Author Spotlight On Linda O'Connor's New Release: Perfectly Together

I'm a lucky girl. I get to find all these authors and bring them to you.

Please welcome Linda O'Connor, 

and wait until you read what her "other" occupation is:)

Leslie Ann, thank you for inviting to your blog! I’m super excited to release Perfectly Together, Book 6 in the Perfectly Series! I think it’s going to be the final book in the series (although I said that about book 3, too haha). 

The Perfectly Series books are romantic comedies and are stand alone stories. Book 6 was fun to write because I had a lot of the characters from the other books  “pop” in to visit. I think loyal Perfectly readers will enjoy the extra layer – like sharing an in-joke. This book is about Dr. Jayden Locke, a naturopathic doctor, who’s looking to settle in small-town Emerson, and Dr. Cole Cameron, a family physician who throws up obstacles and doesn’t think much of naturopaths. 

I had the idea to throw these two together after a conversation I had with a friend. She wanted to see a naturopath about a particular health concern and was surprised when her family doctor didn’t support it. I’m a physician and love writing about doctors, so I thought – perfect set up for conflict in a romance novel! Ah, the mind of an author – always wondering how I can weave what I hear into a story! :D

Excerpt of Perfectly Together:

The weight of disappointment settled on her shoulders and an ache filled her chest. Her dream tumbled like a collapsing house of cards. She couldn’t bear it, and turned to go.

“Wait, maybe we could work something out.”

She looked back.

His eyes lit up and the green flecks glowed. “I planned on renting it out. We can renovate the interior to suit. Sounds like it would work out perfectly.”

For you, maybe. She longed to own. The thought of renting, of living at the whim of someone else, made her stomach twist in knots. She couldn’t do it. She wanted stability and needed permanency.

She blinked back tears. It had been so close.

“You’re thinking of a clinic? Are you a doctor?” he asked.

“I’m a naturopath – a doctor of naturopathy.”

Cole’s eyes widened and he smirked. “A naturopath? Interesting. What exactly do you do? Hand out herbs? Read a crystal ball?” He grinned. “Voodoo?”

Jayden put her hands on her hips. “Naturopaths follow the same curriculum as medical doctors and then get additional training in natural medicine,” she said stiffly.

He held up his hands. “Sounds very . . . important.”

She narrowed her eyes. Was he mocking her? “I don’t think renting would work. I was really looking to buy.” She couldn’t keep the disappointment from her voice. “Good luck to you, though.” She glanced around one last time and walked to the front door.

A hand on her arm stopped her. “Take my card,” Cole said, offering it to her. “Think about it. If you change your mind, give me a call. I’m hoping to get underway in the next couple of weeks.” He tilted his head, the green flecks twinkling. “You know, you don’t look like a naturopath.”

Pft. She rolled her eyes. Should she even bother taking his card? She glanced at the open expanse out the window, the sunlight streaming in, and the view of the mountain.

Would it be worth it? Her dream property, at what cost?

He raised his eyebrows, and her heart stumbled at the interest in his dark blue eyes, the green specks mocking her with a dare.

She plucked the card out of his hand. Hopefully it had a picture on it. It might be a useful target for dart practice.

Buy:

Amazon 

The Blurb:

Newly graduated naturopathic doctor Jayden Locke has a dream – start a practice in small-town Emerson and never move again. She’s found the perfect office building to buy. It passes an inspection, design plans are drawn up, and the bank okays the loan. Only one problem.

Dr. Cole Cameron scoops it before she has a chance to submit an offer. What?

It’s a good investment. Cole isn’t interested in settling down. He works three jobs in three different towns and would just as soon keep moving. But something about Jayden’s defiant eyes and sexy smile makes him pause and reconsider.

What are the chances that a heart filled with wanderlust and a soul longing for a home fit Perfectly Together?

  

Bio:

Linda O’Connor started writing a few years ago when she needed a creative outlet other than subtly rearranging the displays at the local home décor store. It turns out she loves writing romantic comedies and has a few more stories to tell. When not writing, she’s a physician at an Urgent Care Clinic (well, even when she is writing she’s a physician, and it shows up in her stories :D ). 

