CENTER OF GRAVITY by Laura McNeill | Excerpt & Giveaway

Welcome to my stop on the book blast tour for CENTER OF GRAVITY by Laura McNeill, a Women's fiction/suspense available July 15, 2015 from Harper Collins.

BLURB

Her whole life, Ava Carson has been sure of one thing: she doesn’t measure up to her mother’s expectations. So when Mitchell Carson sweeps into her life with his adorable son, the ready-made family seems like a dream come true.

In the blink of an eye, she’s married, has a new baby, and life is grand.

Or is it?

When her picture-perfect marriage begins unraveling at the seams, Ava convinces herself she can fix it. It's temporary. It’s the stress. It’s Mitchell’s tragic history of loss.

If only Ava could believe her own excuses.

Mitchell is no longer the charming, thoughtful man she married. He grows more controlling by the day, revealing a violent jealous streak. His behavior is recklessly erratic, and the unanswered questions about his past now hint at something far more sinister than Ava can stomach. Before she can fit the pieces together, Mitchell files for divorce and demands full custody of their boys.

Fueled by fierce love for her children and aided by Graham Thomas, a new attorney in town —Ava takes matters into her own hands, digging deep into the past. But will finding the truth be enough to beat Mitchell at his own game?

Center of Gravity weaves a chilling tale, revealing the unfailing and dangerous truth that things—and people—are not always what they seem. 

EXCERPT

The road rushes under the wheels. I rearrange snippets of the frantic conversation. Gash. Some blood. Breathing fine. Emergency room. A few more miles to the hospital.

I flash back to this morning. Packed sack lunch, flop of dark hair across his bare forehead, navy backpack slung over one shoulder. A surge of pure love courses through my heart. A stab of worry steals my breath. I force myself to focus. 

The traffic light ahead flashes green to yellow. Intersection’s clear. I push the accelerator to the floor, glance in the rearview mirror. Air from the open window catches Sam’s wisps of hair. He smiles, showing off his first few baby teeth, and reaches a chubby hand at the rays of sunshine streaking by, trying to catch the light.

Thump. Thump. The Jeep jerks to the left. I guide the wheel, hold it steady, and take my foot off the gas. When I pull over and brake, the abrupt stop sends up a dust cloud.

“Uh-oh,” Sam says.

I unbuckle, jump out, and survey the damage. A glance at the tire confirms it. Flat. Dead.  
Hands on my hips, I bite my lip.

Tentatively, I grab the jack from the back of the Jeep, the weight of it solid and heavy in my hands. I can fix this. After all, in my former life, as a school counselor at Mobile Prep, I was the problem-solver, crisis manager, and shoulder to cry on. I always handled situations. And I didn’t need help.

Then my eyes fall on Sam as he babbles and blows bubbles in the back seat. I hesitate, gripping the metal between my palms. As the sun beats down on us, heating my skin, my pulse begins to race. Maybe I was fearless because I didn’t know any better. I wasn’t a mom then. I didn’t have two children depending on me. Trusting me to do the right thing, be on time, and not screw up.

AUTHOR Bio and Links

After six years behind the anchor desk at two CBS affiliates, Laura moved to the Alabama Gulf Coast to raise her family. Her accolades in broadcasting include awards from the Associated Press, including Best News Anchor and Best Specialized Reporter.

Laura works at Spring Hill College as the school’s web content and social media manager and​ is active in her community—participating in fundraisers for the American Cancer Society, Ronald McDonald House, and Providence Hospital’s Festival of Flowers.

Laura was recently awarded a 2-book deal with Thomas Nelson Publishing, a division of HarperCollins. Her novel, Center of Gravity, set in Mobile, Ala., will be published in July of 2015. Laura is represented by Elizabeth Winick Rubenstein, president of McIntosh and Otis literary agency in New York.​ Her writing awards include those from William Faulkner-Wisdom Creative Writing Competition, Writer’s Digest, RWA, and the Eric Hoffer competition.

She holds a master’s degree in journalism from The Ohio State University and a bachelor’s degree in English from Clarion University of Pennsylvania. She is currently pursuing a second master’s degree in interactive technology from the University of Alabama. She is a native of Upstate New York and currently resides near the Alabama Gulf Coast with her two children.

