Love, Jealousy, Rage Wicked Wednesday by Lori Matsourani

WICKED WEDNESDAY

Hey readers! Join me in welcoming Lori Matsourani to Wicked Wednesday on Discover... Murder and Ghosts with a dash of Romance makes for a great Wicked Wednesday. And read to the bottom for a Goodreads giveaway!

Do we ever know who’s really capable of murder? Is it the thug with the tattooed face who despises rival gang members? The distraught father, furious with the sadistic husband who abuses beloved daughter? Or the ex-lover, angry at the new man who replaces him in the bedroom?

Rage and jealousy have existed since the beginning of time. Especially when stemming from the desire for a woman. It’s conceivable these emotions can transcend the passage of time... and perhaps, corporeal existence. After all, can love, jealousy, or rage ever be erased?

Not for eighteenth-century plantation owner Samuel Watts, the husband of beautiful Ariella. His jealousy cost him the love of his life. His rage demanded an even higher price: his own life. And despair over his loss condemned his forlorn spirit to roam his plantation home on Maryland’s Eastern Shore for centuries. Until he encounters Bethany Hendren, a love-wary guest in his house (now a B&B known as Horatio House).

Samuel reaches out to Bethany for help in unraveling the outcome of his fight with Frederick Howard, the man with wicked intentions regarding Samuel’s wife. The details are hazy, and Samuel wonders if murder was involved. His ghostly intrusion leads Bethany to reluctantly join forces with Nick Dorsey—the first boy she ever loved and the first one to break her heart—and help Samuel with his quest. As Bethany and Nick follow Samuel’s clues, sparks from their long-ago romance start to flare, but Bethany shuns the idea of reigniting the flame. Nick ghosted her years ago, and she can’t bring herself to trust him with her heart. But it’s Samuel’s revelations about relationships and trust that encourage her to open up to the possibility of love and happiness with Nick.

And what about Samuel? Can he use his wisdom in matters of the heart to find his own peace? Or is he doomed to continue roaming the halls of Horatio House as a bereaved spirit for eternity, which would be a wicked shame.

 

Blurb:

When her fiancé’s infidelity prompts Bethany Hendren to map out a new path forward, her plans are disrupted by an unexpected encounter with Nick Dorsey, who convinces her to help search for the remains of a troubled eighteenth-century ghost. Nick is the handsome summer boyfriend who ghosted her years ago, and now he wants to rekindle their relationship.

Despite her reluctance to trust him, Bethany discovers he’s still the funny, caring person who captured her heart as a teen, but giving him a second chance is risky—it could lead to love and happiness or result in another devastating heartache.

Although Bethany wants a happily ever after with Nick, does she have the courage to trust him with her future?

 

Excerpt:

He opened the door and motioned her inside the large room. A vintage wrought-iron bed, as well as a nightstand with a tray of wine, cheeses, and stemware, occupied the wall on her left. An enormous stone fireplace, with an antique painting of a woman mounted over the mantel, dominated the opposite side of the room.

Nick studied the portrait as he set down the suitcase, then peered at Bethany. “Oh, wow. You look just like her.”

The woman, dressed in eighteenth-century garments, appeared to be about Bethany’s age. They had the same oval face, narrow nose, chestnut-brown hair, and caramel eyes.

“I see the likeness,” Bethany said. “Who is she?”

“One of the Worthingtons. I’m sure Aunt Margaret knows her name.”

She stepped closer to study the centuries-old canvas and encountered a cold spot in the room. A shiver coursed through her. “Is this room always so chilly?”

He frowned. “Not usually. I’ll check the thermostat.”

Bethany hoisted her suitcase onto the bed, impatient to end this unwelcome encounter with Nick. Then, without thinking, she pivoted away from the mattress and almost collided with him. He threw out his hands to steady her, his face inches away as his fingers clutched her upper arms. His dark eyes locked on hers.

“I turned up the heat.” He maintained his grasp and her breath caught as she stared back, captivated by the richness of his almost-black irises.

“Thank you.”

“And there’s something else.”

“What’s that?” Her heart pounded, sending a rush of blood to her ears. She couldn’t look away. Was he going to apologize? Explain why he’d ghosted her after that summer?

