MIDNIGHT SPECIAL

By Tawny Weber

Tawny will be awarding a bookmark goodie package to one commenter at each stop (bookmark, signed cover flat, post it pad, magnet) and a grand prize of a $25 Amazon / BN (or other bookstore of the winner’s choice) GC to one randomly drawn commenter during this tour and her other Book Blast on May 9th. So don’t forget to leave a comment and follow the tour via this link, to better your chances of winning.

BLURB:

Somewhere on the train is a key witness for a crime involving arson, murder and a high-profile businessman. And reporter Marni Clare will do whatever it takes to get the story—even if it means crashing in a sleeper car that’s she’s not sure she’s reserved. But when she wakes, she finds herself curled up with the man she’s seeking…and he’s hot enough to derail all her plans!

FBI special agent Hunter won’t complain about the wickedly hot blonde in his arms. And maybe it’s the medication he’s on, but he’s even agreed to share his room for the entire journey….

It’s a long trip in close quarters, and within days their berth becomes the scene of some steamy railway romps. But is Marni just having fun…or is she taking Hunter for a ride?

EXCERPT

After a couple of seconds of his death stare, Marni’s smile drooped, then she bit her lip and looked away.

There. He still had it.

The ability to intimidate sweet women. He’d bet he could make babies cry and puppies whimper, too.

“You look grumpy.”

Hunter scowled.

“Really grumpy,” she decided, closing the lid of her laptop, setting it aside and getting to her feet. She glanced at the clock on the wall, then at her watch as if to verify the time. “I’ll bet you’re hungry. We haven’t had anything but coffee in two hours. Want to get breakfast?”

“Look, I can’t do this roommate thing. It was nice enough of you to offer to share, but it’s just not going to work.”

“So you’re leaving?”

“No, you are.”

Her cupid’s bow mouth dropped open and she stared for so long, he wanted to blow on her face to make her blink.

“It’s my berth. I was in it first. Out of the goodness of my heart, I offered to share it with you. So why would I give it up?”

Hunter considered flashing his FBI badge and going the national security route. But he was seriously tired. Tired and sore and empty. He needed a little downtime. He had a week to build a case that would put away the head of one of the biggest criminal organizations on the east coast. He wasn’t going to do that with people bugging him, asking FBI questions and passing him in the hallway muttering “the truth is out there.”

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Tawny Weber has been writing sassy, sexy romances since her first Harlequin Blaze hit the shelves in 2007.  A fan of Johnny Depp, cupcakes and color coordination, she spends a lot of her time shopping for cute shoes, scrapbooking and hanging out on Facebook.

Readers can check out Tawny’s books at her website or join her Red Hot Readers Club for goodies like free reads, complete first chapter excerpts, recipes, insider story info and much more.  And for a limited time, she has a few open spots on her Street Team!

Social Links:

Website – http://tawnyweber.com

Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/TawnyWeber.RomanceAuthor

Twitter –  https://twitter.com/TawnyWeber

Pinterest – http://pinterest.com/tawnyweber/

Midnight Special link:   http://tawnyweber.com/books/midnight-special/ 

Purchase Links:

-   All About Romance

-   Amazon

-   Barnes & Noble

-   Books-A-Million

-   Harlequin

-   Powells

-   iTunes

REVIEW

MIDNIGHT SPECIAL, by Tawny Weber

FBI Special Agent Michael Hunter is on a fast track career path with no distractions: no wife, no kids, nothing to conflict with his work priorities. The only thing holding his current focus is ensuring a conviction for an unscrupulous mobster and killer, and keeping his secret witness as far hidden from plain sight as possible.

Marni Clare has the misfortune to be bombshell-blonde pretty and a smooth talker. Both traits hide her deeper layers of determination and success that define her, layers most people, even her family, never see or quite understand. Intent on capturing her big break by claiming a story that will move her from mundane fashion writer to hard-boiled grit and sensational journalist, Marni isn’t about to take a detour for relationships either. Unfortunately, Marni’s career-launching story will run roughshod over Michael’s life-threatening case.

Stuck together on a six-day train trip from New York to California, these two battle the temptation of attraction and the more devious lure of two souls who recognize and get each other from the first fateful look. The trip promises to either solidify their goals or shake forever the foundation of their personal journeys.

Two tickets on the Midnight Special, two careers headed for a collision point, one hot inescapable romance.