Laugh every day. Love every minute.

Find Linda: 

Website | Facebook Author Page | Twitter | Amazon Author Page 

Last Friday of the Month Recipe: Gluten Free Coconut Cupcakes by Marianne Rice

All you lucky people, here is a gluten free recipe that makes my mouth water and topped with chocolate frosting...yummy.  

And a you can read about Marianne's book Smoke and Pearls while eating these. 

Perfect.  

The recipe and why you love making it:

Hey, L.A., thanks for having me back.  

Last year, my ten year-old son was diagnosed with celiac disease. I’m a baker with a wicked sweet tooth, so the first thing I did was start experimenting with all the gluten free flours. I never realized how complex cooking gf was. It’s not a simple one-to-one fix. One cup of flour cannot be replaced with one cup of rice flour or coconut flour or whatever flour you want to use.

Gluten free baking requires a plethora of ingredients and depending on what you’re baking—cookies, brownies, cakes, breads—the ratios will vary significantly. Being the OCD person I am, I invested in five different flours (coconut, rice, almond, brown rice, cashew), potato and tapioca starch, and xanthan gum. And ouch! That was expensive.

I’ve been baking gf for a year now and have had more failures than successes in the cake and cupcake department. They usually come out crumbly, dry and grainy. But I finally found a keeper! This one is super easy; the cake is spongy and moist (ah! That word, I know). You can’t go wrong.

I made these for my son’s Valentine’s Day party and not a single kid (10-11 year olds) noticed they were gluten free. A win!!

Gluten-free Coconut Flour Cupcakes

Ingredients:

½ cup melted butter

2/3 cup sugar

½ tsp salt

2 tsp vanilla extract

6 eggs

2 TBLSP milk

½ cup coconut flour

1 tsp baking powder

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. You can line a muffin pan with liners or spray the pan really well. I find gf cupcakes stick to the paper so I place them in the liner after baking.
2. Beat melted butter, sugar, salt, vanilla and eggs. Then add milk.
3. Sift together coconut flour and baking powder. Add to wet ingredients. Stir until combined.
4. Evenly divide the batter, filling each ¾ full.
5. Bake the cupcakes on the center rack for 18-20 minutes.
6. Cool completely before frosting.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting:

2 sticks softened butter

2 cups powdered sugar

½ cup cocoa powder

1 ½ tsp vanilla extract

½-1 tsp milk

Whip butter then add vanilla. Slowly add sugar and cocoa. You can add more/less milk depending on how thick you like your icing. (We like it thick!)

Spread on cooled cupcakes and top with toasted shredded coconut.

Enjoy!

Blurb (Smoke & Pearls):

Sidney Mitchell, granddaughter of a wealthy Dallas icon, loses her beloved Grandpop and her world slips off its axis. When a handsome stranger sends a smile her way at the funeral, she welcomes the distraction and accepts his lunch invitation. He quickly becomes an important figure in her life, helping her forget her grief and focus on her future.

After working a twenty-four hour shift, firefighter Max Harmon is involved in a fatal accident. While paying his respects at the funeral of the victim, he is knocked off his feet by the beautiful blonde with the sad eyes. They’re both looking for an escape and turn to each other, finding friendship, laughter and incredible chemistry.

Sydney loves that Max is unaware of her heritage. For the first time, she’s not worried about a man using her for her family’s wealth. Their passion burns hot until she learns Max is the reason her Grandpop is dead. He may be charming, kind and sexy, but she can’t forgive him for stealing her Grandpop from her, and for starting the cover-up she’s sure is there.

Will their newfound love be strong enough to battle through the betrayal, or will their relationship go up in smoke?

Buy:

Amazon

Bio:

Marianne Rice writes contemporary romances set in small New England towns. Her heroes are big and strong, yet value family and humor, while her heroines are smart, sexy, sometimes a little bit sassy, and are often battling a strong internal conflict. Together, they deal with real life issues and always, always, find everlasting love. When she’s not writing, Marianne can be found chauffeuring her herd of children to their varying sporting events, and when there’s time, shoe shopping, scarfing down dark chocolate, and relaxing with a glass of wine and a romance book. 