“Even though the family completely redid the inside and outside of the house, the ghost still haunts this place.”

That’s what he wants to tell me?

With a sigh, she shook off his grip and stepped out of his reach, disappointed in him for dodging the chance to explain what happened back then and frustrated with herself for letting him get to her. She’d conquered her feelings for him a decade ago and was determined to squelch any residual heart flutters.

“If you’re trying to spook me, it’s not going to work.”

 

Buy Links:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F9XCPLYD/thewildrosepr-20

Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/p/books/ghosted-lori-matsourani/22722837?ean=9781509262540&next=t&affiliate=114419

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/ghosted-lori-matsourani/1147463084?ean=2940184606941

Books A Million: https://www.booksamillion.com/p/9781509262540

Apple: https://books.apple.com/us/book/ghosted/id6746414091

 

Bio:

Lori Matsourani is a romance addict. Give her stories with a touch of heartbreak and a spark of joy, and she’s happy. Throw in characters with a huge helping of heart and soul, and she’s up reading all night in romance heaven! While currently a Texas resident, Lori grew up near Baltimore and often draws on the historical flavor of Annapolis and Maryland’s Eastern Shore to inspire her story settings. She authored her first fiction story at twelve and has been hooked on writing ever since. Early on, her writing career focused on articles for magazines and newspapers before shifting to her first writing love—fiction. For Lori, connecting words to tell a story is like assembling a jigsaw puzzle, and she loves the challenge of creating every piece.

Social media links:

Website: https://lorimatsourani.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lori.matsourani.author/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lori.matsourani/

 

Goodreads Giveaway: Runs from August 1 to August 30

https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/418301-ghosted

From Lawyer to Film to Crime Novels by Arthur Coburn

MUSE MONDAY

Join me in welcoming Arthur Coburn. His is a fascinating story. 

Tell me, Arthur, how did you go from law to film to novels? You obviously found your Muse.

After graduating from Harvard Law School, I quit my law firm job the day I passed the bar. And worked in film in Seattle. I moved to Los Angeles and became a film editor. After working in various capacities in film, I found I could translate what I knew into writing fiction novels. I also learned the advantage of being willing to fail. I used to try lots of solutions, discarding the ones that didn't work and improving the ones that did. I learned to trim down scenes to a fighting weight. In Murder in Concrete, I used much of what I learned in film. This story takes place on a low budget zombie thriller movie set in Barstow, California.

Let's hear about your book, Murder in Concrete.

A small-town murder unravels a teenage girl’s life as she tries to discover who is responsible for killing her mother and learns that everything she thought she knew might be an illusion. 

Charlie Purdue was just another small-town teenage girl until she discovered her mother’s dead body at home after school. All signs point to her father, who has disappeared, but his cryptic final words to Charlie have always left her wondering. When she spots him in a film months later, she’s shaken to her core and dead set on going to Los Angeles to find him and unearth the truth of what really happened that horrible day. 

What follows is a gripping odyssey through the underbelly of LA’s film industry, where everything Charlie thought she knew about her life is suddenly, and shockingly, brought into question. 

AMAZON BUY LINK

Arthur Coburn grew up in New Jersey, went to Dartmouth College and Harvard Law School, passed the Washington bar, exam spent two years in the U.S. Infantry as a first Lieutenant, and survived a three-year law career, before bailing out and landing a job for King Screen Productions, a filmmaking Division of the KING Broadcasting Company in Seattle. His first assignment there was to make a chart of all the proposals for peace in Vietnam.  He progressed to directing commercials, industrials and documentaries; later to writing educational film scripts for the same company. When the division closed, he worked as a freelance writer doing environmental impact statements, and as a freelance still photographer. He has written five novels: Murder in Concrete (published in 2024) Murder in Madrona (currently in revision); and several awaiting care and review: Boys Will Be Boys, Mostly (general fiction),  Rough Cut (a thriller).

ARTHUR'S AUTHOR PAGE ON AMAZON

Dogs and Coffee: Full of Hope by Neil C. Plakcy

MUSE MONDAY

Please welcome Neil Plakcy to Muse Monday on Discover... He's sharing his spot today with Betty Martinez, the owner of The Smiling Dog Cafe. Neil has a wonderful series full of hope and doggies and coffee. All three of which are my favorite things. Today is release day for the third book in his series, Grounds for Hope. I have it cued on my reader and can't wait to dive in. Meanwhile, enjoy Betty's delightful lesson on coffee...