What I liked:

Both of these characters are very genuine. I love the way we get to know who they are and follow them as they experience points of clarity in their lives. These two are charismatic on the page, and their chemistry lights up the bedroom (or train berth). Both are likeable at the start, and even more so at the end of this story.

I get Hunter’s brand of justice, his need to bend the rules to save people, and his determination to excel. He’s a wonderful hero, with passion for not only the job but life, friends, and women as well. Marni is equally driven, and while in my opinion, her life mapping isn’t quite as fine-tuned as Hunter’s, we do clearly understand her goals, and the solid grounding family and her chosen role-model has played in her life. A heroine we can like and empathize with. All add wonderful twists and layers to the story and provide poignant moments for to watch them re-evaluate their choices.

Tawny Weber is a new author for me and I have to say that I really enjoyed this book. There are secondary characters referenced in this story from previous books (Sex, Lies and Valentines, Sex, Lies and Mistletoe, Sex, Lies and Midnight). It is not necessary to have read these first. I obviously haven’t and loved this story. But those characters seemed intriguing and I will probably go back and pick up the books.

So final check:

Great characters – Yes, loved Hunter and Marni together! They have hard choices but their reasoning and final outcome is well delivered and wonderful to see.

Romance – Hot and sexy! The chemistry leaves the reader with a satisfied, happy feeling.

Loved it!

Novel: 215 pgs, (current bundled for sale with COMING ON STRONG, also by Tawny Weber)

A Rafflecopter giveaway - Helen will award a $25 Amazon GC to one randomly drawn commenter during the tour. So don’t forget to leave a comment and follow the tour via this link, to better your chances of winning.

Bloodfire

Mackenzie Smith has always known that she was different. Growing up as the only human in a pack of rural shapeshifters will do that to you, but then couple it with some mean fighting skills and a fiery temper and you end up with a woman that few will dare to cross. However, when the only father figure in her life is brutally murdered, and the dangerous Brethren with their predatory Lord Alpha come to investigate, Mack has to not only ensure the physical safety of her adopted family by hiding her apparent humanity, she also has to seek the blood-soaked vengeance that she craves.

Bloodfire Excerpt:

I slowly uncurled my fingers and forced myself to relax. Perhaps they weren’t coming after all I pondered, half hoping – and half chafing at the thought that they had so little regard for my pack that they couldn’t even show up on time.  Didn’t they understand what we’d all just been through?  I almost growled.  Even without the group’s fear of what would happen to them all if my true identity was discovered, and the deep-seated grief that marked John’s passing, they were all on tenterhooks about the imminent arrival.   Would the Brethren like them?  Would the Brethren find out who killed John?  Would the Brethren save the world? Would we be honoured enough to be allowed to wait hands and feet on them?  I snorted, making Tom look worriedly over at me again.  I ignored him.  Screw the Brethren. Part of me wished that I could have been long gone and then wouldn’t have to be witnessing the pathetic displays of my pack, my surrogate family, straining at the bit to do anything to please the sodding Brethren.  Idiots.

I’d confirmed that none of them other than Julia had ever had cause to come in contact with the Brethren before now – well, let’s face it, we lived in a backwater town in Cornwall for chrissakes, nothing had ever happened before that would have warranted the Brethren’s attention – but the crème de la crème of the shapeshifters’ reputation still preceded them.  They were known to be bloody, ruthless and entirely without mercy for anyone who didn’t meet their exacting standards.  And still, the pack sighed over them as if they were gallant heroes galloping in to save the day.

Bloodmagic

After escaping the claws of Corrigan, the Lord Alpha of the Brethren, Mack is trying to lead a quiet lonely life in Inverness in rural Scotland, away from anyone who might happen to be a shapeshifter. However, when she lands a job at an old bookstore owned by a mysterious elderly woman who not only has a familiar passion for herbal lore but also seems to know more than she should, Mack ends up caught in a maelstrom between the Ministry of Mages, the Fae and the Brethren.

Now she has to decide between staying hidden and facing the music, as well as confronting her real feelings for the green eyed power of Corrigan himself.

Bloodrage

Mack begins her training at the mages’ academy in the hope that, by complying, the stasis spell will be lifted from her old friend, Mrs. Alcoon. However, once there, she finds herself surrounded by unfriendly adults and petulant teenagers, the majority of whom seem determined to see her fail.

Feeling attacked on all fronts, Mack finds it harder and harder to keep a rein on her temper. Forced to attend anger management classes and deal with the predatory attentions of Corrigan, the Lord Alpha of the shapeshifter world, her emotions start to unravel. But when she comes across a familiar text within the walls of the mages’ library, which might just provide the clues she needs to unlock the secrets of her background and her dragon blood, she realises that her problems are only just beginning…

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Helen Harper is an English teacher currently living abroad in Malaysia. As a long time reader of urban fantasy, she finally bit the bullet and began to develop her own series of novels.

Helen has always been a book lover, devouring science fiction and fantasy tales when she was a child growing up in Scotland. “I always loved the escapism provided by those genres,” states Helen. “No matter how bad life gets, you can always find a route out, even if only temporarily, in the pages of a good book.”

The growth of urban fantasy fascinated her – the mix of reality and fantasy along with strong heroic female characters appealed from the very beginning, and inspired her to write her own.

Facebook Author page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Helen-Harper/101590660022586

Twitter: HarperFire

Amazon.com buy links:

Bloodfire

Bloodmagic

Bloodrage

HER ERRANT EARL by Scarlett Scott

Scarlett will be awarding a Kindle copy of her historical romance A Mad Passion and a $10 Amazon gift card to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour. So don’t forget to leave a comment and follow the tour via this link, to better your chances of winning.

BLURB:

Victoria, Countess of Pembroke, knew her marriage wasn’t a love match, but she certainly hadn’t expected to be wedded, bedded and abandoned in the countryside. When her husband suddenly returns bent on seduction, she’s suspicious of his motives even though she finds it difficult indeed to resist his knowing hands and hot kisses.

Pembroke can’t afford to allow Victoria to discover the real reason for his reappearance in her life. To get what he wants, he’ll do anything, even if it means bedding the wife he never wanted.

But what begins as a tedious task turns into a raging passion neither of them can deny. As the truth unravels at last, they must choose between forgetting the past and allowing it to consume them.

Excerpt:

“Not at all, my dear.” His eyes darkened. He caressed her cheek again. “I wouldn’t jest about that.” He traced a path down her throat, stopping at the first fastener on her high-necked riding habit. “Bloody hell, you’re always over-buttoned.”

Victoria laughed at his frustrated observation, partially to dispel the troubling surge of want swirling through her. “It’s the first stare of fashion, you know.”

“Fashion should think a bit more about a man who wants to debauch his wife,” he grumbled, unhooking the top button from its mooring. “There we are. Only eight hundred more to go.”

“Pembroke,” she protested, scandalized that he was beginning to disrobe her in the middle of the day, in the out of doors.

“I’m back to Pembroke, am I?” He continued opening her bodice. “I shall have to remedy that.”

Taking a fortifying breath, she forced herself to look over his shoulder. His horse was starting to wander. It presented the perfect excuse to regain her ability to resist him. “You may want to tether our horses first. I’m certain mine won’t travel too far from her meal, but yours is another matter entirely.”

“Damn.” Wearing an aggrieved look, he released her and strode after his horse.

Victoria deemed it best to undo the damage he’d wrought upon her smart wardrobe. Quickly, she refastened her bodice. She watched as he secured both horses before turning back to her. The moment was alive with sunshine and possibilities. She had to admit he cut a dashing figure in his riding breeches. He was tall, lean and muscular. The intensity in his eyes made her heart kick up its pace.

He stopped a scant few inches from her, giving her a boyish grin. “Now where were we? Devil take it, you’ve done yourself back up. That’s against the rules.”

She raised a brow, trying not to smile as it would only serve to encourage him. “I wasn’t aware there were any rules involved.”

“Only rules of my making.” He winked.

“You aren’t a fair competitor, my lord.”

He snagged an arm around her waist and dragged her into his hard body.

“Is this the first time you’ve become aware of that fact, dearest wife?” He lowered his head, close enough to kiss.

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Scarlett Scott has loved romance novels ever since she was eleven and swiped her older sister’s books to read by flashlight in her closet. Her mother caught her, but she remained undeterred in her pursuit of happily ever afters. An award-winning author, she writes steamy historical and sexy contemporary romance. She lives in PA with her hero and their adorable dog who thinks he is a person in training.

Buy link:  http://www.ellorascave.com/her-errant-earl.html

Website: http://www.scarsco.com

Twitter: @scarscoromance

Blog: http://scarscoromance.blogspot.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AuthorScarlettScott

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/scarlettscott/