Author's Website: http://lauramcneill.com/
Author's Blog: http://lauramcneill.com/layouts/blog/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lauramcneillauthor?ref=hl
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LauraMcNeillBks
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/lauram052
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5280308.Lauren_Clark
Instagram: https://instagram.com/dixiegirlwriter/

GIVEAWAY

Laura McNeill will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour, and a $10 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn host.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Cover Reveal & Giveaway | Hollie Porter Builds a Raft by Eliza Gordon

Today I am excited to share the cover for Hollie Porter Builds a Raft, the sequel to Must Love Otters by Eliza Gordon! Hollie Porter Builds a Raft is an adult romantic comedy and releases this fall.

About the Book:

raft (noun): when two or more otters rest together,
often holding hands, so they don’t drift apart

Hollie Porter has put her old gig as a 911 operator and sad single girl in an attic-bound box, right where it belongs. She’s rebounded nicely from her run-in with Chloe the Cougar in the wilds of British Columbia, and this new life alongside concierge-in-shining-armor Ryan Fielding? Way more fun. After relocating to Ryan’s posh resort at Revelation Cove, Hollie embarks on an all-new adventure as the Cove’s wildlife experience educator, teaching guests and their kids about otters and orca and cougars, oh my.

When darling Ryan gets down on one NHL-damaged knee and pops the question of a lifetime, Hollie realizes this is where the real adventure begins. It’s all cake tasting, flower choosing, and dress fittings until a long-lost family member shows up at the Cove and threatens to hijack her shiny new life, forcing Hollie to redefine what family means to her. What is she willing to sacrifice to have one of her very own?

As Ryan’s words echo in her head—“Our raft, our rules”—Hollie has to face facts: a raft isn’t always tied together with blood and genetics. Sometimes it’s secured by love and loyalty… and occasional help from the clever creatures that call Revelation Cove home.

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Don't miss out on the first book, Must Love Otters.

Amazon | Amazon UK | Amazon Canada | Amazon Australia | Barnes and Noble | iBookstore | Kobo

Also by Eliza Gordon:

Neurotica - Amazon (US) | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Kobo | Barnes and Noble Nook



About the Author:

Eliza Gordon has excellent taste in books, shoes, movies, and friends, and questionable sanity in the realm of love. Best leave that one alone. In real life, she’s an editor, mom, wife, and bibliophile and proud parent of one very spoiled tuxedo cat. Eliza writes stories to help you believe in the Happily Ever After; Jennifer Sommersby, her other self, writes YA and is repped by Daniel Lazar at Writers House.

GET IN TOUCH:

Website | Facebook | Twitter @eliza_gordon | Tumblr

Giveaway:

One (1) $15 Amazon gift card & one (1) audiobook of Must Love Otters
INT

Ends Aug. 3, 2015

giveaway provided by the author, bloggers are not responsible for prizing

a Rafflecopter giveaway
 

This event was organized by CBB Book Promotions.

EVERYWHERE IT'S YOU by C.B. Salem | Excerpt & Giveaway

Welcome to my stop on the virtual book blast tour for EVERYWHERE IT'S YOU by C.B. Salem, a romantic suspense available now from Existence Press. This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Click on the banner to visit other stops on this tour.

BLURB

Legal investigator Kristina Andersen has been drugged.

It started when she came into work and was tasked with finding the firm's biggest client: the intense, enigmatic pharmaceuticals billionaire Landon Tatum.

She'd just had a sexy encounter with him while working a birthday party undercover at a seedy strip club the previous night. Now he's missing, and she needs to find him.

Problem: the drug coursing through her veins makes it so every man she sees looks like the man she's looking for.

And that's just the start of it.

EXCERPT

Her last-night’s-self walked to the front of the room, balancing gracefully on very high heels as the first guest arrived. Then another bout of nausea washed over her, fogging her mind. Her eyes had to be lying.


Landon Tatum had just entered the room.

This was wrong. He’d come in later, she knew it. Fifteen minutes before the birthday boy, maybe twenty. There had been more than a dozen people there. Even Fordelli, the man she had come to watch, had arrived first. She’d been watching very carefully and this wasn’t the kind of thing she’d forget.


