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Scotland, United Kingdom
Hi! My name is Kendall, I'm 29, a Media Graduate and I'm from Scotland. I'm a Reader, Reviewer, and Blogger.

Tuesday, 19 November 2024

Book Blitz & Giveaway: Step One [Indigo Ballet] by Grier Cooper!


Excerpt!

   “You.” The single word from Yuri yanks me out of my reverie. “Indigo, is it?” I nod numbly. “Come here, please.” Yuri points at the center of the floor then folds his arms and waits. I take my position there standing still.
   “We begin like this,” he says, posing as I remember from the video of Irina. He shows me the first counts of eight for my solo and I mark the steps as I watch. I’ve memorized them after the second time he walks them through; thankfully I’ve always been quick to pick up choreography.
   “You have it?” he demands gruffly. I nod. “Show me.” he steps back and leans on the barre at the front of the room, watching me intently, like a cat tracking a careless bird.
   I spread my feet wide and bend forward at the waist, imagining the pose as I remember Irina did it. Aside from Yuri’s counting, the room is silent and still; I feel the others watching. But I can’t think about that. I must only think about the counts and where my body is going, one second ahead so I am there when I am supposed to be–
   “No!” he claps loudly. “Let me see position again.” I recreate the pose I was in before he interrupted. “No.” he shakes his head vigorously. “It is like this.”
   He strikes the pose. “You see?”
   I don’t understand the difference but I don’t dare say anything. I nod.
   “More energy in fingertips,” he suggests. I try again, this time I imagine sparks shooting out of my fingertips. This seems to work, since he lets me continue. I rise en pointe, bringing one leg into passé retiré, the toes touching the side of my standing leg near the knee.
   “Stop.” More clapping. He marches over to me again. “Make me passé,” he says. I rise back into the position, more forcefully this time, but still he shakes his head. “It is impossible,” he states. “This is not passé. It must be in front of knee, like this,” he says, demonstrating.
   Miss Roberta would frown on this placement, I think. Another example of how different ballet technique is from one company to the next, from one country to the next.
   Still, I comply. Maybe it’s not such a bad thing to learn slight variations, to have more translations in my pocket. You never know when they might come in handy in the future. Another passé, then close in fifth position, and pirouette from fifth–
   “No again.” He clenches his hands into fists this time and stomps over to Skinny Snow White. I catch the first word, “Olgachkova” and then get lost in the flurry of words that follow, none of which I understand. When he falls silent, Skinny Snow White nods in assent and replies, “Da.”
   Skinny Snow White removes the plastic warmup pants she was wearing and makes her way over to me. Yuri flaps a hand at me impatiently, indicating I should step aside. “Olga will show,” he says, turning to her with an enormous smile of beatitude.
   I edge out of her way, trying not to feel crushed. I know that having Olga dance in my place is meant to be a teaching tool, something to help me ultimately, but it still stings.
   That feeling intensifies as she moves gracefully through the choreography, flowing smoothly through the passés and turns as effortlessly as a fish swirls through water. I try to focus on what she’s doing so I can learn. I’d like to figure out exactly what it is that Yuri’s looking for, that I haven’t got. Yet. But it’s almost impossible to ignore that this woman is one of the most exquisite dancers I’ve ever watched.
   I’ve told myself oodles of time I must never ever, under any circumstances, make comparisons–because comparison is always a losing game. But how not to when the glaring differences are practically smacking me in the face?
   Yuri claps again. “Enough. Khorosho, blagodaryu vas, Olga. We will break. Return in twenty minutes.”
   I stand paralyzed, mute with a flurry of thoughts pirouetting in my mind.
   After watching Olga dance I don’t know how I will ever measure up. I want to, but it seems like an impossible task. Where to even begin? Who can help? Can anyone? What do I need to do to reach that same level of precision and perfection?
   All I can think is that even if I were to sneak from my bed and dance all night long, wearing out pair after pair of pointe shoes every night up until our performances, like the Twelve Dancing Princesses fairytale, I’m not sure even that would be enough.

