Nancy Lee Badger Presents Author Hallie Alexander

Hallie Alexander is an author with Soul Mate Publishing and her new book is in the genre I love ... Historical romance! Take it away, Hallie! 

Thank you, Nancy. I'm very excited to share my debut with you and your readers. A Widow's Guide to Scandal, released on July 22, is a steamy historical romance set at the beginning of the American Revolution in New York. Scandal is available through Soul Mate Publishing and Amazon. 

It is the first in the series, though I do have a prequel novella available for free to newsletter subscribers. Many years ago, I took a historical walking tour of my town—at the time I lived in Connecticut. One of the Revolutionary Era stories told that day became the inspiration for the battle scene in Scandal.

BLURB:

The first installment in debut author Hallie Alexander’s steamy Sons of Neptune series introduces readers to a band of heroic rebels at the brink of the American Revolution.

 

Henrietta Smith was fifteen when she stole a kiss from Marcus Hardwicke. Over a decade later, she’s still waiting to be kissed back…

 

Henrietta learned the hard way that when you get what you pay for you might end up with a British soldier quartering in your home threatening your friends, an enormous dog tracking mud through your house and stealing the chickens, and Marcus Hardwicke disrupting your uncomplicated life by trying to improve it. And to think she just wanted her roof fixed.

 

Marcus, wickedly handsome carpenter and rebel rogue, fell off Henrietta’s leaking roof. He can’t leave until his broken ankle heals, giving him plenty of time to consider his past mistakes, including Henrietta's indelible kiss from a lifetime ago. But Henrietta could lose more than her home if she doesn’t encrypt British secrets, and the latest puts Marcus in the crosshairs.

EXCERPT:

Henrietta flopped into the chair her uncle vacated. “I need to get married.” Marriage would solve her housing and financial problems and get her far away from Uncle Caldwell.

“Sorry, Hetty Betty. Can’t walk down the aisle right now.” Marcus winked.

The scents of pine and moss filled her nose as the memory of kissing him rushed back. He’d allegedly kissed many girls, his taste running from maids to their charges. He couldn’t possibly have had a reason to reject her. And yet he did. He was a year older than she, twenty-nine now, and never married. She doubted he intended to, not with his charm and chiseled jaw. Why would he want to?

“I didn’t mean you. Someone kind and undemanding. My husband is dead and his family is still controlling me.” Her mouth twitched. “Not that you’re not kind.”

Marcus stared at her like she’d grown another head. “Those are the worst reasons I’ve ever heard for getting married.”

“Can’t be helped. I have no other options.” She picked up her forgotten sewing and worked the needle through the fabric. Both her parents were dead. Her one brother, Caleb, lived in Boston with a prolific wife who popped out a baby Smith annually. There were nine nieces and nephews by now. Nine too many for Henrietta to bear to be around.

“You could go live with one of your friends. Offer to care for their children or grandchildren.”

Henrietta pricked her finger. A bead of blood balled at the tip. She sucked it clean, soothing it. He wouldn’t understand if she told him. “I can’t.” Shame made her duck her head. This was why she needed to marry. She didn’t want to be around anyone well-intentioned, nor did she want to be around anyone cruel. Someone who didn’t invest would be lovely.

UNIVERSAL BUY LINKS

HERE

More About the Author

Hallie’s 2020 debut, A Widow’s Guide to Scandal, published by Soul Mate Publishing, was a finalist in the 2019 Cleveland Rocks Romance Contest. She writes steamy, feminist historical romances set in America. Her feisty heroines become the heroes of their own story as their swoon-worthy partners work to deserve their love. Expect lush history and swoony kisses. And, if there is an element of humor and hijinks, or a fraying in the fabric of the patriarchy? Even better.

 

When Hallie isn’t writing, she enjoys playing with her doodle dogs, cooking with her children, and taking long walks with her husband near their North Carolina home. Connect with her here:

WEBSITE     GOODREADS     BOOKBUB

TWITTER     FACEBOOK     NEWSLETTER

INSTAGRAM    Amazon Author Page

 

Nancy Lee Badger Presents Author Caroline Warfield

I am pleased to present another Soul Mate Publishing author. Please welcome Caroline Warfield and her books, one of which will soon be FREE. Take it away, Caroline!