He wore a black suit, black shirt and a silver tie. That wasn’t right either. But the clean-cut, brown hair, the thin-lipped mouth, the dark eyes, they were as she’d remembered. The perfect, sharp cheek bones with a slightly crooked nose that looked like it had been broken in a fight once and never fixed. It was the kind of “blemish” she couldn’t take her eyes off of.


She breathed shallowly. This was wrong. When had she become this attracted to him? Until recently, she’d thought of him as an attractive guy. Not mouth-watering can’t-take-my-eyes-off. That hadn’t happened to her since high school.


She watched herself approach to offer him a drink. Then the next guest came in, to the right of where her eyes had been focused.


Tatum again. Sharp cheeks. Slightly crooked nose. Dark, perceptive eyes.


Another black suit, black shirt, but this time a blue tie. She flicked her eyes between the two of them. They were both there. She was seeing two of him.

AUTHOR BIO

C.B. Salem lives, writes, and dreams in Chicago. When she isn’t reading or plotting the next scene in her book, she enjoys cooking new dishes and having quality cuddles with her two dogs: Murphy and Oliver.


Website: www.cbsalem.com

Twitter: @cbsalem

Facebook: www.facebook.com/cbsalem


Buy On Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Everywhere-Its-You-C-B-Salem-ebook/dp/B00UXK9HQU/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

GIVEAWAY

C.B. Salem will award a randomly drawn commenter via Rafflecopter a $20 Amazon/BN GC.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Enter to Win a Thrilling Summer Book Giveaway (July 1 - 19, 2015)

Enter to win 16 thrilling books and a $50 Amazon gift card! Contest begins July 1st, ends July 19, 2015. Books will consist of signed paperbacks or eBooks. Open to US residents only.

 

Click here to enter: http://bitly.com/1L95LVa. May the odds be ever in your favor!

Be sure to join the Facebook event for the giveaway!



Each book will be featured on the Facebook event page on the following dates:

7/1 Visiting Lilly, by Toni Allen

7/2 Shadow Dancer, by Addison Kline

7/3 Rachel’s Folly, by Monica Bruno

7/6 Diamond Run, by Michael Croucher

7/7 The Anonymous Source, by A.C. Fuller

7/8 Sandcastle and Other Stories, by Justin Bog

7/9 Women in Red, by Jordan Rosenfeld

7/10 What Echoes Render, by Tamsen Schultz

7/11 Macyn’s Letter, by S.L. Stacker

7/13 Awake, by Melanie Surani

7/14 All the Pretty Bones, by Camela Thompson
7/14 Blood, Spirit & Bone, by Camela Thompson

7/15 Veronika Layne Gets the Scoop, by Julia Park Tracey

7/16 Inhuman Interest, by Eric Turowski

7/17 Roses are Red Violet is Dead, by Monica-Marie Vincent

7/18 OP-DEC: Operation Deceit, by K. William

Release Event for Mandy's Father by Juliette Harper

Welcome to the release event for Mandy's Father by Juliette Harper! This is the fourth book in the Lockwood Legacy series and is now available for sale.

About the Book:
With new discoveries in Baxter’s Draw and the unexpected arrival of a mystery cousin from Boston, the women of the Rocking L have their hands full in Mandy’s Father, the fourth installment of The Lockwood Legacy. Unresolved dangers from the past must be faced and present tragedies endured. Will Kate, Jenny, and Mandy emerge unscathed from these challenges, or will their lives be forever altered? Join Juliette Harper as she once again offers her trademark combination of mystery, romance, and adventure, set against the backdrop of the Central Texas Hill Country.

Goodreads | Amazon | Smashwords

Don't miss out on the first three books in the Lockwood Legacy! And the first book, Langston's Daughters is FREE!

Goodreads | Amazon | Smashwords

Goodreads | Amazon | Smashwords

Goodreads | Amazon | Smashwords

I have featured the other books in the Lockwood Legacy series. You can check out the posts here.

About the Author:

Juliette Harper is the pen name used by the writing team of Patricia Pauletti and Rana K. Williamson. As a writer, Juliette's goal is to create strong female characters facing interesting, challenging, painful, and at times comical situations. Refusing to be bound by genre, her primary interest lies in telling good stories.