Find Marianne:

Website | Facebook | Amazon Author Page

Instagram | Facebook Author Page | Twitter

Goodreads | Pinterest

Take Five and Meet Author Stephanie Berget

Lucky us, we get to meet Stephanie Berget. 

Wait until you find out more about her character's jobs!

Welcome to An Indie Adventure, Stephanie.  Tell us, what inspired you to write your book Radio Rose?

Thanks, L.A. for hosting me.  I love small town romances with quirky characters and I had an off beat idea to write a romance about a Bronc Rider and a Physicist who’d run away from her problems and become a late night radio DJ with a show about aliens.

How do you use setting to further your story?

When I looked for a location, I came across Trinidad, Colorado, which just happens to be the Sex Change Capital of the World. Betcha didn’t know that. I didn’t. The possibilities suddenly became endless.

How do you construct your characters?

In Radio Rose, the eccentric characters introduced themselves one after the other and fought with each other to get their story on the page. I really just wrote down what they told me. Except for the hero, Adam. He’s a bit of a loner and very closed-mouthed.

How is your main character completely different than you?

Rose loves science and is very smart. She’s happy being alone or she thought she was until she’s pulled into the town’s problems. I don’t want to be in a crowd, but I love to have some people around.

  

Tell us something about yourself we might not expect!

I always wanted to be a figure skater when I was young, but the only time I tried ice-skating, I fell and gave myself a concussion. After that, I stuck to riding horses.

Blurb:

Radio Rose knows Martians aren’t real.

As a DJ for a late night talk show about aliens, Rose Wasnowski could never admit to being a non-believer. Talking to crazies all night isn’t the perfect job for most people, but she’s happy with her solitary life. Until a middle of the night car crash and a blow to the head has her mistaking a reclusive rodeo cowboy for a real life extra-terrestrial.

Adam Cameron, raised by his narcissistic grandfather for most of his childhood, made his escape from Tullyville, Colorado the day he turned eighteen. Forced to return ten years late for the reading of his grandfather’s will, he’s about to be pulled into a contest for a vast fortune and the future of a town he’d just as soon forget.

Relationships aren’t one of Rose’s strong points. Hell, she mistook the hot cowboy for an alien the first time they met, but Adam needs help and she’s the woman to help him—maybe.

In a town filled with new-found friends, Rose has to decide how far she’s willing to go to trust the loner.

  

Buy:

Amazon | Barnes& Noble | Kobo

Bio: 

Romance beneath a rodeo moon. That’s what Stephanie Berget had in mind when she began writing, to add a realistic view of rodeo and ranching to her Western Romance.

She was born loving horses, developing a lifelong love of rodeo when she married her Bronc Rider. They traveled to rodeos throughout the Northwest while she ran barrels and her cowboy rode bucking horses.

Stephanie and her husband have three adult children and several grandchildren. They live on a farm located along the Oregon/Idaho border, where they raise hay, horses and cattle, with the help of Cisco, the wonder horse, Dizzy Dottie, the Border Collie, and two Munchkin cats, Magic and Martin.

  

Find Stephanie:

Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | AmazonAuthor Page | Website

Take Five and Meet Debut Romance Author J.L. Regen

  

Meet J.L. Regen and her debut Contemporary Romance.

Welcome to An Indie Adventure, J.L.  Tell us, what inspired you to write your book Secret Desires?

Thanks for having me L.A., Secret Desires was written to inspire people to take a second chance on love.

Have you been a lifelong reader of Contemporary Romance?  What are some the first books you remember reading?

Every book has romance but as a young reader, I adored Tolstoy and Gone with the Wind.

What do you do to rev your creative juices?

I do yoga and hug my husband.

To you what makes a great romance hero or heroine?

A man with empathy and passion in his soul.