Betty’s Guide to Coffee Beans
A Smiling Dog Café offering
 

Welcome, Friend.

There's a reason you're holding this guide right now. Perhaps you're looking for a deeper understanding of the coffee you drink each morning. Maybe you're searching for that perfect cup that brings comfort on difficult days. 

Whatever brought you to these pages, welcome. I'm Betty Martinez, owner of the Smiling Dog Café in Brooklyn, and I believe that coffee, like healing, is both science and art. It requires precision and patience, but also intuition and heart. 

In my thirty years as a grief counselor before opening the café, I learned that people need different things at different moments. The same is true of coffee. Sometimes we need the bright clarity of a light roast to help us face new beginnings. Other times, we need the deep comfort of a dark roast to hold us through difficult nights. 

This guide focuses on coffee beans - their origins, characteristics, and the stories they carry within them. The beans are just the beginning of our journey together, but they're the foundation upon which every meaningful cup is built. 

Understanding Coffee Beans: The Heart of Every Cup

Coffee beans aren't really beans at all. They're the seeds of coffee cherries, fruits that grow on small trees in specific regions around the world. Like people, these seeds carry the legacy of their origins - the soil that nourished them, the rainfall that quenched their thirst, the sunlight that warmed them through seasons of growth. 

When we roast these seeds, we're helping them transform their stored potential into something that can nourish others. The heat reveals qualities that were always present but hidden, brings forward notes of chocolate or fruit or spice that tell the story of where they came from and how they grew. 

Every coffee bean carries its own particular wisdom. Learning to listen to what each one has to tell us is part of the journey toward that perfect cup - the one that speaks directly to you, in your own language of comfort and joy. 

In Colombia, I met Dona Clemencia, who told me, "You already know the most important thing—that coffee is medicine for the soul before it is anything else." 

When I asked what she meant, Doña Clemencia invited us into her modest home, where she prepared coffee using a method I'd only seen my grandmother use—cloth filtered, with a patience that modern brewing rarely allows. The kitchen filled with an aroma so complex it seemed to have its own vocabulary. 

"In Colombia," she explained, "we say that coffee has memory. It remembers the soil, the rain, the hands that picked it. And when we drink it mindfully, it helps us remember too—not just the painful things we try to forget, but also the joyful things we shouldn't." 

The Colombian beans I brought home from that trip—particularly those from high-altitude farms in Huila and Nariño—carried complex notes of red fruit, chocolate, and a pleasant nuttiness with a clean, bright acidity. But their true value lay in what they taught us about healing. Not the American model of "getting over" grief, but the Colombian understanding that some griefs remain with us forever, becoming integrated into who we are, like the flavor of the soil becomes part of the coffee bean. 

I discovered that Colombian coffees seemed particularly effective for people struggling with transitions—those caught between past and future, between pain and possibility. The beans' balance of brightness and depth mirrored what we were learning about healing: that acknowledgment of darkness makes the light more appreciable, not less.

The finest Colombian coffees still carry that perfect tension between acidic brightness and comforting warmth—a reminder that healing doesn't mean forgetting, but finding balance between remembering and moving forward. 

When I brew Colombian beans at the café, especially for someone navigating life's thresholds—graduation, career change, relationship endings—I think of Doña Clemencia's weathered hands, showing us that nurturing growth requires both tenderness and strength. 

These memories infuse the coffee I serve, invisible but present, like the altitude and rainfall that shaped the beans themselves. This is what I learned in Colombia: that coffee, at its best, is not just a beverage but a bridge—between past and present, between cultures, between people seeking to understand each other across the chasms of different experiences. 

Selecting Your Coffee Beans

When choosing coffee beans, consider what you're seeking in this moment: 

For Mornings of New Beginnings

Reach for lighter roasts from Ethiopia or Kenya, where bright, citrusy notes can help you greet the day with clarity and purpose. These coffees awaken the senses and remind us that each day offers fresh possibilities. 

For Thoughtful Afternoons

Medium roasts from Colombia or Costa Rica provide the perfect balance for contemplative moments. Their harmonious flavors create space for reflection without demanding too much attention.

 For Evenings of Comfort

A medium-dark Guatemalan or a sweet Brazilian offers warmth and grounding as the day winds down. Their gentle sweetness soothes without overwhelming. 

For Moments of Transformation

A dark Sumatran or robust Vietnamese coffee can accompany you through times of intense change. Their bold presence reminds you of your own strength even as you transform. 

 A word from Neil:

You are always welcome at The Smiling Dog Café, down a Brooklyn side street, where the coffee’s brewing, and the dogs are waiting to help you with your own healing process. To read the stories that have come before you, you can find The Smiling Dog Café, The Bridge Between Us, and our newest offering, Grounds for Hope, available on Monday, August 4, 2025. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F4Z5VHTC

GROUNDS FOR HOPE:  At a quiet Brooklyn café watched over by painted dogs and warmed by just the right cup of coffee, two teenagers arrive—lost, hurting, and unsure where to turn next.

In this deeply compassionate third entry in the Smiling Dog Café series—fully enjoyable as a standalone—author Neil S. Plakcy shares two powerful novellas about grief, resilience, and the unexpected ways we find our way home.

In Grounds for Hope, Miguel is alone on the streets after his father is deported back to their violence-plagued homeland. Cold, hungry, and nearly out of hope, he’s led to the café by a mysterious pit bull named Baxter—and taken in by Betty, the wise café owner whose coffee and compassion help restore his sense of safety and purpose.

In Finding Grace, Tanya is reeling after her mother’s decision to walk away from their life to “find herself.” Angry and unmoored, Tanya is gently nudged toward the café by Kiyomi, a calm, three-legged Samoyed—and slowly begins to rediscover her strength, her voice, and her path forward.

This tender volume celebrates how healing begins—in community, through ritual and memory, and with the quiet guidance of a dog who always knows exactly who needs help next.

Come in from the cold. The coffee’s brewing, and the dogs are waiting.

AMAZON BUY LINK

I’m proud that since the first book was released in January, we have already garnered nearly 200 four- and five-star reviews from satisfied customers. 

Neil S. Plakcy is the author of over 70 novels in mystery, romance, adventure and healing fiction. His website is www.mahubooks.com.

Book Catalogs to Complete Your Summer

Stock up your readers up for the rest of the year...or at least long enough for those cooler autumn days to descend. These catalogs have some great offerings to get you through the last dregs of summer.

Kids are starting back to school. Get your new readers into some great chapter books! 

Click the photo to be taken to the catalog

Romantic Suspense in this August Catalog that is also Kindle Unlimited.

 

 
Click the photo to be taken to the catalog

How about a Romantic Escape in this Catalog of Books...oh, yeah, find your next Book Boyfriend

                                                Click the photo to be taken to the catalog

Cozy and Sweet...the Perfect Combination for Some Great Reads!

Click the photo to be taken to the catalog

Life's Adventures: Trips and Trauma

This summer has been a real mixed bag of highs and lows. 

On the high side, one of my books was chosen for a BookBub Featured Deal. Now that was a trip. I've tried numerous times, but they only let 20% of the submission pay the outrageous price for the one day ad. The thing is, that one day equals lots of exposure. This is the book: The Art of Love and Murder, Wild Horse Peaks book 1 

On the low side, our granddaughter is preteen and not inclined to spend a week with us on her summer break. 

On the high side, she loves spending time with us in general so we snatched her for a day of fun in Phoenix. 

And another high side, is she and I had a girl day of shopping and laziing around a hotel that night. 

We talked and laughed so much.

On the low side, FDW had to schedule numerous medical appointments for an upcoming surgery.

On the high side, we managed a trip for a hotel stay and dinner at a very fun place in Scottsdale. This interactive dinner show has locations all over the U.S. I recommend them. Kind of pricy, the food is good, and the
show is fun. 

You get to cheer for your knight in armor too! Ours won.

On the high side, got my trip to Prescott for a chocolate martini with my sister to celebrate her birthday.

On the low side, FDW's shoulder replacement surgery was a miserable day. We were the first ones in at 6 a.m. and the last ones out at 4:00 p.m. Little things like the bloc didn't take so the pain was off the charts when he woke up. They shot him up with opioids which he has reactions to. They finally gave him a second bloc which took. But about the time he was relaxing with less pain, the opioid reactions set in and he was sick. 

On the high side, the reactions passed. The surgeon said the new shoulder looks great. All went well. So...all will be great in a few months.

On the low side, since his right arm is out of commission, I am doing all those things he normally does around here. Wow! Do I need this guy.

On the high side, my exhaustion and grumpiness is temporary. We're heading into the last day of summer. If you haven't heard...I HATE SUMMER. But yes, it is on the way out.

And...the 4th book in the Chocolate Martini Sisters Mystery books is up for preorder (eBook) and print is available now. We're told it's the best one yet!  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FK3P31T5

Books, Books, and More Books

Stock your readers up for the rest of the year. These catalogs have some great offerings...

A New Catalog of Amateur Sleuths
and Cozy Mysteries
You'll Not Want To Miss Opening in July

 

Click the photo to be taken to the catalog

 

 

Kindle Unlimited Romantic Suspense for You
in This July Catalog of Books

 
Click the photo to be taken to the catalog



Mystery, Thriller, & Suspense free books in this July Catalog of Books



Click the photo to be taken to the catalog

Fearless Adventures by M. S. Spencer

Please welcome M. S. Spencer to Fearless Friday on Discover...What fun she's had. 

Let’s see, adventures. I’ve had so many it would be impossible to choose just one. I’m not sure my childhood adventures qualify since I kind of went along for the ride—things like flying one of the first passenger planes to Europe, then going halfway around the world to Turkey, or taking the Queen Mary across the Atlantic to live in Paris, or tea with Barbara Hutton in Tangier.

Living in Egypt had its share of events. It was just before the October 1973 war broke out and foreigners weren’t permitted anywhere but tourist sites. We had taken the train to Luxor (the Temples of Karnak) and slept through our stop. Terrified we’d be thrown into an Egyptian jail, we huddled on the platform. Suddenly a delegation of the village elders appeared, greeted us like celebrities (they loved Americans) and made sure we got to Luxor safely.  Another heart clutching moment came at customs when I returned from Egypt with a suitcase full of spices. Swarmed by agents, they led me to a windowless room. The agent asked me to identify what was in each package. I gulped and began. Halfway through my mind went blank. I stared at the agent with panicky eyes. “I…I…” He said calmly, “Cardamom. Next?” I realized he knew exactly what I had and was just toying with me.

While working for the Bureau of Reclamation, I flew a Cessna down the Colorado River, stopping at every dam. Despite severe claustrophobia I managed to crawl through the bowels of the Hoover Dam on an inspection tour.

I thought the Mayan city of Chichen Itza was the coolest place in the Americas until I went to Peru. The research station deep in the Amazon jungle was the setting for my book  Orion’s Foot: Myth, Mystery, and Romance in the Amazon. I swam with pink dolphins and fished for piranha, watched the smallest primates on earth cavort in the trees, and the largest rodents on earth, capybaras, graze at my feet. One of our group of four touched a plant and her fingers stuck together. Our guide took his razor-sharp machete and split the two digits without spilling a drop of blood! 

But probably the most dangerous thing I ever did was walk down Amsterdam Avenue on the upper west side of Manhattan in my bare feet.

I’m excited to announce the release of my new mystery, Railroad Ties: the Marmion Grove Murders.

Blurb

When Sophie Childress discovers a letter written in 1920 by the witness to a murder, she enlists Noah Pennyman—owner of the house where it took place—to investigate. Who was the victim? What did the killer do with the body—not to mention a carpetbag full of money? Together they expose a complex web of family ties and lies that has persisted through four generations in the historic village of Marmion Grove. When two more corpses are unearthed, Noah and Sophie are faced with too many victims and not enough murderers.

Railroad Ties: the Marmion Grove Murders

Mystery, cozy

The Wild Rose Press, June 11, 2025

390 pp; 89,900 words

Buy link: Books2Read: https://books2read.com/railroadties/ 

About the Author

Librarian, anthropologist, Congressional aide, speechwriter, nonprofit director—M. S. Spencer has lived or traveled in five of the seven continents.  She has published eighteen romantic suspense and mystery novels. She currently divides her time between the Florida and Maine. 