Five of Juliette's series are currently available. The best-selling Lockwood Legacy, is a nine-book chronicle of the lives of three sisters who inherit a ranch in Central Texas following their father's suicide. The first four novels are Langston's Daughters, Baxter's Draw, Alice's Portrait, and Mandy’s Father. The fifth, Irene’s Gift, will be available in September 2015.

Descendants of the Rose is the first installment of the Selby Jensen Paranormal Mysteries. The second book, Lost in Room 636, will be available later this year. Selby's business card reads "Private Investigator," but to say the least, that downplays her real occupation where business as usual is anything but normal.

And don't miss the hilariously funny "cozy" Study Club Mysteries, a light-hearted spin off of The Lockwood Legacy. Set in the 1960s, this series takes on the often absurd eccentricities of small town life with good-natured, droll humor. The first book, You Can't Get Blood Out of Shag Carpet, is already listed in the Amazon store with You Can't Put a Corpse in a Parade coming soon.

Juliette's latest creative efforts are in the short fiction arena. Her debut "Before" series is a collection of light, sweet romance stories that can be read in less than an hour. The first installment is Before Marriage.

Fermata: The Winter and Fermata: The Spring are the first and second installments of a four-novella post-apocalyptic survival series. Five years after an unknown virus divided the world into the living and the dead, four survivors stumble into a winter sanctuary. Brought together by circumstance, but bound by the will to stay alive, a concert pianist and a girl from South Boston forge a friendship and a purpose to cope with their new reality.

Juliette is planning other short stories and novellas in the coming weeks and months. These pieces are available for Kindle only and will include companion shorts to her other series as well as stand-alone works.

Pauletti, an Easterner of Italian descent, is an accomplished musician with an eye for art and design. Williamson, a Texan, worked as a journalist and university history instructor before becoming a full-time freelance writer in 2002.

Website | Twitter (@jharperbooks) | Facebook

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This event was organized by CBB Book Promotions.

Laurie Coombs’ ‘Letters from My Father’s Murderer’ Kindle Fire Giveaway

Can God heal the deepest wounds and redeem what seems unredeemable? Laurie Coombs experiences God's transforming and redemptive power in her new book, Letters from My Father's Murderer. When her father was murdered, Laurie Coombs and her family sought justice―and found it. Yet, despite the swift punishment of the killer, Laurie found herself increasingly full of pain, bitterness, and anger she couldn’t control. It was the call to love and forgive her father’s murderer that set her, the murderer, and several other inmates on the journey that would truly change their lives forever.

Join Laurie in celebrating the release of Letters from My Father's Murderer by entering to win a Kindle Fire!

 

One grand prize winner will receive:

• A Kindle Fire HD 6
• A copy of Letters from My Father's Murderer

Don't wait! Enter today by clicking the icon below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on July 20th. The winner will be announced July 21st on Laurie's site.

Freedom to Read Giveaway Hop (INT) | The Silent Treatment

It's time for the Freedom to Read Giveaway Hop (July 2 - 9, 2015) hosted by Bookhounds and I Am A Reader, Not A Writer.

I am giving away five electronic advance reading copies of The Silent Treatment by Melanie Surani. It will be re-released by Booktrope Publishing in August. See the Rafflecopter for complete giveaway rules. The cover reveal for the novel will be on July, 7 2015 (see below).

 a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Synopsis: Twenty-eight year old Katrina Jaitley is rebuilding her life after escaping an abusive boyfriend. The last thing she needs is the mystery she stumbles on during a bout of retail therapy. But she can't ignore the coil of film -- a piece of movie history -- she finds hidden inside her purchase. Unfortunately, Peter, the handsome host of the estate sale, disappears before Kat has a chance to return it to him.

Curious, Kat watches the strip and is shocked to witness the murder of a famous 1920's silent film star by a fellow actor. When a news article cites Kat as the film's owner, her already complicated life goes from bad to worse. Someone is stalking her. Are they trying to silence her or what she has discovered?

Cover Reveal: If you would like to participate in the cover reveal, please sign up here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1ABmxFyt9I9WkJNmu5WcW6dKHpp9MpYhr6o2-5XwcG-U/viewform 

You can follow the rest of the hop below: