Even though Gloria is determined to change her reputation, most of the women in town still think she’s a tramp. Sure, she may have dressed a little flashy and dated pretty much every single guy in town, but that’s the past. Now that she wants to make a fresh start, will Smithville give her a second chance?
Ned has heard all the gossip, but being the Sheriff’s Deputy, he sees all the kind things Gloria does behind the scenes for the folks of Smithville. It looks like the upcoming Christmas Pageant will offer him the opportunity to spend time with her, but can he overcome a frustrating stutter and talk to her, face to face?
Your favorite characters from the Hometown Series bring craziness, love, and Smithville Christmas style, to a whole new romance about overcoming your past and sharing your deepest secrets. Fall in love and be swept away with the Christmas Eve celebration of your dreams.
Gloria could practically hear Ned’s heart beating; he was standing so close. What was he thinking? They’d formed a solid friendship, and now, if her instincts we right, he appeared to be crossing the friendship line. Had that been his intention all along? Was she so stupid that she’d let her guard slip and hadn’t seen that he just wanted to get her in bed? What was it about her that made men think she was fair game?
Scrubbing at a stubborn piece of food on a plate, she frowned.
Ned backed up half a step, picking up on her discomfort. “What’s wrong?”
The plate was clean, but she kept scrubbing anyway.
“Gloria?” He said her name more like a quiet demand than a question. She quit scrubbing the dish but didn’t look up.
He waited, and the silence in the small kitchen was deafening. Finally, Gloria met his eye. Ned grinned an easy smile. “I’ll dry.” With that, he snatched up the dishtowel hanging on the oven door and reached for the plate.
She regarded him through narrowed eyes, trying to read his intent. He felt like the same old Ned; maybe she’d been wrong. With a shrug, she rinsed the plate and handed it to him. Her instincts had led her astray before. Crap, she’d never been able to tell when a man cared about her.
Ned dried the plate and reached up to put it in the cupboard. Glancing back to Gloria, he caught her watching him, so he offered a reassuring, friendly grin.
“Damn,” she thought, turning her attention back to the dishes. The man really was dangerously good looking. Yet, here she stood with him in Nadine’s kitchen. The one woman she wanted to show she had changed. She had to prove to Nadine, and the other wives in town, that she wasn’t out to get a man. She needed to remember that, no matter how gorgeous Ned was. Besides, she valued his friendship far too much to mess it up. If she was capable of managing any type of relationship with a man, she wanted to be Ned’s friend.
Rinsing a plastic cup, she handed it off to him, and her eye caught his. Something in the depths of his gaze snagged her attention, and she couldn’t look away. What was he trying to tell her?
“I’m firsty,” Christi’s tiny voice said from the doorway.
The cup dropped to the sink as both Ned and Gloria jerked their hands apart, both jumped back as they turned toward the little girl.
Christi stood in her pajamas, her eyes wide. “I need a dwink.”
Ned was the first to spring into action. “I’ll get you a d—drink, sweetheart. Do you want water or milk?”
“Miwk,” she said. Her little face was serious as her eyes bounced from Ned to Gloria and back.
Reaching into the cupboard by the sink, he retrieved a child’s sippy-cup and lid, then headed toward the fridge. For a moment he juggled the cup and lid to open the door and take out the milk, but he managed to make it to the table and fill the cup half full. Tossing a grin to Gloria, as if to say ‘I got this’, he twisted the cap onto the cup.
Christi padded across the room and reached for the cup.
Ned squatted down to eye level and offered her his trademark grin. “Here you go d—darlin’.”
The child gave him a serious once over as she took the cup, then tipped it up to drink. Unfortunately, when the cup reached her mouth, the lid came off, and milk spilled all down the front of the little girl’s chin, neck, and footy pajamas.
Ned gasped and moved back to miss the torrent of milk splashing across the floor.
“Oh dear!” Gloria cried, grabbing the towel off the counter and hurrying to the little girl’s side. “Did the lid come off?” Her eyes sprung to Ned’s, and she felt instantly silly for asking the obvious, so she turned back to the little girl. “Of course, it did. Let’s get you cleaned up.”
Ned floundered, “I didn’t m—mean to… I’m so s—sorry…” Little Christi glared up at him, her expression clearly stating that she considered the man to be a complete jerk. Milk dripped onto the floor as she stood in a widening puddle. Her fuzzy pink pajamas and even her hair were soaked in milk.
Trying not to laugh, Gloria stripped off the sodden pajamas, soothing and assuring Christi that the deputy didn’t mean to spill her milk. After dabbing up all the milk she could with the now-soaked towel, she hefted the child up onto her hip and turned to Ned. The miserable look on his face gave her pause. “Don’t worry,” she assured both parties. “Nothing a bath won’t fix.” As she headed across the room, Ned found his voice. “I’ll m—mop up…” but Gloria was gone, along with his chance to tell her how he felt.
Kirsten is a dreamer with an eye for art and design. She worked in the engineering field, taught college, and consulted free lance. Due to health problems, she retired in 2012 to travel with her husband. They live and work full time in a 40′ travel trailer with their little dog Bingo. Besides writing romance novels, she enjoys selling art on Etsy and spoiling their three grandchildren.
As a writer, Kirsten’s goal is to create strong female characters who face challenging, painful, and sometimes comical situations. She believes that the best way to deal with struggle, is through friendship and women helping women. She knows good stories are based on interesting and relatable characters.
Title: Rogue Unbroken Author: Angie Day Genre: Young Adult Urban Fantasy
Kate had survived. She had lived through pain and torment and now she was on the other side, where all the happiness was supposed to be. But with Alec’s vengeful punishment for escaping him, she can’t touch anyone without hurting them.
Alec still wants to create a Level Five and he’s dangerously close. That power under his control would mean unraveling the world as it stands. The world Kate has not yet started to enjoy. She won’t be able to rest until her body, her mind is fixed, and Alec won’t get his beloved power without her help.
The two warring sides of Rogues and Shadows will have to meet. Kate will have to confront Alec and his cruel ambition once again. But every moment with the Shadows is detrimental to those she loves, especially Kylan. So she must find a way to outsmart the person who taught her everything she knows, the most feared Shadow in the world.
Kate is strong. She survived once. But even the strongest people can break with the right pressure, and Alec is ready to tear her life apart.
“No, it’s not.” I shook my head. “She doesn’t know what she wants. She’s too inexperienced with this life to understand what she’s asking for. I know better—”
“Don’t finish that sentence,” Thayer interrupted, glaring at me.
“Why not? Because you know I’m right? Someone else needs to make this choice for her, someone with a clearer head,” I explained, walking toward him.
Thayer flinched as I got closer. He stood up away from the wall so he towered over me.
“And that person is you?” Thayer gritted his teeth.
“Yes,” I huffed. “I’m apparently the only person in this room who knows what’s best for her.”
He shook his head and walked around me. “This is unbelievable.”
I turned and waited for him to explain himself. He crossed his arms in front of his chest and stared at the ground while he thought.
“What?” I asked.
Thayer looked up at me with a calm face as he tapped his fingers against his muscular arm. A smile flashed across his mouth before he leaned in closer to me.
“I never thought I would say this, not after everything you’ve been through, but you sound like Alec.” Thayer narrowed his eyes at me.
“I do not.” I shoved him away from me.
“Sure about that?” Thayer caught himself on the back wall before turning to me again.
The words echoed in my mind.
I know what’s best for her.
She doesn’t know what she wants.
Those same words had come from Alec before I left the mansion the first time. The reasons he believed he needed to change my mind.
“The difference is, I’m not doing this for me! I’m thinking about her and what she needs. I’m thinking about you.” I shoved a finger at him. “You should be on my side. She’ll hate you once she realizes everything you took from her.”
“That’s exactly the reason Alec had for me changing your emotions!” Thayer shouted, raising his arms. “And you know what? For decades, that crap made sense. I believed him. But I’m not gonna let you trick me into meddling in someone else’s life, not when I just got away from that with him.”
“This isn’t the same.” I clenched my jaw. “You changed her emotions to begin with. She wasn’t like this when she came here. You did this to her.”
“Because she asked me to,” Thayer said. “That’s what I was telling her when I didn’t want you to hear. I asked her permission to do what I did. She said yes. That was a choice you were never given, and I’m sorry for that. But I won’t do the same thing to her.”
“Why not?” I stopped for a second. Thayer held his breath. “Why does she all of a sudden mean so much to you? You don’t even know this girl.”
“You’re right. I don’t know her. But neither do you anymore. She’s never been a Legend before and you have to accept the fact that she may want this life. She may like being a Shadow,” Thayer said.
I leaned away from him, taking in his expression. I wanted to see that he would falter, that he might obey me anyway. He stood firm and that only fueled the anger inside me.
“Thayer, just listen to me,” I pled.
“No, Mara. In this mansion, I’m the King and what I say, goes. I’m not changing Lisa until she asks me to.” Thayer stared at me with the most intense gaze that his brown eyes were capable of.
I thought about what he said, what I had said. He was right. Everything I wanted was exactly what Alec had wanted with me. I shuddered when I realized how alike the two of us really were. I stared at the empty room and felt like I was the only person in the world.
My hands balled into fists. I knew Kylan needed me, but I couldn’t leave, not with Lisa hanging on the edge of becoming Thayer’s newest Shadow. I hoped that Kylan could hang on for a little while longer.
Angie Day found her love of writing while in college where she studied psychology and eventually went on to a master’s degree. She noticed the need for romantic and fantastic adult stories that were still wholesome and clean. So, she took matters into her own hands.
The Legends & Shadows Saga is her debut series. When she’s not devouring the next book, she is spending time outdoors with her husband.
Title: Terra Nova Author: M.T.G. Series: Terra Nova #1 Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Evangeline is living the life of a normal teenager—going to school and hanging out with friends—until mysterious, severe symptoms begin appearing. After passing out in the middle of a party, life as she knows it spirals beyond her grasp. She is then diagnosed with a rare, genetic blood disorder that causes her body’s white blood cells to kill the red ones. In the delirium of her deteriorating health, a door to a parallel world opens before her; however, once she steps through it, the portal closes, and she is unable to return to Earth.
The place Evangeline now finds herself in is called Terra Nova, a world wherein vampires rule supreme, with no traces of humanity left to speak of. Curious but afraid, she quickly learns that Terra Nova is not the shadow-side of Earth, but rather the tragic result of government experimentation. In order to survive, she must keep her mind open and accept the changes her body is undergoing; soon enough, those who she initially thinks are murderers become her trainers, whose help she must enlist if she ever hopes to return home—and soon enough, a romantic bond begins to bloom.
Meanwhile, Evangeline’s brother and friends back on Earth try to figure out what happened to her, and how the government is involved, and how to bring her home. Unbeknownst to any of them is the mysterious outcast Bambi, whose secrecy disguises her power in making a devastating choice: save one world at the risk of destroying the other.
“Hello Evangeline,” Julia said with a nod when Evangeline was standing in front of them, “Eros says you are adjusting well. I am happy.”
“I’m Okay. Thank you for the room. It’s nice,” Evangeline forced the words out and they came out stiff and choppy. She wondered if she would ever be able to look at Julia without feeling a stinging sense of betrayal. Even if Julia had lied to herself like Eros said, how did that change the fact that she drove a person mad so that she could eat them?
Then Evangeline looked at Eros, curious that he had given her any credit when speaking to his mother and noticed that he was looking over her gown. Damn. This was probably not a go-outside gown, but a supper gown or a horseback riding gown or a God-only-knows-what gown and she would get to hear about being a simple peasant and not knowing the difference. He said nothing about it though and lifting his eyes off the dress to her face, stated before turning and leading them towards the entrance, “Ready? That was an effective smile. Let us see if you can hold it.”
When they stepped outside Evangeline immediately knew why Eros doubted her ability to hold a happy expression. She had not realized that what appeared to be most of the population of Latina would be all standing, awaiting their appearance. There were not hundreds, but thousands of grey skinned, human-like forms standing freakishly still, in every corner of the square in front of the castle and down each street coming out of it. Those that could not fit were inside the buildings on the balconies, in the windows and even on the roofs.
Their stillness, their intense, burning eyes, and their almost lifeless appearance in such huge numbers under nothing but the light of the stars made Evangeline gasp for air. She froze mid step, unable to move or breathe. Eros turned and smirked slightly before continuing forwards and she forced her body to move towards him, positioning herself between him and Julia.
MTG has worked in numerous positions, mainly in managerial and executive roles. Terra Nova, her first publication, is Book 1 of a series. The series’ concept emerged when she, like the protagonist, was diagnosed with the blood disorder paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH), and her then-boyfriend (now husband) joked she was becoming a vampire. She currently works and resides in Canada.