Social media links:

Blog: https://msspencertalespinner.blogspot.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/msspencermysteries

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/msspencerauthor

GoodReads: http://www.goodreads.com/msspencer
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/msspencerauthor/

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/m-s-spencer

Shepherd: https://shepherd.com/search/author/21204

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B002ZOEUC8

The Outlawed Realm Continues with Tina Donahue

MUSE MONDAY

Tina Donahue has a new release. Stolen Desire is the fourth book in the series Outlawed Realm, and she's here today to share it with you. This series is Erotic Urban Fantasy Romance, but we're sharing some PG teasers. Enjoy!

Blurb: 

One touch is never enough.

Her freedom depends on one man. A criminal to his realm…

 

One minute, Paige Ross is outside a Seattle bar, grieving a failed engagement. The next, she jerks awake in a weird, candlelit room with velvet walls, black silk sheets, and a man who motions for silence.

 

Paige has little choice but to trust the powerful stranger who promises a way out of what looks like Satan’s brothel. And pray his promise to keep her safe is as real as the heat burning in his eyes.

 

Banished from E2’s ruling elite for supposed crimes against the realm, Zekin risks everything to rescue those brought to E5 for the guards’ carnal pleasure. Paige will be leaving this inhospitable realm of fire and ice—if he can somehow forget the way she melts in his arms.

 

Safe—temporarily—in an underwater world populated by strange creatures, Paige’s sexual awakening explodes into an unquenchable need that consumes them both. But the guards will be looking for her. And Zekin’s plan to send her home is a dangerous journey she cannot—will not—take without him. 

EXCERPT:

Thick gray clouds rolled above them, heavy with more snow. A sliver of bluish-white light poured through a gap in the cloud cover, as though the moon were trying to bleed through. Its rays swept across the land, which shimmered in the frail glow, sparkling like thousands of diamonds. The effect lasted only a moment, and then the light receded, with shadows once again taking over the hostile terrain.

As though that worried him, Zekin increased his already fast pace, pausing only once to shove her clothing into a snowdrift, burying it.

Why?

Paige wasn’t able to ask. She struggled to keep up, gulping air. It should have been icy, hurting her throat, but wasn’t. The transparent mask no doubt heated it. How was that possible? Desperate for answers, she cried out, “Where are we going?”

Zekin looked over. “A colony where you’ll be safe.”

Paige dug her fingers into his hand. “Where are we? What is this place?”

“E5.”

What in the hell was that? A government installation where scientists conducted classified studies and had pleasure slaves on the side? That made absolutely no—

Wait a sec. Suddenly, Paige recalled Zekin mentioning E1 when he’d first come into her room.

“I’ll do all I can to bring you back to E1,” he’d promised her then.

Instinctively, she held back. Just as quickly, Zekin yanked her forward.

“Don’t fight me,” he warned, “or you’ll end up like the others you saw outside the guards’ outpost.”

Paige shivered so badly, her voice shook. “Did those bastards throw the bodies out there after they murdered those people?”

“Only some. The others they pushed out there to die.”

“Why?”

“They weren’t useful any longer.” Again, he glanced over. “When one of the guards found you and brought you here, they got rid of the other woman. That’s what they do when they tire of females from your realm, or the pleasure slaves they haven’t already killed.”

Paige was about to pepper him with more questions. Instead, her mind snagged on one word—realm.

“You mean country?” Maybe she’d been wrong about his nationality. It wasn’t Greek or Middle-Eastern but Russian. Could be this was Siberia. In a weird sort of way, that made sense. “Is that what you meant—my country? The USA? America?”

He regarded the landscape past her. “We have to hurry before the other guards return and see us.”

Paige couldn’t imagine how that was possible. The material covering them was the same tint as their surroundings, making them virtually invisible…unless the guards had some kind of special eyewear, like night-vision goggles, that allowed them to see what the naked eye couldn’t. “How far is the colony?”

“Past that body of water.” He gestured toward what appeared to be an enormous frozen lake ringed by drifts.

As Paige scanned the area beyond it, searching for some sort of building, a flock of birds flew over the lake. At least she thought they were birds. Their thick feathers were an ashy white, their wingspans enormous, like nothing she’d ever seen.

