurb:
“Instagram Ready” takes on a new meaning in the middle of the woods with no internet. Can Georgia survive the terror of a world without her phone?

Georgia Atwood had everything a twenty-four-year-old could want. A handsome boyfriend practically ready to marry her. A YouTube channel with enough viewers to quit her job at Starbucks. So many good selfies on her phone she needed a new memory card. What else could a girl ask for? How about a million-dollar inheritance from her grandmother with one little catch…

Internet rehab???

The only thing standing between Georgia and money was the successful completion of a sixty-day rehabilitation program for internet addiction. All she had to do was survive for three months in the middle of the woods without her tablet or phone. Internet rehab seemed a small price to pay to get her grandmother’s inheritance.

No internet???


Wait. Back up. Delete. Living without her followers and phone seemed easy. But that was before she met Victor, the dashing camp counselor determined to steal her heart. He has her hiking and admiring the night sky rather than the latest celebrity sighting, and sends her into a tailspin. Insert some new friends and an elaborate plan to liberate their phones, and Georgia risks losing more than the money…She just might lose her heart and find what is really important.
 
If you love your romance filled with comedy, you’ll love CRAZY FOR YOU. With a hint of Sophie Ranald’s Rom Coms and Lucy Score’s Comedic Romances, Susan V. Vaughn has hit the right note in CRAZY FOR YOU.

EXCERPT:
She took a step closer. “Are you okay?”

“I’m great, just about to walk a trail.” He gestured around them as if to say, “Hello, this is a perfectly normal thing to do.”

But it wasn’t. “You left my camp activity,” she said.

“I wasn’t participating.”

“You were watching.”

“For a few minutes.” He shrugged, as he if hadn’t a care in the world. “But then I got bored.”

Burn.
She forced a smile. “Bored or jealous?”

He looked back at her for a long time. His expression was stony. “We are not together, Georgia. Why on earth would I be jealous?”

Burn again.
“Really? That is how you are going to play it?”

Finally, some emotion flashed in his dark eyes. The irritable kind. “Seems to me the only person playing games here is you.”

“I was playing games,” she admitted, pushing him over the edge. “On purpose.”

“I got that.” He chuckled without humor.

She took a step closer. “I wanted you to admit your feelings for me.”

“I did last night.” He seemed annoyed about this.

​She placed a hand on his chest. Her body grew all warm and tingly. “I wanted you to give into those feelings.”


BUY LINKS:
AMAZON
KOBO
BN
APPLE

Don't miss Any of Susan's Amazing Romances

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About the Author:

Romance Author, Susan Vaughn understood the meaning of sarcasm before she could walk. Her childhood in the suburbs of Detroit was spent mainly trying to outwit her six creative siblings. When she wasn’t working on the next soul-crushing jab, she sharpened her imagination on romantic literature and day dreamed about her knight in shining armor.

It didn’t take long for this hairdresser by trade to turn her passion for reading romances into writing her own unique love stories. Susan lives her life finding laughter in all situations, and delights in marrying sarcasm with romance to create realistic falling-in-love stories in the unlikeliest of scenarios.  
​
Susan lives on the shores of Lake Huron with her real life knight in shining armor and enjoys watching their three children learn the art of sarcasm and wit.
 
Twitter handle: @susanvaughn1124
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/susan.vereeckevaughn

Sometimes it's all about Coming Home #coverreveal #ComingHome

1/9/2023

 
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Home. If I close my eyes, there are images that play through my mind at the words "coming home". I see the home of my youth, the white bedroom furniture and yellow carpeting. The posters on my wall and the pillows on my bed. Close my eyes again and I see a different home, the one when my own children were little, with toys in baskets in the living room, Minnie Mouse on the walls and the laughter of children filling the space. Home is more than an image or place, it is a visceral reaction to a time in our lives.

For the characters in GRACE UNDER FIRE, the word home evokes very strong feelings. Ones that they want to embrace and push away. This forces the two of them to butt heads and realize the importance of home. 

GRACE UNDER FIRE is now up for preorder. It releases in paperback and ebook on Feb. 7th. The story features a small town charm along with sizzle between the characters. Be sure to grab a copy for yourself!

Blurb:
It’s deal or no deal when a new threat forces two independent neighbours to face a past tragedy.

Artisan cheese-maker GRACE ANDERSON lost her closest friend to suicide, then saw her father swindled out of prime dairy land. Abandonment and mistrust cemented her determination to become the fifth generation on the family farm and to do it alone. A deterioration in her mother’s health starts the clock. Grace has three months to buy her parents out—a decade sooner than planned—or lose the farm.

Neighbour RYAN WILSON is haunted by the belief he failed to prevent his younger brother Danny’s suicide. He’s returned to sell his mother’s farm. In eight years away, he’s built a fortune flipping farm properties and doesn’t do attachment—to land or people.

The bank plays hard ball, forcing Grace to consider Ryan’s offer to buy part of her land. The sizzling attraction simmering between them is an unwelcome complication. She doesn’t want a business partner, he doesn’t want to care, but when someone tries to sabotage her purchase, she finds herself turning to Ryan for more than financial help.

Can Ryan convince her accepting help is not failure? Can Grace escape her legacy of mistrust and teach him how to care again?
 
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GRACE UNDER FIRE is an award-winning story which brings readers along an emotional journey with the complex characters. Jennifer likes to think her readers get occasional hints of the deep passion of a Nora Roberts or the unshakeable loyalty of a Grace Burrowes where love conquers loneliness, distrust and fear.

Links:
Amazon
Kobo
BN
Apple

Don't Miss Author Jennifer Raines' other Amazing Book- TAYLOR'S LAW

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About the Author:
Australian Jennifer Raines writes contemporary romances set mainly, but not exclusively, in Australia – think Malta, Finland, New Zealand or ?. A dreamer and an optimist, her stories are a delicious cocktail of mutual respect, passion and loyalty because she still believes in happily-ever-afters.
​
Jennifer fell in love with romance as a teenager. Starting with historical romance. Everything in the school library and then a personal treasured collection of Georgette Heyer, hard copies and paperbacks. Now she has a full print set of Georgette Heyer, old volumes with gorgeous covers found in second-hand shops in London and shipped home alongside a duplicate e-book collection. Comfort food, she calls them, like vegemite toast, for those times when she feels low. Her library of comfort food has grown over the years but Georgette Heyer was an early star, under the blankets after lights out using a torch.

Jennifer is a member of Romance Writers of Australia. Three times a finalist in the Emerald competition, including in 2017, 2018 (Taylor’s Law) and 2022. She’s a member of Romance Writers of New Zealand, winning the Pacific Hearts competition twice, including in 2019 with Grace Under Fire, the sequel to Taylor’s Law. She’s also a member of Romance Writers of America and has been a finalist in chapter competitions in 2019, 2020 and 2021 (Taylor’s Law). Jennifer values competitions for the constructive, honest, not always comfortable feedback they provide.

Jennifer loves those days when words flow and the joy of writing makes the hard slog worthwhile. She’s always made up stories about strangers in the street, in a café or strolling through an airport terminal; finding inspiration in snippets of conversations, news items and the sheer puzzle of human interactions.

Jennifer lives in inner-city Sydney, Australia, with the requisite number of partners (1) and animals (2). Her desk overlooks a park which nourishes her soul when she raises her head from her keyboard. She gets some of her best ideas during long yin yoga poses or walking – anywhere. While Jennifer adores historical romance, she chose to write contemporary because she thought (wrongly) it needed less research while she was holding down a full-time job.

You can find out more about Jennifer and her writing at https://jenniferrainesauthor.com or via https://www.facebook.com/jenniferrainesauthor and Instagram@romanceauthorjen
 

Making Dresses is a Lost Art #newrelease #newparanormalhistorical

1/2/2023

 
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My grandmother was an amazing seamstress. She made matching dresses for myself and my sisters each Easter and Christmas. She made my prom dress as well and made this amazing pantsuit for my mother. She could make anything. Me? Not so much. I've done okay and made a dress for my daughter. It turned out fine. But I'm not the seamstress she was. 

Back in the day, you had to either be a seamstress or afford one. There wasn't a store you could visit to purchase the dress you wanted. Seamstresses were in demand. 

The heroine in THE GHOST IN HER is a seamstress. She is young and just starting out but has talent. But often it was a challenge to get into the business or to build up the clients so that you can afford the necessities of life. 

THE GHOST IN HER is an amazing tale of one young woman's search for her sister's baby. She faces some tough issues as she finds love. 

Blurb:
Seeing ghosts is literally in her blood.

Life is hard enough without having to deal with ghosts following you around every day. Maggie O’Connor wishes that she did not have psychic gifts but coming from a long line of Irish female seers, she never had a choice.

Faced with having to care for her departed sister’s orphaned baby, Maggie struggles to pay the rent while working for pennies at a local Bowery sweatshop. Her life goes from bad to worse when a wicked neighbor steals the baby.

Things look up when the handsome son of Maggie’s employer falls for her. Gershom understands that having psychic gifts does not necessarily make a woman crazy. If only the local judge agreed. When Maggie ends up at the New York City Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell’s Island, she must find a way to escape and return to Gershom’s loving arms.

Will Maggie be stuck in a madhouse forever? Even if she escapes, can she and Gershom rescue the lost baby? The obstacles seem insurmountable, but anything is possible with the assistance of ghostly helpers and Andrew Carnegie, one of America’s richest men.

Fairy Tales can come true- but not without suffering.


Love the Gilded Age but want more magic? Grab a copy of THE GHOST IN HER, the first book in the new Ungilded series featuring magic among the Bowery Streets. THE GHOST IN HER is a perfect match for fans of Harper Lin’s Southern Sleuth Series or Christina Skye’s Draycott Abbey series.

“The first book of Anika Savoy’s Ungilded series, The Ghost in Her is a dark, immersive fairy tale, dusted with Gothic whimsy. It is a story for the romantic and the history buff, a rich page-turner that forces us to consider the ongoing social ills that, to this day, continue to haunt us.”—Bestselling author- Mike Robinson.

EXCERPT:
In a poorly lit corner at the back of the store, a few wooden racks of used clothing pressed against a lopsided display of coffee grinders. Though I had only enough money to purchase the needles and thread, a pail of coal, and a few potatoes to boil in the days ahead, I browsed the racks in hopes of finding a secondhand dress.

Ah, the rapture a woman experiences when discovering the perfect garment at bargain cost! A masterfully tailored linen frock, colored buttercup yellow with sheer polka dot sleeves, shone like a diamond amongst the slosh of dungarees and muslin shifts. The buttercup dress was priced at only twenty-five cents, no doubt due to the mud stains that crusted the skirt’s frayed hemline. I could scrub the mud away, then remove the white satin sash wrapped around the dress’s waist and stitch it into a border to cover the skirt’s damaged hemline.

I imagined wearing the dainty number to the Cooper Institute on Monday night, greeting Mr. Bell like a sunlit perennial blooming in a field of books. I pressed the satin sash between my fingertips, knowing that I had to make a choice: pay the remainder of the rent that I still owed the landlord on Sunday night, or request an extension and purchase the buttercup dress.
​
Like any sensible woman, I bought the dress. 


Now available in ebook and print! Don't miss a chance to grab this book for yourself!

Buy Links:
Amazon
Kobo
BN
Apple


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About the Author:
Anika Savoy attended McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, and graduated with distinction in 1988 with a B.A. in English Literature. While at McGill, she won several creative writing contests. Thereafter, she wrote three historical romance novels.

In 1999, Anika changed course and decided to pursue her lifelong dream of becoming an attorney. She graduated from University of Cincinnati, College of Law with Deans Honors in 2001 and practiced law for almost twenty years. While working for two years as a judicial decision writer, she won the Excellence Award for the outstanding production of judicial decisions from the Federal Government. Drafting legal decisions that could withstand appeal honed her writing skills.

In 2018, her true crime book, HIS GARDEN, CONVERSATIONS WITH A SERIAL KILLER, was published by Wildblue Press. HIS GARDEN won several awards, including the 2020 NYC Big Book Award, and the 2020 Independent Press Award. It enjoyed a lot of media coverage, including several T.V. shows and many podcast interviews. The book was written under Anika’s real name, Anne K. Howard.

Now Anika has returned to her first love- writing historical romance. This time around she endeavors to add paranormal elements that take the reader into a fairy tale universe where ghosts and witches exist, and happy endings abound.
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Anika and her husband, Chris, have been best friends for the last 35 years. They have two adult children. Anika lives in Connecticut with her husband, two dogs, and one eternal cat (at least 15 years old, but who’s counting?) Her hobbies include daily hikes with the dogs, when she thinks about what she will write that day, listening to well-crafted books on audible, and watching documentaries and films focusing on 19th and 20th century American history. She is an avid fan of Midnight Mass and Chapelwaite.
 
Find her at: www.anikasavoy.com
Her blog: http://www.anikasavoy.com/blog
Facebook.com/akhjd (my Anne K. Howard FB page)
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100072945222342 (my Anika Savoy page)
Twitter: Anne Howard@akhauthor
Twitter: Anika Savoy Author@AnikaSavoy
 

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