The Renegade Wife is the first book in my Children of Empire Series. It features a hero who appeared as a small boy in the prequel, A Dangerous Nativity along with boys who are the heroes of the next two books In Children of Empire. It is a historical romance set in 1832, the late Georgian Era just before Victoria took the throne. Released by Soul Mate Publishing 2016, it was a finalist for both the Raven and RONE awards and a top pick at InD’Tale, Readers’ Favorite Reviews, Night Owl Reviews, and The Romance Reviews.

…the characters leap off the page and into the reader’s heart…

The Book

Desperate and afraid, Meggy Blair will do whatever it takes to protect her children. She’d hoped to find sanctuary from her abusive husband with her Ojibwa grandmother, but can’t locate her. When her children fall ill, she seeks shelter in an isolated cabin in Upper Canada. But when the owner unexpectedly returns, he’s furious to find squatters disrupting his self-imposed solitude.

Reclusive businessman Rand Wheatly had good reason to put an ocean between himself and the family that deceived him. He just wants the intrusive woman gone, but it isn’t long before Meggy and the children start breaking down the defensive walls he’s built. But their fragile interlude is shattered when Meggy’s husband appears to claim his children, threatening to have Rand jailed.

The only way for Meggy to protect Rand is to leave him. But when her husband takes her and the children to England, Meggy discovers he’s far more than an abuser; what he’s involved in endangers all their lives. To rescue the woman who has stolen his heart, Rand must follow her and do what he swore he’d never do: reconcile with his aristocratic family and finally uncover the truth behind all the lies. But time is running out for them all.

An Excerpt

She pushed away from the door. “If you’re finished, I’ll clear up your dishes.

“Damn it woman, I fend for myself here.” He looked her up and down. He noticed her deep blue eyes, midnight black hair, and dusky skin. “What are you? Gypsy? Is that where you learned how to diddle a man out of his belongings?”

She drew her back up straight and squared her shoulders. The gesture pulled her dress tight across obviously ample breasts.

There’s a practiced enticement. She’s in for a surprise if she thinks that trick will work on me.

Chin high, she met his eyes without flinching. “My grandmother is Ojibwa, my father was French, and my husband was a Scot. You can despise whichever one of those your English heart chooses, or all of them, but I am not a thief.”

She grabbed her skirt and took a step toward the door. “Do fend for yourself. We’ll leave as soon as we can.”

“I’ll decide when you’re a thief,” he snarled, bringing her to a halt. “It’s my house.” 

Available with Kindle Unlimited and from global Amazon sites. 

It will be 

***FREE***

from August 1 to August 5, 2020

HERE

More About the Author

Award winning author of family centered romance set in the Regency and Victorian eras, Caroline Warfield has been many things: traveler, librarian, poet, raiser of children, bird watcher, Internet and Web services manager, conference speaker, indexer, tech writer, genealogist—even a nun. She reckons she is on at least her third act, happily working in an office surrounded by windows where she lets her characters lead her to adventures in England and the far-flung corners of the British Empire. She nudges them to explore the riskiest territory of all, the human heart. You can find her here:

Website     Amazon Page     Good Reads

Facebook     Twitter     Newsletter

BookBub     YouTube

Nancy Lee Badger Presents Belle Ami

Please again welcome author Belle Ami with her talk about the third book in this amazing series which will be available soon. Take it away, Belle!

Thank you, Nancy, for inviting me to share my new upcoming release in the Out of Time Series on your fabulous blog site. The Girl Who Adored Rembrandt is up for preorder on Amazon Kindle for $.99. This third book in my Amazon #1 bestselling series will publish on September 1, 2020, and join The Girl Who Knew da Vinci and The Girl Who Loved Caravaggio, chronicling the adventures of my psychic art historian, Angela Renatus and her art detective fiancé, Alex Caine. If you love time-travel, romance, thrillers, suspense, women’s fiction, or historical fiction, this is your summer read, or fall, winter, spring read for that matter.

Here’s the blurb for my romantic thriller The Girl Who Adored Rembrandt: 

A frightening premonition of the theft of a priceless Rembrandt family portrait pulls psychic art historian, Angela Renatus, on a hunt to uncover the truth about the masterpiece. Sensing a connection to the great master himself, Angela fears that another of her doomed past lives with her fiancé Alex Caine will reveal itself to her. And with that revelation comes the possible threat of losing Alex in this lifetime.

