Jill's Book Blog

Only for You
Beverley Kendall
(Unforgettable You #1)
Publication date: December 9th 2013
Genres: Contemporary, New Adult, Romance

They say there is a thin line between love and hate.

This is what happens when that line is crossed.

College freshman Olivia Montgomery is thrilled at the chance to start over, escape the rumors that plagued her in high school. And she can finally put her juvenile crush, Zachary Pearson, where he belongs—in her past. Then her unrequited love strolls into her French class, shattering Olivia’s newfound peace, and the feelings she’d thought buried for good come rushing back. Now she can’t shake her unwanted attraction to the one guy who can twist her stomach into knots with just a smile…but has never given her the time of day.

Zach’s good looks may have always gotten him his pick of girls, but it’s the star quarterback’s skill on the football field that gives him his pick of the Big Ten colleges. To escape the crushing demands of his win-at-all-costs father, Zach opts for a private university in upstate New York where…his present and past collide. And the one girl he’s always wanted but can’t have—and a class trip to Paris—turn out to be the ultimate game changer that has him breaking every one of his rules.

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EXCERPT:

Seconds after Rebecca disappears around the corner, I feel a presence behind me.

Like right behind me.

I turn, expecting to see Scott, who I’m sure is eager to offer an explanation to what I’d just witnessed. I couldn’t have been more wrong. The guy hovering behind me is none other than Zach, his expression just as grim as when I saw him minutes ago. Scratch that, grimmer.

I actually take a step back, I’m so shocked to see him this close, and bump into the wall behind me. Zach takes a step closer and braces his forearm, exactly the way Scott had done, on the wall at the side of my head. He bends his head so his mouth is near my ear. I drag in a breath of air and with it the subtlety of his cologne and warm male skin. Being this close to him after so many weeks is like a kick of excelsior.

“Who’s the guy?” he asks, his voice a low rumble in my ear.
It takes everything in me not to shiver as the sound vibrates down my spine.

“A friend.”

His mouth kicks up at the corner into a smirk.

“Right.”

His tone is so obviously disbelieving, now it requires Herculean self-control not to smack him even though I miss him so much my heart hurts.

“Anyway,” he continues, his eyes narrowing and growing hard as flint as he stares down at me. “Here’s the thing. If you’re trying to make me jealous, you’re wasting your time. I wouldn’t want you to put yourself out too much tonight, so remember that and go easy on the guy, ‘kay?”

Raising his head, he flashes me a tight, icy smile and pushes off the wall as he continues to hold my gaze. In his final gesture of arrogance, he runs the back of his index finger gently down my cheek while his jaw ticks. “Have a nice evening, Liv.” With that, he turns and saunters back down the hall.

 

Author Bio:

Beverley discovered her love of books while growing up in Ontario, Canada. With her love of books and romance, she always wished that everyone would find their happily ever after. She currently writes sexy historical, new adult and contemporary romances.

As the mother of one too bright and mischievous young boy, she pulls full-time duty on all fronts. When she’s not writing full-time or mothering, she’s probably reading or knitting and dreaming of a time when she’ll have time for her favorite hobbies: crocheting and sewing.

Beverley has lived on two continents, in three countries, two provinces, and four states. She stopped her nomadic existence and settled in the southeast. All things artistic feed her creative passion, but none more than writing. Readers can visit her at: beverleykendall.com.

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Masked
J.D. Wright
(Superheroes Undercover, #1)
Published by: Limitless Publishing
Publication date: August 15th 2017
Genres: Paranormal, Superheroes, Young Adult

Vada’s To-Do List:
– Turn 18 (check!)
– Register super name
– Order supersuit
– Attend superhero indoctrination
– Graduate high school
– Start kicking criminal tail

Vada Lawson can’t wait to be a superhero. Born into a family with special powers, she’s been training to fight criminals and villains her whole life. But her indoctrination into the underground super community is derailed when normals start breaking out in superpowers themselves.

Not trained to control their new abilities, the normals are frightened and vulnerable. Then their mutilated corpses begin turning up all over town. What the heck?

Somehow, with the help—and hindrance—of an annoying newly-minted super named Orion, Vada has to stop the chaos before it destroys her and everything she holds dear…and ruins her superhero debut.

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EXCERPT:

Nick couldn’t take it anymore.

The entire morning had been one shock to his system after another. The nice long weekend in his giant but silent house had made him all but forget about the weird run-in with Janet. He’d spent the entire time working on his homework and enjoying the peace and quiet.