They flew in an odd formation, not the usual V pattern, but in a perfect circle. Paige couldn’t help but stare at the phenomenon. How in the world did they do—

A thunderous crackling sound interrupted her thoughts, and the again screeching wind.

She flinched. Zekin released her hand and moved in front, his body pushing hers back, shielding Paige as something shattered the ice from beneath the center of the lake. Within seconds, a creature pushed through, hurling its milky body upward. The waves that followed it froze instantly in the raw air, the ends of the water curled over like a fine crystal sculpture. As massive as a blue whale, the creature surged from the lake, a horn protruding from its snout, no doubt what pierced the ice. With blinding speed, it penetrated the circle made by the birdlike creatures.

Shrieking wildly, they scattered, but it did no good. The whale-like thing swung its monstrous head back and forth, gulping several of the creatures before gravity pulled it back down to the water. A thin sheet of ice formed instantly, hiding its exit. Harsh winds toppled the frozen waves as easily as if they’d been a house of cards, then pushed them against the snowdrifts, returning the scene to the relative calm of a few minutes before as though none of the carnage had occurred.

Paige continued to hyperventilate. What kind of fucking nightmare had she stumbled into? Was it possible she’d been drugged and was hallucinating? If not… Aw crap, she didn’t want to think about that.

AMAZON: https://www.amazon.com/Stolen-Desire-Outlawed-Realm-Book-ebook/dp/B0F9LP3TFZ/

You might want to start with the first book in the series, although you can read them as standalones.

UNENDING DESIRE

BOOK ONE – OUTLAWED REALM

Erotic Urban Fantasy Romance 

AMAZON: https://tinyurl.com/2p8t73s

 

Blurb: 

His hunger for one woman will make him a traitor to his world…

 

From a portal in his lab on E2, one of the five dimensions of Earth, quantum physicist Nikoli Zorr gazes on everything forbidden to him. Passion. Desire. The exquisite pleasure of running his hands over the lush curves of a young woman he should have stopped watching weeks ago.

 

His duty is to close the portals that keep the monsters out of E2—and never interfere with the inevitable fate of those on the other side. Yet he can’t bring himself to abandon the woman who has captured his soul.

 

Psychologist Regina Page is trying to focus on her client, and off the mysterious, unbearable sexual cravings that consume her when she’s alone in her bedroom. The next moment she’s attacked by vampires, then swept into another realm by Nikoli, a stranger whose touch awakens that same raw desire. Whose eyes are already filled with farewell.

 

Yet beneath their undeniable carnal lust, something else stirs. The beginnings of illicit love. The unexpected need to protect him. Even if it means risking body, blood, and soul to defeat the merciless horde…for a future that was never meant to be.

About Tina: 

Tina’s an Amazon and international bestselling novelist who writes passionate romance for every taste – ‘heat with heart’ – for traditional publishers and indie. Booklist, Publisher’s Weekly, Romantic Times and numerous online sites have praised her work. She’s won Readers’ Choice Awards, was named a finalist in the EPIC competition, received a Book of the Year award, The Golden Nib Award, awards of merit in the RWA Holt Medallion competitions, and second place in the NEC RWA contests. She’s featured in the Novel & Short Story Writer’s Market. Before penning romances, she worked at a major Hollywood production company in Story Direction. 

On a less serious note: she’s an admitted and unrepentant chocoholic, brakes for Mexican restaurants, and has been known to moan like Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally while wolfing down tostadas. She’s flown a single-engine airplane (freaking scary), rewired an old house using an ‘electricity for dummies’ book, and is horribly shy despite the hot romances she writes. 

MeWe: https://mewe.com/i/tinadonahue

Bluesky: @tinadonauthor.bsky.social

Website/Blog: https://tinadonahuebooks.blogspot.com/

Newsletter: https://tinadonahuebooks.blogspot.com/p/newsletter.html

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/tina-donahue

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/146988.Tina_Donahue

Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/tinadonahue

Amazon author page: https://amzn.to/1ChWFkO

Sweet ‘n Sexy Divas: https://sweetnsexydivas.blogspot.com/

Wattpad: https://www.wattpad.com/user/AuthorTinaDonahue