A former Navy SEAL turned private investigator of stolen art—Alex never backs down from a fight. When the FBI comes calling for Angela’s help to track down the powerful drug lord who masterminded the theft, Alex is determined to keep her safe. Angela is equally determined to unravel her visions about Rembrandt and the stolen painting—haunting visions about a long-buried secret in the Rembrandt family. A secret that could alter the course of her life…

And welcome to the excerpt:

PROLOGUE

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Rozengracht 184

October 12, 1662

 

“How dare those pompous ignoramuses return the painting! What do they know of art? Nothing!” 

Hendrickje Stoffels jumped as a plate flew past her ears, smashing against the wood cabinet. She ran to her daughter, Cornelia, and swept her up in her arms.

“Vader, no,” the weeping child pleaded.  

“It’s all right, Neeltje,” Hendrickje smoothed her daughter’s golden curls over her shoulder and kissed her cheek.

“The pandering vetzaks! Fat bags!” Rembrandt van Rijn raged, his voice shaking the rafters of the house. Neeltje clung to Hendrickje, her legs wrapped tight around her waist. Hendrickje prayed the painter’s venting would appease his temper and curb his assault on her good plates, or soon there would be nothing left to eat on.

She knew well it was better to let the bitter tirade run its course. What bothered her was seeing their eight-year-old daughter frightened to death by her father’s outburst. 

“Those Godverdomme zakkenwassers, their taste is in their klootzakken!”

“Rembrandt, enough! Think of Neeltje!” She covered the child’s ears. Referring to the governors of Amsterdam as goddamn pocket-washers and assholes was not appropriate language for a child, nor was it going to solve the problem. What if Neeltje repeated it in front of a patron? Mijn God, the trouble would certainly rain down on them.

Rembrandt’s mouth clamped shut into a thin line. His hands fisted on his hips, and he glared at her. Her gaze dropped to the floor, where a massive rolled canvas filled the length of the room.

“What has happened?” The realization beginning to dawn on her. 

“What has happened?” he repeated in a furious whisper. “What has happened is those idiots have returned The Oath-Swearing of Claudius Civilis, a painting, as you well know, I worked on for two years! It hung in the Town Hall for two weeks, and now they have sent it back without so much as a guilder for my trouble.”

Hendrickje covered her mouth to hold back the bile that rose in her throat. 

It was a disaster. 

They needed this commission—desperately. “What will you do?”

BUY LINK

AMAZON

More About Belle Ami

#1 Amazon Bestselling author Belle Ami writes intriguing romantic/suspense/thrillers with a touch of sensual heat. A self-confessed news junky, she loves to create cutting-edge stories about politics, espionage, and redemptive love. Her multi award winning Out of Time Series includes:

The Girl Who Knew Da Vinci (Out of Time series book 1)- 2019 RAVEN Award Winner Romance/Suspense and 1^st Runner up RONE Award Audiobook).

The Girl Who Loved Caravaggio is the second book in Belle’s highly acclaimed Out of Time series thriller series with a supernatural twist. Book Excellence Award Winner Mystery, and 2020 RONE finalist, and 2020 RAVEN Award Finalist.

Belle is the author of The Only One Series which includes The One, The One and More and One More Time is Not Enough.

She is also the author of The Tip of the Spear Series, a compelling romantic suspense espionage series which includes the highly rated Escape and Vengeance (2019 Readers’ Favorite Award Gold Medal Winner in Thriller/Espionage. The third book is Ransom & the fourth book Exposed will be published 2020.

Belle is a Kathryn McBride scholar of Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania. Her passions include hiking, boxing, skiing, spinning, cooking and of course, writing.

She lives in Southern California with her husband, two children, a horse named Cindy Crawford, and her brilliant Chihuahua, Giorgio Armani.

Belle loves to hear from readers.

If you are interested in writing an honest review in exchange for a free book, contact her at: belle@belleamiauthor.com 

 

Connect with her here:

BookBub     Amazon     Twitter @BellAmi5

Facebook     Instagram     bellamiauthor.com

 

…and don’t forget to read the 

first two books in this exceptional series! 