But after only five minutes at school, he was rudely reminded that he must be losing his mind. The voices came like a whirlwind into his head, one after another. So many that he couldn’t decipher whose thoughts belonged to who. He couldn’t even separate his own thoughts from the others. There were so many, and every one of them was as loud as the other, washing over him like waves of pounding noise.

Being in class gave no relief, either. The other students may not have been talking aloud, but every one of them was thinking, loudly. Nick heard too many things that he never wanted to hear and a lot of mundane thoughts that no one cares about.

…I wonder if I forgot to lock the door this morning…
…Oh, man. I’m not sure if I’m ready to do this. What if I get pregnant? But Luke is so cute, though…
…Mrs. Yates has such nice tits…

Nick actually agreed with that last sentiment, but he couldn’t be sure who had said it.

…Only thirty minutes left. I really need to pee…
…Nick is too good for Scarlet. What does he see in her? She’s such a bitch…
…This class is about as useless as my stepmother…

There was just so much noise. Nick pulled his hood up, but it did nothing to block the sounds. Every single thought that crossed someone else’s mind entered his. He didn’t give a damn about someone’s new pet lizard. And while he appreciated the girl across from him’s glances and thoughts of admiration—at least, he was pretty sure those belonged to her from the way she watched him—he didn’t want to know what other people were thinking.

What had caused this? Was it some sort of mental illness? Was he imagining these things? He couldn’t be sure he was even hearing real thoughts. He considered quizzing someone, but he was almost too afraid to confirm what he suspected.

He was reading people’s minds. Hearing their thoughts. Without even trying.

And it was excruciating.

Author Bio:

J.D. Wright is a military wife, mother of four, and author of paranormal and fantasy romance books filled with strong-willed heroines, swoon-worthy heroes, and sprinkled with humor and adventure. J.D. creates artistry in many ways, as a baker and cake artist by day and author by night. You can usually find her typing away at the computer or covered in frosting.

Since discovering she has a knack for writing, J.D. has so far written and self-published eight books of the Everealm and Songs of Everealm Series and is now venturing into the world of paranormal with her new superhero-themed series. She is an avid reader and lover of all things romance so she always includes a good love story in her paranormal and fantasy novels.

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Uncanny
Sarah Fine
Published by: Skyscape
Publication date: October 3rd 2017
Genres: Science Fiction, Thriller, Young Adult

Two sisters. One death. No memories.

Cora should remember every detail about the night her stepsister, Hannah, fell down a flight of stairs to her death, especially since her Cerepin—a sophisticated brain-computer interface—may have recorded each horrifying moment. But when she awakens after that night, her memories gone, Cora is left with only questions—and dread of what the answers might mean.

When a downward spiral of self-destruction forces Cora to work with an AI counselor, she finds an unexpected ally, even as others around her grow increasingly convinced that Hannah’s death was no accident. As Cora’s dark past swirls chaotically with the versions of Hannah’s life and death that her family and friends want to believe, Cora discovers the disturbing depths of what some people may do—including herself.

With her very sanity in question, Cora is forced to face her greatest fear. She will live or die by what she discovers.

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EXCERPT:

I did not anticipate the wind. on the sidewalk, it made jackets flap and leaves rustle. Seven stories up, it threatens to throw me right over the edge.

Is that what I want?

I’m not good at knowing what I want—that’s what she said to me, and it turns out she was right. This will be my last decision, and it could be my worst or my best, but I don’t know if it will be something I want.

But wanting isn’t relevant now.

My shoes scrape over cement as i stand on the roof’s ledge. I am battered. Faltering. My arms are out, my fingers splayed. I turn around and face the school’s security cannies, who have formed a semicircle around me on the roof as they slowly approach. outdated, outmoded, neo-plastic skin, expressionless. They are here to stop me, or at least detain me until emergency services reach us, but like me, they are not immune to gravity. If I go over, they can’t save me.

They’re programmed to save me. They won’t feel a thing if they fail, though. They can’t. That’s the difference between us.

Looking at their blank eyes fills me with a sense of the inevitable.

I can’t remember not existing, whatever happened before I became me. I don’t think it hurt, not like this. Perhaps I’m wrong, though. Maybe I’ve been here before.

I crane my neck to see past the machine men, searching for the one face I need, one I know I’ve already seen for the last time. She isn’t here. Of course she isn’t. She can’t be.