You’re having a dinner party.  What character from your novel do you hope doesn’t show up? Why?

The annoying guy who bothered Margo. He’s only into self-gratification.

Blurb:

Secret Desires is a love story with Edward and Margo meeting and falling in love and the obstacles they face to joining as a couple with a happy byproduct of her becoming a foster mother at 23.

Buy Links: 

 B&N | Amazon

Bio:

Joan has three published nonfiction books, several short stories on mystery genre, and is a freelance reporter/photographer. Her next series will be intrigue in fragrance industry.

Find J.L.:

Facebook | Website | Amazon Author Page

Mental Can Openers & Writer's Hash: A Mugging on Market Street

 This month, Brad Leach brings us his musing via a story: 
A Mugging on Market Street.
And yeah, I read it more than once. Wowzer. 

      

      Dreams.  They get lost, get hurt.  When they do, I step in.  I’m a dream private-eye.

      It was all clouds and snow when the old fellow slipped into my office and perched on the chair’s edge with all the confidence of a Swiss candlemaker at Edison’s lightbulb convention.  He dripped.  Claimed he was a writer.  Looked more like a ‘wanna be’, but his money’s green so I listened.

      Fresh from Nine-to-fiveville, he was eager to settle in Write-now City.  He dreamed of being the next Tolkien or Lewis, yada, yada, yada.  I’ve heard the story.

      He said things started out well.  Found a girl called Musie, a slot in a brownstone, a keyboard.  Claimed six months in, his dream got mugged.  I pressed for details.

      He didn’t know much.  Musie said some agent dragged his dream to a platform and caught a blog-train.  Said all dreams have to go down to Market and Madison Avenue.  It never came back.  He eventually found it registered in the intensive care ward, down at General.  Wanted me to find out what happened.  I already had a pretty good idea.

                                   

           I caught a cab down to Madison.  Big lights, big boards, big promises.  Just the place to sap some wide-eyed dream, hoping to be discovered, blinded by the neon covers and movie deals. 

      I walked the couple of blocks up to Market.  Rough crowd here.  These were hard men chasing harder dollars.  Even as I watched, a couple of naive dreams floated in.  Hungry eyes labeled them as marks.  I entered a sunken parlor called Write-a-Blockbuster.  I figured it was the sort of place a writing dream would haunt.

      It was crowded.  Every seat and stool taken, with plenty standing around, hoping.  All of them clutched papers.  A few harried agents moved drinks around, tossing a few elbows when the unwary didn’t make an aisle.  I muscled over to the bar and asked the big fellow behind it if he’d seen the old guy’s dream. 

      He nodded. “I see ‘em all, pal.  They’re all precious, all special.” He chuckled.  “’Round here, special means standard.”  He waved me over to a booth where my first suspects sat.

      I sat down across from Mr. Book, next to Joe Conference.  Book sported the literary look; open collar, the cardigan, a pipe.  Conference had the shark-skin suit.  Book grinned, admitting they’d met Dream. 

      “Yeah, I took him, so what?  He needed books, I sold him books.  Software, subscriptions, contests.”  I glared at him. “Hey, the writer’s golden age is over.  So is the silver for that matter.”  He fidgeted.  “I gotta live, too.”

      Then Joe Conference nudged me.  “He was good fer a few conferences.  Dose types always are.  Dey come in flush with cash, figurin’ ta buy a introduction into publishin’ whit a review and a conference ors two.”

      Sliding out from the booth, I next caught a fellow named Mr. Traditional, finishing pork rinds and a beer.  He’d promised Dream he’d get the book published.  All Dream had to do was research it, write it, change it, edit it, proof it, market it, video it, distribute it, and sell it.  Traditional even offered Dream a whole dime out of every dollar made!  I frowned.

      “He don’t like it?  Let him print it!  I got mouths to feed and this place is shrinking.  There’s hundreds beating on the door.”  I flexed fingers and reminded this “gentleman” rinds weren’t his only meal option.  He gulped, then pointed down a dim hall.

      Dream had gone through the back door labeled E-PUB.  I stepped up and a big gal dressed like an Amazon opened the door, and shoved me in.

      Dreams were jammed in.  Literally millions.  No gravity, they looked like a fog of ghosts.  They were tearing each other, mauling each other.  Scratching towards a vanishing portal labeled “Success.”  Young dreams, old dreams, dead dreams.  Some had books.  Some had none.  I was buffeted, sapped, and shoved back out.                                  On my way back up town, I swung by General.  I promised the nurse that if I could talk to Dream now, we’d do more than talk later.  She smiled.  I smiled.

      I slipped into the room. He looked like a skinned, bruised potato, hooked to an IV. 

      “There were dreams in there,” he said.  “Many dying.  Many better than me.  I couldn’t get across the room.  Some were giving books away!  No one was making it.”  He rubbed his arm.  “This race is hard when you’re late to the line.  I couldn’t keep up.”

      I nodded.  “It’s tough out there, Dream.  Especially when you’re older.  Go home!”

      “I can’t... tell him.  His book is his lotto ticket.  He’s hoping....”

      “I’ll tell him.”  I closed the door.

       I gave the old fellow both barrels, straight.  He took it, nodded, turned to go.  As he made the door, he looked back.  “I have to write you know.  It’s the only thing I’m any good at.” 

      I nodded.  You and two million other retirees, I was tempted to add.  But I didn’t.  He knew.  But he has to try.

~Brad 

Author Spotlight Featuring Marianne Rice & Her New Book, Staying Grounded

Today I have the joy of featuring Marianne Rice and her latest book, Staying Grounded. Wait until you read about her moving across country four, yes four times.  She now lives in one of my favorites spots in the country.....

Thank you for having me on your blog today, L.A., and hello to all you lovely readers! For those of you who aren’t familiar with my work, I write small town contemporary romances. Why? I’m not sure. I grew up in Los Angeles and moved to New Hampshire in elementary school. Then back to L.A. in junior high, and back to New Hampshire my sophomore year in high school. My heart was always in New England, though, and when my family moved back to L.A. AGAIN, I stayed put. At the time, I was in college at the University of Maine, madly in love with the middle linebacker on the football team. Since he was from southern Maine, I wasn’t going anywhere.

He had the stability of growing up in a small town, while I was the nomad city girl. I told him I wanted to build a house and never move again. And we did. Twentyish years and three children later…

I like to write stories about towns I wish I grew up in. Many are modeled after places we’ve visited in New England. Read closely and maybe you’ll figure out where Rocky Harbor would be if it were a real town.

Excerpt:

Graham turned his chair around and straddled it, resting his arms across the top, grinning. He should have looked foolish between the mischief in his eyes and the boyish way he sat. Instead he charmed and captivated her.

“What’s going on?” Needing a distraction, she picked up her cup and slowly sipped her coffee.

“Will you give me a few hours this morning?”

“To do what?”

He quirked his eyebrow and lowered his baby blues to her lips. Yeah, she’d need a change of underwear soon. “I want to show you something.”

Maggie choked on her coffee, imagining all the wonderful things he could—he had—shown her.

“No, not that. However…if that’s what you want…”

“Graham,” she warned.

“I like it. Much better than that Mr. Riley crap. Two hours. That’s all I ask. And no, not for that. For that I’d need all night.”

Buy: 

Amazon

Blurb:

Graham Riley enjoys the laid-back freedom of a pilot’s life—until one choice puts his career in jeopardy…

Graham loves his job—it allows him to escape his troubled past and the stigma of being a murderer’s son. But after an altercation with a drunk passenger is posted on social media, he's forced to go on administrative leave until his name can be cleared. To get his wings back, he must attend anger management classes, and to avoid the media frenzy near his home base in Texas, he heads to Rocky Harbor, Maine. 

Responsible therapist Maggie O’Fallon wants a stable relationship with a man who’s not going anywhere…

Maggie grew up with parents who were never around, physically or emotionally. Needing steadiness in her life and in a relationship, she only dates men with normal jobs. But when Graham walks into her office and flashes his charming steel-blue eyes at her, she's at a loss for words. Torn between her ethics and her heart, Maggie asks Graham to see a different therapist so they can explore the chemistry between them. 

He has everything she’s been looking for—except stability… 

Maggie touches something deep within Graham and he panics, pushing her away, too scared to face his feelings. But when a private investigator threatens to discredit not only Graham, but Maggie’s practice as well, he is faced with two choices. Fight…or take flight. 

Battling a lawsuit and his heart, Graham must decide what’s more important—the life he thought he wanted…or Maggie. Maggie might be the only thing that will ever help Graham…Stay Grounded.

Bio:

Marianne Rice writes contemporary romances set in small New England towns. Her heroes are big and strong, yet value family and humor, while her heroines are smart, sexy, sometimes a little bit sassy, and are often battling a strong internal conflict. Together, they deal with real life issues and always, always, find everlasting love. 

When she’s not writing, Marianne can be found chauffeuring her herd of children to their varying sporting events, and when there’s time, shoe shopping, scarfing down dark chocolate, and relaxing with a glass of wine and a romance book. 

Find Marianne:

Website | Facebook | Amazon Author Page

Instagram | Facebook Author Page | Twitter

Goodreads | Pinterest

Author Spotlight With Claire Gem & Her New Release, Spirits of the Heart

It's always a pleasure to spotlight a book that goes on sale the very day the author posts about it.  Don't miss this one, it sounds perfect for Valentine's Day.  
Take it away, Claire

Hi, L.A. Thanks for having me as a return guest on your blog.

Spirits of the Heart takes place in an abandoned mental asylum in the town where I grew up. The place has always haunted me since I was a child, and so it was the perfect place to set another ghost romance. 

I began writing the book in 2015 and took a trip back to my hometown to take some pictures, with the help of my sister/cover artist Terri DelNegro. We got some great pics, and it was a lucky thing we did. Two weeks later, the building mysteriously caught fire and burned to the ground.

My muse was temporarily deflated. It took me another nine months or so to rekindle (no pun intended!) my enthusiasm for this story, incorporating the fire into to the plot. I finally found my path, through the smoke and the mystery.

Excerpt:

       Laura Horton’s bad feeling began the minute she pulled up in front of Angie’s puke green, two-story house and parked at the curb.

Not Angie’s house, she reminded herself. Angie’s boyfriend’s house. Although they’d been pretty tight in high school, she and Ang had kept in touch mostly via telephone and email these past few years that Laura had been in grad school. Once, a few years ago, they’d gotten together for their five-year reunion, when Laura had come home to visit her ailing dad.

That was the first time she’d seen the compact craftsman bungalow—after dark—and she hadn’t realized it was such an ugly color. She hadn’t met the boyfriend, Miller Stanford, whom Angie either claimed to love with all her heart, or wanted to eviscerate with a Phillips head screwdriver, depending on the day. Nor had Laura noticed then that the house snugged up tight on one side to an ancient-looking graveyard. The only thing separating the two properties was a narrow strip of grass and a dilapidated, iron fence.

A shiver ran across her shoulder blades as she sat in her car, studying her new surroundings. Her new home.

Holy crap.

Chillier up here. Where’d I pack that hoodie?

She turned to dig around in one of the boxes squashed into the back of her tiny car, quickly realizing it was pointless. Nearly everything she owned in the world—besides a few pieces of battered, old furniture—filled the back seat, and passenger side, of her thrifty Kia. When she’d run out of room for boxes, she’d resorted to folding softer items, like her sweaters and sweats, into new plastic trash bags. Stuff crammed every nook and crevice in the car, leaving just enough space beneath the headliner for her to see out through the rearview mirror.

There was no way in hell she was locating her hoodie in Mt. Clothesmore.