When Indigo lands a role in Ballet Russia’s touring production of The Nutcracker, it’s a dream come true…. Or is it? Her arch nemesis is also part of the production. So is dashing Russian viral video superstar Dimitri Volkov, who’s playing some kind of game she doesn’t quite understand.

As Indigo dances alongside the rising stars of Ballet Russia she struggles to rise above constant criticism from Ballet Russia’s Director, Yuri Kanofsky. But first she’ll have to dig deep and silence the doubts running through her mind if she wants to rise to their level and drive her ballet career forward.

When unexpected events turn Indigo’s world upside down overnight she’s forced to decide how much she’s willing to sacrifice to get there.

And one innocent mistake just might cost her everything.


Check it out on Goodreads!

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Author bio:

Grier left home at fourteen to study at the School of American Ballet in New York. She has performed on three out of seven continents with companies such as San Francisco Ballet, Miami City Ballet, and Pacific Northwest Ballet, totaling more than thirty years of experience as a dancer, teacher and performer.

Her work has been praised as "poignant and honest" with "emotional hooks that penetrate deeply." She writes and blogs about dance and has interviewed and photographed a diverse collection dancers and performers including Clive Owen, Nicole Kidman, Glen Allen Sims and Jessica Sutta. She is the author of Build a Ballerina Body and The Daily Book of Photography. Grier's work has also appeared in Conscious Dancer, Discovery Girls, Skipping Stones, and Dance Advantage, among others.

Monday, 18 November 2024

Release Day Blitz & Giveaway: Coerced Wife [New York Underworld 02] by Charmaine Pauls!

He offers me protection, but the bed of a killer isn’t a safe place to be.

I got myself in a predicament. Powerful people on both sides of the law want me dead. A killer needs me alive for his own selfish reasons, reasons I never could’ve imagined in my wildest dreams.
I’m not safe in the bed of a cold–blooded murderer, but I don’t have a choice. On the one hand, he offers me protection, and on the other, he tightens the noose.
I’m caught in his web of lies and deceit. Every truth that’s uncovered destroys me a little more. But he’s already injected me with his venomous seduction.

Before I know it, he’ll swallow me whole.


Check it out on Goodreads!

Buy your copy here


Author bio:

Charmaine loves to write dark and edgy romance that will melt both your e-reader and your heart. She's a mom of two teenagers, an adorable dog, and a dominant cat. Her country of birth is South Africa where many of her stories play off. Her French husband kidnapped her to the south of France where she currently lives with her family. When she's not writing, you'll find her in the kitchen baking cakes or in the gym lifting weights (because ... all those cakes!).

Sunday, 17 November 2024

Book Blitz & Giveaway: One Big Little Secret [The Rory Brothers 02] by Nicole Snow!



Excerpt!

   My one-night stand is my boss.
   The biggest life-scorching mistake I’ve ever made is my boss.
   The father of my child is my boss.
   Inwardly, I’m screaming, and I can’t show it.
   Because the handsome stranger who turned my life upside down without ever knowing it is my flipping cockamamie boss, and there’s nothing I can do about it.
   This is the sort of Twilight Zone coincidence that’s only supposed to happen in movies and stay there.
   But this is real life and I’m hilariously screwed. I’m too paralyzed to even laugh.
   I linger on the rooftop after he leaves, still holding the dirty towel in my hands like it’s the only thing tethering me to reality.
   It’s definitely ruined, just like he said.
   Just like this shiny new job after a morning that’s been one long cataclysm after the next. Except now they all pale in comparison to finding out Grumpybutt is my unknown baby daddy.
   “Mommy? Is everything okay?” Arlo asks, his eyes wide.
   It’s so not okay.
   I’m pretty sure this day is the textbook definition of anti-okay.
   He stares at me with those big blue eyes, just like Patton Rory’s. Hopefully, that’s something he didn’t notice.
   But I need to sit down before I throw up.
   Wouldn’t that be the rancid cherry on top of my crap-luck sundae? Arlo spills hot chocolate over Patton Rory’s suit, and I hurl all over his precious leather chairs.
   “Everything’s fine, baby,” I whisper, bending to soak up more cocoa on the floor.
   “Mr. Grumpybutt was mad.”
   Yes, he was mad.

One wild night and a surprise reunion sends a moody billionaire spinning into fatherhood in this heartwarming and steamy romance by Wall Street Journal bestselling author Nicole Snow.

I guessed wrong.
A little reckless fun with a stranger never hurts.
A drunken one-night stand doesn’t leave you pregnant.
A savage twist of fate won’t make your baby daddy your new boss.
Bad luck can’t last forever—unless you’re me.

Should we count the ways I’m cooked with Patton Rory?
He rocks the grumpy gene, dialed up to eleven.
He’s so handsome the mirror winks back and his bank account has its own zip code.
He’s also totally oblivious—thank God.
I’m not sure what he’ll be if he figures out the little boy who trashed his fancy building and ruined his favorite tie is his son.

Maybe I’m becoming a human knot, but I won’t make the same mistake twice.
If he starts acting human and making my munchkin laugh, I’m not swooning.
If his forbidden kiss tastes like pure temptation, I’ll eat mud.
If he makes my heart sing, I’m still clinging to my big little secret.
Even if it’s growing so massive I can’t separate love from the lie.


Check it out on Goodreads!

Buy your copy from Amazon

Author bio:

Nicole Snow is a Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestselling author. She found her love of writing by hashing out love scenes on lunch breaks and plotting her great escape from boardrooms. Her work roared onto the indie romance scene in 2014 with her Grizzlies MC series.

Since then Snow aims for the very best in growly, heart-of-gold alpha heroes, unbelievable suspense, and swoon storms aplenty. With over a million books sold, she lives for the joy of making two people fight with every bit of their soul for a Happily Ever After.

Current fan favorites include her Enguard Protectors series, accidental love novels, plus long beloved MC romance thrillers like the Grizzlies and Deadly Pistols.

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Friday, 15 November 2024

Book Blitz & Giveaway: The Dasher [Tennent Surf 02] by Cindy Kehagiaras!


Excerpt!

   Lisa Tennent is the heiress of the “Tennent Surf Company” dynasty, and it’s about to go under. Her father, the patriarch, has disappeared, her brother is a lazy HIMBO, her debutante mother is uninterested, and her uncle just mansplained her—again. None of them will right the sinking ship; she has to do it herself. Thankfully, Jason Mattis, the legendary “Zen Shredder,” is back in Huntington Beach after twenty years and wants to help.
   Ben’s new brother-in-law, the three-time world champion surfer Jason Mattis, has just made him an offer he can’t refuse. He’ll work as his assistant, and Jason will pay off his debts. That includes saving his former sponsor “Tennent Surf Company” and Lisa Tennent, who is in a familiar emotional and mental health crisis. Ben knows all about Lisa’s frustration and anger and makes it his mission to be the friend and lover Lisa needs. Only she doesn’t know it yet.

Lisa—My business is failing, my father disappeared, my brother is lazy, and my uncle just mansplained me—again. Ben is nothing I want right now, but he might be everything I need.”

Ben—My new brother-in-law, the legendary “Zen Shredder,” is making me launder my karma which is bullshit and interesting. The coolest man on the planet just married my spreadsheet-loving sister and is about to save Tennent Surf Company, making him Lisa Tennent’s hero.
I’m the one who should be her hero, yeah, me, a tattooed ex-con with anger issues. I’ll show her my friendship and loyalty and return her magic.


Check it out on Goodreads!

Buy your copy from Amazon


Author bio:

🏆"The Perpetual," my over 40-second chance romance, has won the coveted "Stiletto Award" by Contemporary Romance Writers in the Mid-length Contemporary Romance category.

BIO: My writing journey began after my 50th birthday, and the pandemic lockdown allowed me to write. Some of my stories have haunted my dreams for decades. When the characters shouted day and night, I knew I had to write about them. These days I love to read and write stories about second chances with GenX characters in over 40, later in life, and mature steamy romances.

My previous lives have been in advertising, fashion, and small business owner. I've made it my life’s ambition to push through the challenges of dyslexia to consume novels, poetry, and articles and tell my stories.

A proud native Californian, I live in Hermosa Beach, CA, with my husband of 17 years, two beautiful kids, and two spunky-rescue kitties.

Please find me on all social media platforms.

https://linktr.ee/cindykehstories

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Thursday, 14 November 2024

Blog Tour: Trash the Dress by A.B. Medley!


One woman's trashed dress is another man's gift.

Scarlett Shepard knows something is off.

With her wedding day fast approaching, she chalks it up to nerves. But when her fiancé's mistress stands up and objects at the ceremony, the wedding is definitely off.

Before she can get herself out of the church, her gaze connects with Zander Bailey, the grumpy but hot photographer hired by the groom's family.

Much to her surprise, he follows her outside with a proposal of his own.

A photoshoot--to trash her dress.

Accepting his offer, she tries to remain lighthearted in the wake of the heartbreak weighing her down, and suddenly this fun distraction turns into a not-so-innocent night of passion between them.

Weeks later, when what Scarlett believed to be food poisoning turns out to be a surprise neither of them expected, they are both forced to reconcile their past and their own jaded hearts to become parents.

Scarlett won't accept Zander's affection out of obligation or a sense of duty, which forces him to face a deep-rooted fear he hasn't vocalized--his love not being enough.

Can Scarlett and Zander choose love when three hearts are at stake?


Check it out on Goodreads!

Buy your copy from Amazon


Author bio:

A.B. Medley lives in Tennessee with the love of her life and three sons. Her husband stole her heart when she was sixteen and their relationship is one of those meant to be love stories you find in magazines and novels.

She is a dental hygienist who loves to read and has always dabbled in writing. When she's not making people's smiles shine, she enjoys belting out songs with her boys, dancing, raspberries, baseball, and anything vintage. Like any proper Tennessean, Sundrop is her drink of choice.

She loves her family and friends fiercely and believes in always chasing your dreams.

Deception in the Truth is her debut novel—but as she nurtures her love for writing romance stories, her list of released books continues to grow.

You can find all the latest through her newsletter, reader group, and social media.


Wednesday, 13 November 2024

Book Blitz & Giveaway: The Forest and the Sea by Tracy Zumwalt!


Excerpt!

   His father and Badenberg needed him to find a suitable wife. Ludwig’s solution was to host the two balls and hope Ehrhart found a wife among the wealthy and titled of Badenberg. But, though Ehrhart had agreed to such a plan, he couldn’t help but feel he’d find a wife on his own terms. Would that be Beatrice? He stared down at his hands loosely wrapped around the reins. Beatrice was certainly a plausible solution to his problem, but could she be a woman he’d love for the rest of his life? She appeared interested in him and his attention, but did he truly know her intentions? He had meant what he’d told his sisters, he was interested in more than just a pretty face.
   Suddenly, a loud thud echoed through the trees, followed by another and another. Then he heard a piercing crack to his left. Ehrhart peered up just in time to watch a tree fall along the path. The jarring movement and sound caused Storm to rear.
   With his hold on the reins so loose, the sudden jolt sent Ehrhart out of his saddle and towards the ground.
   He closed his eyes and braced for the impact, which came quickly. The wind was knocked out of him. He gasped and breathed deeply to restore the air to his lungs, but his vision was slow to clear. Squeezing his eyes tightly, he tried moving his limbs and muscles. His legs and arms moved without pain, but his back felt stiff from the fall. He opened his eyes, staring at the trees above him. Streaks of sunlight pierced the canopy.
   To his left, he heard light footsteps drawing near. Someone was attempting to sneak up on him. He was vulnerable while lying on his back. An urge to protect himself flooded his senses. He grunted as he lifted his head and reached for the dagger concealed within his boot.
   After drawing the knife from its sheath, he pulled the weapon into a defensive position near his face. The hilt was held securely in his palm while the blade rested upon his skin, extending up and past his wrist. He was still on the ground, but the knife gave him hope in defending himself.
   He waited for the steps to get closer.
   When they did, he swung his arm from his face and rolled to his left side, allowing him to look into the eyes of his would-be attacker.

