ROMANCE SUNDAY: On stage, band leader Zach Zacata controls the emotions of thousands of fans, but he can't control his middle-aged body. THE LEADER OF THE BAND BY GENIE GABRIEL

Title: The Leader of the Band

Author: Genie Gabriel

Email: genene@genenevalleau.com

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Excerpt Heat Level: 1

Book Heat Level: 2

Buy at: Rogue Phoenix Press, Amazon, Barnes and Noble

On stage, band leader Zach Zacata controls the emotions of thousands of fans, but he can't control his middle-aged body. When he has a heart attack, best friend and sometime lover Lauren Westover provides a place where Zach can heal. And Zach realizes he has one more chance to win Lauren's love--if a killer doesn't get to them first.

EXCERPT

Staring at the woman in the mirror, Lauren slowly pushed the gray wig off her head. Her naturally blonde hair lay matted forlornly against one side of her head. As she turned her head, a white bandage became obvious, framed by a semi-circle of close-cropped stubble around her ear where waves of golden hair used to flow.

I could have lost my life instead of my hair, she reassured herself. Still, a spiral of panic threaded through Lauren’s belly.

Sometimes Lauren disparaged her beauty, especially when lechers with insulting hands expected free access to her body. However, she also knew her physical appearance garnered many opportunities a plain woman never enjoyed.

Now, hidden out in a retirement center and disguised as an old woman, no one had spared a second glance at her. Hadn't she wanted to be respected for something that didn't depend on good looks?

A commotion at the door startled Lauren away from her own musings. Zach slipped inside and slammed the door shut behind him. Then he leaned against it, gulping deep breaths of air. His silver-streaked wig hung precariously over one ear; his satin smoking jacket was missing the belt that knotted it jauntily around his middle when she left him less than fifteen minutes ago.

He slid the lock into place and limped toward Lauren. “Whoever said women lose their libido in old age never visited this place.”

He flung the wig on the bed for the cat to play with and sat beside Lauren on the vanity bench. “How are you doing?”

Lauren shrugged. “Have the police found any sign of Matt [my son]?”

Zach’s fingers tiptoed across the bare skin at the back of Lauren’s neck. “Nothing yet. Johnny is spending most of his off-duty time shaking up the homeless hangouts. But they’re a tight-lipped bunch. Don’t talk to cops much.”

Zach’s lips touched the cool skin of Lauren’s nape. “He'll be alright.”

Her shiver this time wasn’t from fear for Matt but the trail of Zach's kisses across the base of her neck. Funny how being in a place with older people had eased Zach’s mind about aging. These men and women hadn’t given up on life when their youth faded. They still indulged their passions and their dreams. They spoke their minds and pursued what they wanted without regard to what others thought.

They were free in so many ways from the restraints and criticisms of the world. Free from their own unrealistic expectations, yet at peace with taking risks and trying new experiences.

Why had Zach feared growing old? "Will you make love with me?”

Lauren turned and stared at Zach. Disbelief, humor, interest, and eagerness flickered in her eyes before she placed her hand in Zach’s.

A young veteran struggles with Post-Traumatic Stress, alcoholism, the loss of the only girl he ever loved, and Ernest Hemingway. MY WAR WITH HEMINGWAY BY JAMES CHARLES

Title: My War with Hemiingway

Author: James Charles

ISBN: 978-1-62420-114-1

Email: tcisot@gmail.com

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Excerpt Heat Level: 4 (one scene)

Book Heat Level: 1

Buy at: Rogue Phoenix Press, Amazon, Barnes and Noble

TAGLINE

A young veteran struggles with Post-Traumatic Stress, alcoholism, the loss of the only girl he ever loved, and Ernest Hemingway. 

BLURB

Zach, a young veteran, contemplates suicide after a horrific tour in Afghanistan when Ernest Hemingway appears and stops him.

He enrolls in college where he falls in love with Jessica, a young woman from a wealthy family. Her love stabilizes him, and Hemingway’s appearances become less frequent, until she doesn’t return to school after break. He confronts her father who tells him he is not to see her again.

Alone, haunted by the wars, and with his friend Hemingway pestering him, he descends into alcoholism.

Teaming up with one of Zach’s army buddies, and in defiance of her parents, Jessica searches for him. But will they find him in time to save his life? And is her love enough to help him find redemption?

EXCERPT

During the third week of the fall semester on a Tuesday morning, I arrive to class early to get a good seat. I review a section in the textbook to prepare for the lecture, a general studies class on political science.

She sits next to me. There are empty seats all over the room, but she sits next to me? Gorgeous is an understatement. She is slim, yet shapely, and has warm hazel eyes. She smiles at me, curling her lips. “Hi,” she says.

“Hi.” I smile and look away like a shy high school boy. If she puts those perfect lips together and whistles, I’ll melt like an ice cube. She has an oversized book bag full of texts.