I want to see her one last time. After everything I did, she wouldn’t look at me with anything other than sorrow or maybe hate or pity. But still, I want to see her.

There. That’s one thing I know I want.
even if it were relevant, it still doesn’t matter.
I inch back a little. It would be easier for the wind to take me. I’d prefer that over doing this myself. But the cannies keep getting closer, and the wind is still now. Unhelpful.

“This is my choice,” I say loudly. “I’m doing this of my own free will.”

Is this what she wanted? I think this might be what she wanted.

It’s all tangled up in her, and she’s not here. I’ll never see her again. I’ll never see her again, and it’s because of the choices I made.

Free will.

Want.

I close my eyes. It’s time.

Author Bio:

Sarah Fine was born on the West Coast, raised in the Midwest, and is now firmly entrenched on the East Coast. When she’s not writing, she’s working as a child psychologist. No, she is not psychoanalyzing you right now.

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Fallen Star
Allison Morse
Publication date: September 21st 2016
Genres: Adult, Mystery

Who killed 1940s screen goddess Gloria Reardon? Her unsolved murder hypnotized the public with its scandalous details and shocked two generations.

Avid feminist and aspiring filmmaker, Kate Bloom discovers long lost footage that holds the key to who murdered her grandmother. Legendary movie star, Gloria Reardon, may be dead, but friends and lovers from the Golden Age of Hollywood’s heyday are still very much on the scene, and it seems everyone has something to gain or lose from Kate’s discovery. Enlisting the youthful and brash film restorer Dylan Nichols as her closest ally, Kate becomes haunted by Gloria’s glittering past. Caught between glamorous Old Hollywood and the gritty, exciting New Hollywood of the 1970s, Kate is determined to find out what really happened to her grandmother and in the process becomes the killer’s new target.​

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EXCERPT:

A fitful sleep finally came and with it a dream filled with misty tears of her own, of her mother’s, and someone else’s, too.

The drapes looking over the backyard began to sway as if alive. Kate got out of bed and went to close the windows. The curtains lashed around her. Then she saw the windows were shut, yet the curtains continued to billow and sway. Her heart raced as she watched shadows flitting around the patio garden below and darting across the dark lawn down to the edge of a cliff and dropping into a black chasm.

“Run.” A woman’s voice echoed up from the abyss. Kate jumped back from the windows.

“Leave,” the voice said, closer this time. Moist heat like the breath of an animal swirled around her.

The presence was here.

She dashed back to the bed and pulled the covers tightly around her.

Everything in the room shook until the window exploded, shards of glass spraying everywhere.

Her skin felt on fire, it pricked and stung with searing pain. She sat up and threw off the blanket. The room spun. A metallic smell filled her nose. The heat turned sticky. She looked down and saw her body dripping with blood.

She screamed.

The door to her bedroom swung open.

“Good God,” Jarvis said. “What’s the matter? Are you all right?”

She writhed in the bed and had no ability to form words.

Jarvis ran to her and held her shaking body. “Tell me what happened. What’s wrong?”

Taking in a deep breath, she extracted herself from his embrace.

She gazed about the room and blinked. There was no blood and the pretty room was bathed in the soft pink of dawn. The curtains hung still, and the windows were unbroken.

“I’m so sorry. It must’ve been a nightmare.”

Jarvis rose. “Is that all? I heard you cry out. It was…chilling. Like you were dying.” His gaze became diffused, haunted, as if he were watching something terrible that only he could see. Then he came back to himself and said, “A nightmare? Do you have those often?”

“Oh, no… Yes, I do. I’m so sorry I disturbed you.” Kate jumped out of bed, forgetting she was wearing only a tee shirt and panties.

Jarvis swept an admiring look over her bare legs. She jumped back into the bed and pulled the sheet up.

He smiled.

 

Author Bio:

Allison Morse grew up in a family of actors in Los Angeles; before the age of five she started acting classes, which she adored. She continued in the family business until her early twenties when her curious spirit led her to consider other interests and professions, like counseling and the law. After receiving her B.A. from U.C. Berkeley, Allison went on to graduate from Phillips Graduate Institute with an M.A. in Marriage and Family Therapy and U.C. Hastings College of the Law with a J.D.