 

 

AMAZON 

 

 

AMAZON

Nancy Lee Badger Announces CHRISTMAS IN JULY!

I am celebrating the expanded world-wide availability of my sweet small-town romance, Rescuing Christmas. Once only available in ebook from Amazon, it can now be downloaded from many places. I have also reduced the price just for July.

“Vermont is lovely this time of year, but where is the snow?”

A Manhattan businessman in a Vermont ditch meets a muddy female firefighter. No snow since November might ruin the town’s annual fire department fundraiser. Can Elinor and Bradley stop their squabbling long enough to Rescue Christmas?

Buy Links:

Amazon     Amazon CAN

Amazon UK    Amazon AUS 

Barnes&Noble     KOBO    Apple 

Reg, $4.99  Now $2.99 (US)

As an extra bonus, my military novella

Unwrapping Chris

is HALF PRICE!

Reg. $1.99 Now $.99 (US)

 Army widow Jayne Rockwell searches for a secure future for her and her two daughters. Staff Sergeant Christopher Hawkins regrets leaving young Jayne eight years ago to go off to war. A crash encounter a week before Christmas thrusts these two lonely people back into each other's lives once more. Jayne must learn to trust a man who disappeared with her heart. Chris must overcome the guilt of taking her innocence, and then leaving her heartbroken and alone. A Christmas wedding brings them closer when Jayne spies him as a groomsman in Highland dress, complete with kilt. He cannot keep his eyes off the woman in green velvet wearing a wedding ring. Accusations, explanations, and remorse leads to a love that erupts among candlelight, Christmas carols, and a dark room. Who needs mistletoe?

Find all Buy Links HERE   

Nancy Lee Badger Presents Author Heidi Vanlandingham

Please help me welcome a fellow author with Soul Mate Publishing. Her book intrigued me and I jumped at the chance to host her and her work. Welcome!

Thanks, Nancy. This series has been a long time coming, and I am so thankful and really, really excited about the recent release of The Curse That Binds, my 3rd book published by Soul Mate Publishing. It has been a rollercoaster since last July when book #1, In Mage We Trust came out. I’ve loved working with my editor, Char, who helped me make these books amazing.

Book Blurb

Released from the containment spell trapping her in a diary, Cassia Kallias finds her family embroiled in a war with the egotistical god who spelled her there, but Zeus still covets the power he senses deep within her.

As the demon king, Lucien struggles to contain the chaos spiraling out of control throughout Dark World, but when he accidentally hits the diary of judgments with his demon flame, he releases Cassia from her curse.

Reunited with the daughter she was forced to leave, Cassia must come to grips with all she has lost, accept her growing feelings for Lucien, and learn to control her new powers to defeat Zeus to save Dark World and those she loves.

PG Excerpt 

I couldn’t have stopped the shiver if I’d wanted to. And believe 

me, I didn’t. The man’s sensual fingers stroked down the front of my cover and along my spine like a lover’s caress. The path sizzled and my pages burned in delicious agony. What I wouldn’t give to have my girly bits back.

Oh, my soul. I shuddered. This was the closest I’d been to having an orgasm in . . . I tried to think back to the last time I’d actually had one. I’d just found out I was pregnant. Before I could tell Zander, I received the summons from the Watcher King and ran away . . .

I snorted. Way too long if I can’t remember the last time I had sex.

Come on, do it again, I begged, as his finger rose a few inches, but as it began to lower, so did my hope. No. Not there. Don’t touch the lock—ohhh.

If I had a foot, I would’ve stomped it in frustration. Look Mister, either raise me upright so I can see who you are or touch me in the right spots.

Sadly, he didn’t do either. Instead, I found myself dizzyingly whipped around and shoved into a tight, dark space. Unfortunately, whoever this imbecile was, he put me in backward, and I now faced the room behind him.

My queasiness grew from the person’s side-to-side motion, so I switched my vision off. As horrible dizziness assailed me, I flipped it back on again. I bit back my groan, forgetting no one could hear me. I was thankful I had no stomach contents to upchuck.