She settles in and takes the text out. “I’m Jessica,” she says, offering her hand.

“Oh,” I say, fumbling with my textbook. “Zach.” We shake. Her hand is delicate, soft and warm.

She opens her book to the chapter I’m reviewing. “Just reading it now?”

“No,” I say. “I read it last night, but wanted to review some of the key points.”

She glances at the clock on the wall. “I didn’t have time to read it. Could you give me a summation?”

“Ah, sure.” Why the hell am I so nervous? “Well, it’s essentially about Thomas Hobbes’ moral and political philosophy, where he believed that in order to live in a state of nature without fear and civil conflict we should give our obedience to an unaccountable sovereign.”

“That was well said.”

“Thanks.” Damn, my heart is racing and my palms are sweaty. The instructor rolls in and everyone settles down. He is perhaps in his sixties, prematurely bald, but has one of those ridiculous ponytails that some balding men have. I wonder what the point is. You had lost all of your hair, except on the back of your head, so you grow it long there to compensate? Whatever.

I don’t hear much of the lecture, and try to stay calm because I smell sweet perfume or body lotion drifting my way from Jessica. Several times, she flicks her long, light-brown and silky hair to her side where she wraps it over her ear, catching me looking at her. She smiles, and I look away like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar. What an idiot!

The class breaks up and I place my text and notebook in my backpack, watching her out of the corner of my eye as she readies herself for departure. She exits the row and I follow her out into the hallway where she turns and says, “I’ll see you again on Thursday?”

Those smoky hazel eyes, slightly tilted upwards, knock me over. “Ah, sure,” I say readjusting my pack. “Yes. I’ll see you then.”

“Perhaps we could study together sometime?”

“Yeah. That would be great.”

“Okay. I’ll see Thursday.”

“Yes. Nice to meet you, Jessica.”

She smiles again, turns and walks down the hallway. Like a dog in heat, I stand there watching her hips sway in her tight-fitting jeans. Someone jabs me in the side. “You perv,” Dale says. “She’s hot.”

“Yeah, well, don’t you even think of it.”

“Yeah?” he smirks.

“Yeah.”

“Or what?”

“Are you kidding? What do you think I did in Iraq and Afghanistan?”

“Awright,” he says. “I get it, psycho. It’s cool.”

“You have a class here?”

“Yeah. Catch you later.” He enters the lecture hall and I head off in the opposite direction.

FRIDAY'S FEATURED TITLE: Everyone has secrets, including Katie. These secrets gnaw at her insides and leave her raw and exposed. THE JOURNEY BY SUSAN DOWNHAM

Title: The Journey

Author: Susan Downham

ISBN: 978-1-62420-079-3

Genre: Women's Fiction

Excerpt Heat Level: 1

Book Heat Level:

Buy at: Rogue Phoenix Press, Amazon, Barnes and Noble

Everyone has secrets, including Katie.  These secrets gnaw at her insides and leave her raw and exposed.  Katie makes the physical and emotional journey home to Mt. Isa, Australia to attend the funeral of Alistair whom she shared her childhood with, and who she once believed was her first true love. It is this journey when the secrets are revealed that forces Katie to remember Alistair and the secrets they shared.  But as she admits her past to herself she risks losing everyone. Is she strong enough to deal with the truth of her own life and hold on to everyone she truly loves?

EXCERPT

When I decided to write about Alistair and Katie I first thought I would write a beautiful short story retelling their amazing love story, how deeply in love they were, and how they were truly meant for each other, and send it off to a woman's magazine. As I started to put my pen to paper, I realized there was more to tell, much more. Alistair and Katie really did love each other. I'm sure few who actually knew them would argue otherwise, but just to tell you about a one-dimensional relationship between a man and woman would be only telling a small part of their story. Katie deserves more than that.

Katie and I met quite by chance a good few years ago and our unique friendship just developed. There are a few years between us and we have completely different lifestyles, yet in all our differences we found common ground and since that first meeting have become firm friends.

I'm not too sure when I decided to write about Katie and Alistair. It was probably about the time Katie began counselling. She'd call me after her sessions almost as if she was asking my permission to tell a sixty-two-year-old lady about her past life.

Katie needed to justify herself to someone for dragging the past up again, and I was the person she turned to for reassurance. When I told Katie I started to write about her life with Alistair, I expected her reaction to be horror but, instead she was quiet, voiceless on the other end of the phone.

"Katie, if you don't think I should, just say so."

"What are you going to write about?"

"You and Alistair," I replied.

"What about us?" She was fast and to the point.

"About the incredible love you had for each other."

"Oh." Then the silence again.

"If you don't want me to I won't."

"It's not that, Sue. I'd like to write about Alistair. I've tried. I thought it might put things into perspective for me, but it just sounds as if I'm rambling and I can't show Alistair as anything more than a God-fearing angel. Even after all these years he can do no wrong. Write it, write about Alistair and me, but do it as if I'm writing it. You be me and tell it like it was."