Although she loved learning from each of her varied careers one of her favorite jobs was working for the now closed Dutton’s, a wonderful, musty new, used and rare bookstore in North Hollywood with deep roots in Southern California’s literary community. This wonderful, musty new, used and rare bookstore in North Hollywood had deep roots in Southern California’s literary community. Whatever she was doing, books and story-telling ruled her imagination.

Allison always knew that for her, writing is as essential as breathing. But as she pursued her professional life, this great love was consigned to private journals that she filled with musings and story ideas. Ten years ago that changed and she decided to get serious about being a writer.

While continuing to work full time as a lawyer, she kept to a strict writing schedule, took writing classes at UCLA Extension. She joined the Romance Writers of America and Sisters in Crime. Now Allison has completed two novels: a romance entitled The Sweetheart Deal and Fallen Star, a Hollywood gothic.

Allison lives with her husband in a house in the hills that’s filled with books.

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Taming the Rebel
Dawn Klehr
(Endless Summer)
Published by: Entangled Crush
Publication date: August 14th 2017
Genres: Romance, Young Adult

Rebel Hart should be at home taking care of her father after his breakup with his boyfriend, not tromping through the woods at summer camp. He’s had his heart broken beyond repair, and the way she sees it, there’s only one person to blame—the boyfriend’s son. So when that infuriatingly gorgeous quarterback turns up at the same camp, she plans to make him pay.

Justice Brody isn’t happy about trading training camp for actual summer camp. But if he wants to stay on the football team, he has to show that he can be drama-free. He welcomes the anonymity that comes with summer camp…until he realizes the one girl who knows him better than anyone is there, too. Rebel is off-limits, impossibly beautiful…and trouble with a capital T. Still, he can’t stay away. And even as Rebel exacts her revenge, in several very embarrassing and painful ways, neither can she.

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Author Bio:

Dawn Klehr is the author of the young adult thrillers: The Cutting Room Floor and If You Wrong Us.

She began her career in TV news and though she’s been on both sides of the camera, she prefers to lurk behind the lens. Mostly, she loves to get lost in stories –in film, the theater, or on the page – and is a sucker for both the sinister and the sappy. She’s currently channeling her dark side as she works on her next book.

Dawn lives in the Twin Cities with her funny husband, adorable son, and naughty dog.

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Love, Luck, and Clusterf*ck
Bree Dahlia
(Legal #3)
Publication date: August 14th 2017
Genres: Adult, Comedy, Romance

From the author of the Legal series comes a hot and hilarious new STANDALONE.

I met him on the luckiest day of the year.

Of course, I wasn’t aware of his true identity at the time. I only knew him as the arrogant blond god who gave me a shamrock necklace. For luck.

As if I needed it.

Okay, maybe I did. But it was presumptuous of him to assume I wanted his help – all because he made it his business to pry into my personal conversation.

I, Perry Sommers, want a life makeover.

I want to stop being so impulsive and start acting like a grown up.

I want to settle down and have a real relationship, instead of a series of clusterf*cks.

I want to fall in love. Just not with this man.

But love isn’t fair. It doesn’t care if someone is off-limits, and Stephen Davidson definitely is. I can handle that. Our intense chemistry tests me on a near constant basis. I can handle that too.

What I can’t handle is how much I’ve come to need him in my life. I never expected this infuriating hard-ass to become my best friend, but now that he has, I never want to let him go.

I can’t destroy the bond we share, but there is only so much a woman can take before she breaks.

Before she throws it all away for one perfect night.

** This friends to lovers standalone takes place six years before Legal. It does not need to be read in conjunction with the others in the series. **

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—

 

Author Bio:

Bree Dahlia is an unconventional romance junkie. She loves reading it but adores writing it even more. Her stories range from lighthearted to sizzling with that satisfying Happily Ever After ending and a touch of the unexpected. She favors themes of friendship, forgiveness, and unconditional love with alpha characters and eccentric tastes.

She holds degrees that she does nothing with and has experienced a long string of jobs that have left her unfulfilled. Only as an author, has she truly found her passion. When not crafting stories in her small Wisconsin town, she hikes unbeaten trails, watches hockey games, and wishes she didn’t detest cooking so much.

Dahlia is her middle name. Her last name is more suitable for a horror writer.

You can sign up for her new release newsletter at http://eepurl.com/PeU-r

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Beautiful Mess
John Herrick
Publication date: July 30th 2017
Genres: Adult, Romance

A fallen star. Four Los Angeles misfits. And the Marilyn Monroe you only thought you knew.