Reynette is desperate to escape the servitude of her step family at Laudermann Manor and the lustful desires of the loathsome, Sir Bjorn.

Lord Ehrhart seeks to please his father and their subjects by securing a future wife and future Duchess of Badenberg.

Will a chance meeting in the woods lead them to find their hope and future within each other’s arms?

The people of Badenberg are preparing to celebrate the anticipated, Midsummer Festival.

In the worn hallways of Laudermann Manor, a young servant girl longs for freedom and love. Bound by duty to her cruel step family, she yearns to attend the festival and meet a kind, brave suitor who will seek her floral wreath and therefore, declare his intent to pursue her.

Her hope takes a turn when her wreath is sought by a mysterious, yet somehow familiar man.

Meanwhile, Lord Ehrhart, son of the Duke, is under growing pressure to find a bride. Trusting his future to the Duke’s advisor, Ehrhart agrees to a series of balls to seek the next Duchess of Badenberg.

But, behind the festivities and beautiful floral decor, a dangerous scheme unfolds— the Duke’s brother and his ruthless son, Sir Bjorn, conspire to seize the Duke’s position, putting love, power and loyalty to the ultimate test.

Help arrives through an unexpected ally as Reynette and Ehrhart seek to unravel the web of deceit and hidden motives.

Extravagant balls are thrown, secrets are revealed, and murderous plots are uncovered in thisreimagining of the Cinderella story.


Check it out on Goodreads!

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Author bio:

Tracy Zumwalt abandoned her dream of writing a novel over fifteen years ago.

But, through her daughter’s newfound love of fairytale romance, Tracy has revisited her once discarded bucket list item and entered into the world of fairytale retelling. She is all about the happily ever afters and finding inspiration in the world around her, whether that’s through exploring new places or simply savoring moments at home.

When Tracy is not crafting new stories, she is either on the move, staying active, or in the kitchen, cooking up plant-based meals to share with family and friends.

She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and two children. Together, they’ve created a life committed to love, adventure and finding the joy in both the simple and complex moments of life.

Tuesday, 12 November 2024

Release Day Blitz: Stick Play [Boston Bucks 04] by Cathryn Fox!

Have you ever met an alpha-hole?
Well, let me introduce you to the ultimate Ash-hole: Ash Wheeler, star defenseman for the Boston Bucks.
He’s got it all—hockey skills, women, fame, looks, and swagger. A real Ash-hole.
I don’t want to be attracted to him. Seriously, I don’t. But every time I’m around him, my body ignites.
I’ve been burned by a guy like him before, and I swear I’ll never go down that road again.
Until I do.
As a single mother who seems to draw men like Ash, I console myself with the knowledge that I know what I’m getting into.
I mean, if I understand the risks, what could go wrong?
A lot, apparently.
I try to keep things casual and vow not to fall for him.

Until I do. And then I discover his secret and now there’s only one thing left for me to do...


Check it out on Goodreads!

Buy your copy here


Author bio:
 
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Cathryn Fox is a wife, mom, sister, daughter, aunt and friend. She loves dogs, sunny weather, anything chocolate (she never says no to a brownie) pizza and red wine. Cathryn lives in beautiful Nova Scotia with her husband, who is convinced he can turn her into a mixed martial arts fan. When not writing, Cathryn can be found Skyping with her son living in Seattle (could he have moved any farther away?) shopping with her daughter in the city, watching a big action flick with her husband, or hanging out and laughing with friends.