"Even the ugly bits, the really shitty bits?"

"Yes. I'm not ashamed. I've got regrets, you know that, but don't we all? If I could turn the clock back I'd make some changes, but I can't, so it's better to just get on with living and not waste time and energy wishing to change things that happened a long time ago."

"Do you want updates?"

"No. I trust you. Somehow I think you will do the right thing."

"I hope I can."

"Sue, do me two small favors?"

"Sure, whatever you would like."

"Change the details that will have people pointing fingers."

"Dates, names and places do you mean."

"Yes, tell them about who we were back then but not who we are now. I can't go through the humiliation again."

"I understand, Katie, what's the second thing?"

"Make me beautiful."

A BEAUTY IN BUCKSKINS... When her father decided to send her to a finishing school back East, Angela Chamberlain refused to be confined to stuffy drawing rooms. MY ANGEL BY CHRISTINE YOUNG FREE ON KINDLE UNLIMITED

My Angel by Christine Young

Excerpt Heat Level: 1

Book Heat Level:

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BLURB:

A BEAUTY IN BUCKSKINS

When her father decided to send her to a finishing school back East, Angela Chamberlain refused to be confined to stuffy drawing rooms. Instead, the daring spitfire who could shoot like a man and ride like the wind longed for a life of adventure and romance—and she knew exactly who could give it to her. Devil Blackmoor was a hired gun with a dangerous reputation. But Angela was willing to go to the ends of the earth to capture the handsome devil's heart.

A DEVIL IN DISGUISE

He'd come to America looking for excitement, but Devil Blackmoor got more than he bargained for when he encountered a beautiful rebel who answered his kisses with a wild innocence that touched his very soul. Yet standing between them were more obstacles than either ever dreamed. For Devil had strapped on a gun for the wrong man. And that made Angela his enemy. Now he'll have to choose between his duty and the woman he loves more than life.

EXCERPT:

Denver, 1893

A polished azure sky looked down on a day that vacillated between winter and spring--a day unable to make up its mind. Cool breezes lifted Angela Chamberlain's brand-new canary yellow skirt off the moisture-laden sidewalk. A blazing hot sun dried the puddles in the street left over from last night's deluge.

Unlike the day, Angela had no trouble making up her mind. Angela knew what she wanted out of life. She touched one finger to the sapphire earrings adorning her newly pierced ears.

She wanted adventure.

She had a terrible craving to see the world--to climb to the top of the Eiffel Tower, to walk the Great Wall of China. She yearned to fly in a hot-air balloon high above the earth, or ride in a gondola in Venice. She wanted to fall in love with a man who was as brave and smart as her father and as dangerous as Devil Blackmoor.

Angela's wish list had no end.

Instead of adventure and romance, in three short weeks she'd be enrolled in Miss Somebody's finishing school for young ladies, where knowing which fork to use was more important than riding with the wind on her favorite horse, Kangee. A place where changing one's clothes three times or more each day was common practice.

Two days ago she'd told her father she didn't want to go.

And two days ago her father had told her she would learn to appreciate the schooling and that she was a very lucky young woman. He'd also promised her a trip to the continent for a graduation present.

A graduation present! She wanted to yell at him, but wisely kept her mouth shut. She wanted to travel now. Today. But more than anything, she didn't want to be confined to the stuffy drawing rooms in the East. Just like her father, she needed freedom. But her father meant to take the choice from her.

To gossip and chatter with rich society women was not her destiny. To know which wine was served with fish would not make her happy. This was his dream for her. Sam Chamberlain needed to look to his own heart and remember the choices he had made twenty-five years ago.

Her destiny was out there somewhere, waiting for her to snap it up and hold the moment close to her heart. She knew what she wanted, and to prove her point, she'd bought a camera and had the machine sent over to the hotel. She meant to photograph all her adventures, every nook and cranny, every monument, every intriguing person.

Across the street and down two blocks, Devil Blackmoor had just taken the saddle off his horse. He brushed the stallion's back, all the while petting the animal's sleek coat and crooning into the horse's ear. Mesmerized, she watched his hands and the gentle way he stroked the horse.

She wished she had her camera.

Devil Blackmoor commanded her attention. He symbolized everything a father cautioned his daughter to be wary of. Despite the warning, Devil's strong jaw, his powerful shoulders and the confident way he held himself beckoned to every feminine nerve in Angela's body.

Angela clutched her hands to her chest, willing her gaze to shift to something or someone who wouldn't shatter her senses and set her blood boiling. Helpless to control her wayward heart, she kept looking back at Devil. She noticed everything about him, the way he moved, the way his denim jeans clung to his legs and the way they molded to his backside. Devil laughed at something the bouncer from the saloon said, and when he smiled, one edge of his mouth tilted crookedly. Ange­la's heart swooned and fluttered, and she thought she might never breathe again.