Del Corwyn is an aging relic. An actor who advanced from errand boy to Academy Award nominee, Del kept company with the elite of Hollywood’s golden era and shared a close friendship with Marilyn Monroe. Today, however, he faces bankruptcy.

Humiliated, Del is forced to downgrade his lifestyle, sell the home he’s long cherished, and fade into a history of forgotten legends—unless he can revive his career. All he needs is one last chance. While searching through memorabilia from his beloved past, Del rediscovers a mysterious envelope, dated 1962, containing an original screenplay by Marilyn Monroe—and proof that she named him its legal guardian.

Del surges to the top of Hollywood’s A-list overnight. But the opportunity to reclaim his fame and fortune brings a choice: Is Del willing to sacrifice newfound love, self-respect and his most cherished friendship to achieve his greatest dream?

A story of warmth, humor and honesty, Beautiful Mess follows one man’s journey toward love and relevance where he least expects it—and proves coming-of-age isn’t just for the young.

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EXCERPT:

“You wrote a screenplay?”

Wide-eyed, Del ran his fingers across the crisp, white paper, a stack of sheets bound together by brass fasteners along its left margin. He was in his early twenties.

“Don’t look so surprised,” Marilyn Monroe replied with a staccato laugh. “I’m a woman of many wonderful traits.” Though thirty-six years old, she took childlike pleasure in his reaction. Innocent. She had exquisite diction, a byproduct of training with Natasha Lytess, her first acting coach.

“When did you write this?”

“During my hiatus, the one I took after we wrapped up production on The Prince and the Showgirl. Arthur and I split our time between New York and Connecticut, and he helped me as I wrote,” she replied, her countenance now matter-of-fact, her voice sultry yet airy. “I believe it was an outlet for him, too. He was so frustrated by that time, wondering about his own future. He believed in me, and I think it helped him believe in himself. So as I wrote the scenes, he gave me advice on how to make the characters richer, more alive.”

They sat together in the living room of her home in Brentwood. “Johnny Angel” played on her phonograph. They were alone in the house.

“This must have taken a long time to write.”

“I had eighteen months before I returned to Hollywood to shoot Some Like It Hot,” she replied. Her gaze fell to the floor, and her voice grew softer. “I’d been through so much by that point. Trying to make my second marriage work. The pain of losing a child…”

As her words drifted, young Del noticed she had waded into the territory of the forlorn. For the past year, she had seemed more prone toward that tendency, and pain filled Del’s heart whenever he watched it emerge. He tried to return her attention to the script, which seemed to make her happy. It was an obvious source of pride for her.

“You never mentioned you’re a writer. Why doesn’t anybody know?”

Her countenance brightened again, and Del felt relieved. She shot him a cunning glare.

“There’s more to me than the reporters know about,” she replied with a wink, wagging a red-polished fingernail at him, ever the mentor. “Here’s an important tip for you: Never tell them everything. Always keep a little secret or two for yourself, something to hold in your heart. Something you can control in this crazy world.”

Del fanned the pages, opening the document at random points to scan snippets of dialogue. What a sense of accomplishment she must have felt! He admired its professional layout, which looked identical to the scripts he’d used on the sets. Del wondered it Marilyn had typed this on the manual typewriter he’d seen Arthur Miller use in their home.

“Is this any good?” Del asked. “I mean, have you shown it to anyone?”

“Only to Arthur, back when we were married.” She giggled in her typical Marilyn manner. “Can you imagine? The great Arthur Miller coaches Marilyn Monroe in literature,” she punctuated with a male reporter’s voice, underscoring it with faux solemnity. “You do know he rewrote the script for Let’s Make Love, don’t you? He said the original was a catastrophe and he wanted to protect me. Wasn’t that sweet? Many people don’t know that. He wrote the script for The Misfits, too. The man certainly knows what he’s doing, if you ask me. Look at Death of a Salesman. Pure genius! Regardless of how our marriage worked out, the man was a brilliant writer.”

Young Del ran his hand across Marilyn’s screenplay again, eager to read it from beginning to end. Maybe they could perform in it together!

Yet he couldn’t ignore a chill that raced up his spine. Why here? Why now?

Author Bio:

John Herrick is the author of From the Dead and 8 Reasons Your Life Matters. A graduate of the University of Missouri—Columbia, readers turn to him as a chronicler of spiritual journey and the human heart. Herrick lives in St. Louis.

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