Rubbing her hands up and down her arms, she climbed out and sprinted up the steps to the front door. She hadn’t been able to reach Angie by phone since she’d left Boone, North Carolina the day before, but that wasn’t too unusual. Her friend was a bit flighty, and prone to misplace her phone, her charger, or both. Angie had been juggling courses at the community college with a full-time night job, tending bar at the pub just down the street, for the past two years. Laura couldn’t blame her for acting a bit squirrelly at times.

She reminded herself how nice it was of Ang and Miller to rent her their spare room. When Laura landed the job in Middletown, her initial exhilaration had been tempered by a glaring question: where the hell was she going to live? There was no way she could move into her father’s tiny condo with his new wife, Deirdre. And securing an apartment on her own was out of the question, at least not until after her first few paychecks hit the bank.

Laura squared her shoulders, which were quaking slightly in the cool spring breeze, tipped up her chin, and rang the doorbell.

Twice. She shifted her sneakered feet against the creaky porch boards, folding her arms against the chill. After another long moment with no answer, she rang the bell a third time, holding down the ancient button a full ten seconds this time. She could hear the electronic buzz through the peeling front door, but no other sounds at all.

Angie had to be here—she knew Laura was coming. It was Friday, but Angie’s last term of college ended last week, and it was nearly two o’clock in the afternoon. There was only one vehicle parked in the short driveway, a late-model Ford pickup. But Laura wasn’t sure what it was Angie was driving these days.

Then, she heard the booming, thumping sound. Footsteps? Deliberate, heavy, booming steps. Did Bigfoot live here too?

A dull click, then the tinkle of chain skittering on the inside of the wood. The door burst open. But it wasn’t Angie standing on the threshold.

Laura didn’t have time to suppress the involuntary gasp that escaped from her open mouth.

The man was huge, not only tall but massive, with a broad, muscular chest, one lightly furred with golden hair.  His bulbous biceps were cut, sculpted like a Greek statue. And he wasn’t wearing much more than Michelango’s David, with only a steel grey towel snugged around narrow hips to match the steely glint in his blue-grey eyes.

She blinked and swallowed, stumbling back a step. “Is Angie here?” she asked in a small voice.

The giant snorted and crossed his arms over his chest. “Who’s askin’?”

Buy: 
Amazon 

View:
Book Trailer

Blurb:

An addiction counselor and a security guard struggle to free a little girl and her father, two lost spirits trapped inside an abandoned mental asylum.

Addiction counselor Laura Horton returns from college to move in with an old friend and start her career. But her homecoming is jarring. Her friend moves out, leaving Laura alone with the gorgeous but intimidating ex-boyfriend—in a house that snugs up to an ancient graveyard.

Officer Miller Stanford is a man with a shattered past. His alcoholic dad destroyed their family, a weakness Miller is terrified will consume him too. The last thing he needs is a sexy, blonde addiction counselor watching his every move. When he begins to see specters in the dark, he starts questioning his own stability.

But Laura sees her too—a pathetic child-spirit searching for her father. Then Laura starts digging into old asylum records . . . Can Miller and Laura uncover the secrets of Talcott Hall without jeopardizing their love—and lives—in the process?

Bio:
Strong Women, Starting Over

   ~Redefining Romance~

Claire is a multi-published, award-winning author of emotional romance—contemporary, paranormal, romantic suspense, and women’s fiction. She writes about strong, resilient women who won’t give up their quest for a happy-ever-after—and the men lucky enough to earn their love. No helpless, hapless heroines here. These spunky ladies redefine romance, on their terms.

Whether it’s a sexy contemporary read you’re seeking or a thrill ride into the supernatural world of hauntings and ghosts, Claire will take you on a memorable journey.

Her paranormal/romantic suspense, Hearts Unloched, won the 2016 New York Book Festival. Her contemporary romance, The Phoenix Syndrome, won the women’s fiction division in FCRWA’s The Beacon Contest.

A New York native, Claire has lived in five of the United States and held a variety of jobs, from waitress to bridal designer to research technician—but loves being an author best. She and her happily-ever-after hero, her husband of 38 years, now live in central Massachusetts.

Find Claire:

Website | Facebook | Twitter |  Goodreads | Amazon Author Page | Pinterest