Buy Links

Amazon     Amazon UK

Amazon CAN    Amazon AUS 

Soul Mate Publishing 

More About the Author

Heidi Vanlandingham writes sweet, action-packed stories that take place in the Wild West, war-torn Europe, and otherworldly magical realms. Her love of history finds its way into each book, and her characters are lovable, strong, and diverse. Heidi’s stories transport the reader to a different place and time for understanding, compassion, and most of all, love.

Growing up in Oklahoma and living one year in Belgium gave Heidi a unique perspective regarding different cultures. She still lives in Oklahoma with her husband and youngest son. Her oldest son is in the autism spectrum and is working toward his own dreams. Heidi’s favorite things in life are laughter, paranormal romance books, music, and long road trips. Connect with her here:

Facebook    BookBub    GoodReads  

Instagram     Twitter 

Independence Day eBook Sale!

America's Independence Day is a great summertime holiday even though many people will find it a little less 'sparkly' this year. 

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many states are under different phases of quarantine and many cities have canceled all festivities.

NO FIREWORKS?

 

So, I am having a SALE on all of my Opportunity Falls series ebooks, and each and every one has its own sparks! 

Now only $.99 (US)

These contemporary romance novels are only available at this reduced price until July 8th and feature the 1st book in the series...

Find Buy Links for

KOBO & more  HERE

AMAZON

Find Book #2 Buy Links

for KOBO and more HERE

AMAZON

Find all Book #3 Buy Links

for KOBO and more HERE

AMAZON

Find all Book #4 Buy Links

for KOBO and more HERE

AMAZON

Happy Independence Day to all  my American readers!

Nancy Lee Badger

Nancy Lee Badger Presents Author Ray Smith

Ray Smith contacted me all the way from the West Coast about his book and I was intrigued from the title alone! I enjoy sharing the work of other romance authors, so please take it away, Ray!

Thank you, Nancy, for offering a space on your excellent blog for my love story.  The Magnolia That Bloomed Unseen was published in eBook and more recently (January 2020) in print by Upon the Sea Books. They are available on Amazon.  I describe the novel below:

Book Blurb

“You’ve seen the woman in the photo. The woman screaming . . .”

So begins the story of Molly Valle, who at forty-eight thinks she knows all that life has to offer a single, middle-aged woman—namely, men’s dismissal and disrespect. But when handsome activist John Pressman arrives in her Mississippi hometown, he challenges her self-doubt along with nearly everything else in her world. Soon, Molly discovers a strength and beauty she never knew she had—and a love so powerful, it can overcome the most tragic of consequences.

The Magnolia That Bloomed Unseen is a love story, an adventure novel, and a self-realization journey. It reignites the truth that many women—and men—have unconsciously extinguished: you are special and worthy of love, and it’s never too late to make your dreams come true.

Excerpt from The Magnolia That Bloomed Unseen

So, so unfair, she had thought, how short that magical moment was, not even a quarter of the average woman’s lifespan. Her twentyish—or, worse, her teenage—self had been so naïve. To have assumed the spotlight would always be there, forever, like in a fairy tale. At thirty-five, she thought she had finally figured out what it meant to be a woman, and it was a return to the invisibility of prepubescent girlhood while remaining in a grown body and with a grown body’s responsibilities. Such was a woman’s life and fate.

Now, at forty-eight years of age, Molly realized her thirty-five-year-old self had been wrong. Staggeringly wrong. No, the spotlight had always been there—was indeed shining on her as she drove—and it would always be there. Her teenage and twentyish selves had been right, but they hadn’t understood how they’d been right.

The spotlight hadn’t dimmed as Molly aged but had changed its glow instead. It had grown more intense with each new experience, had become more personalized and distinguished. It was no longer the bland whitish light of youth, a light dictated by a ceaselessly shallow society and therefore able to be seen by everyone in such a society. No, hers at present was a spotlight with highly individualized rays that could no longer be seen by most men simply because most men’s eyes weren’t good enough to see them.

As she drove, she surprised herself with a sudden laugh. How blind, infinitely blind, she had been to think that men’s inability to see her forty-eight-year-old self was a regret or, worse, a failing on her own part. No, what it really was was a blessing, for that inability had separated the wheat from the chaff.

Buy Links

Amazon    Amazon UK    Amazon CA

Amazon AU    Amazon PRINT   Goodreads

More About the Author

Ray Smith lives in Los Angeles and is working on another book. Connect with him here:    WEBSITE