NY Times & USA Today Bestselling Author!

Rise of the Billionaire (Book 5 of the Legacy Collection)

Dreaming of Alethea gave Jeremy Kater the strength to survive a difficult childhood. Now that he has influential friends who owe him some big favors, he’s determined to become the kind of man Alethea would be interested in: rich and dangerous. Jeisa Borreto was hired to help Jeremy morph into that man. It’s a job she would enjoy, if it weren’t tearing her heart to pieces.

How can she help him change once she’s realized she’s fallen in love with the man he’s always been?

Hint: Sleeping with him doesn’t help.

The Legacy Collection:
Book 1: Maid for the Billionaire (Free)
Book 2: For Love or Legacy
Book 3: Bedding the Billionaire
Book 4: Saving the Sheikh
Book 5: Rise of the Billionaire
Book 6: Breaching the Billionaire (Coming Fall 2013!)

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Genre – Contemporary Romance

Rating – R

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Connect with Ruth Cardello on Facebook & Twitter

Website http://www.ruthcardello.com/

How to Dress for Your Body Type

The average super model is 5’10”, perfectly proportioned, and impossibly thin. However, if you are like the other 99.99% of the population and not fortunate enough to be blessed with Gisele Bundchen’s physique, you can still look fabulous, stylish and wear the latest trends.

They key is to know your body, and know what looks great on you. With that knowledge you can take almost any style, trend, or silhouette and make it work for you. You don’t need a designer outfit to look great. Even the most expensive outfit in the world won’t look good on you if it doesn’t fit you properly. A simple t-shirt can look great on you if your body fits it right so you have to start understanding what suits your body type as every woman is unique. We all have different curves, flaws and assets. If you learn how to work with yours, the fashion world will become your personal playground and you will never have to dread the dressing room again.

How to Start

To begin your journey to understanding what will flatter you, you must first be brutally honest with yourself. The truth is that most women don’t see what’s really happening with their bodies when they look in the mirror.

Some women see only the negative aspects of themselves in their reflection. Wide hips? Tiny bust? Thick ankles? Perceived flaws such as these are often the only traits women notice when evaluating their bodies.

But there is so much more! For every flaw or imperfection we see, there are always assets we ignore. If you are full figured and curvy you might hate your tummy, but have an incredible bust. Maybe you despise your short legs, and are totally ignoring your long, lean torso.

Don’t focus on the negative! Try writing down your body flaws. For every one you write down, try to find one part of your body you find beautiful. All of those beautiful parts are assets that you will want to remember to play up when it’s time to go shopping.

On the flip side, remember that you are being brutally honest with yourself. Perhaps you have put on some weight in the last couple of years and your tummy isn’t as flat as it once was. Details like this are not something to dwell on, but they also cannot be ignored. Many women refuse to accept parts of their body as they are and try to fit into clothes for the body they want, not the body they have. This will result in ill-fitting outfits that do the opposite of flatter the wearer.

Proportion is the most important element of your body you should be paying attention to when evaluating your shape. In addition to understanding where your problem and asset areas are, look to see the width of your shoulders in comparison to your hips. Are they larger or smaller or around the same size? How much does your waist come in in the middle of the body? Are you long or short waisted? These proportional elements will come into play when you are deciding what body type categorization fits you best.

Whether you can do it by just looking at yourself in the mirror, or you need to get out a tape measure for a reality check, make sure you get a clear picture of your sizes, proportions and shape.

By being honest and observant about your body you are arming yourselves with the power to walk into any shopping environment and feel confident that you will be able to find garments that look and feel great . Knowing your body shape and buying the right clothes that fit you and compliment you will help you look classier, more fashionable and definitely more chic. So if you by the right garment for your body shape, the chances are you will look great, so you don’t need to spend a ton of money buying expensive items of clothing when a $20 tee makes you look just as great as a $80 tee.

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Genre – NonFiction / Beauty & Fashion

Rating – PG

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Connect with Elle Campbell on Twitter & GoodReads

Website http://truefashiontrends.com/

What inspired you to write your first book? My first book “CONTACT” started out as a way of coming to terms with the world after returning from combat physically and emotionally wounded. I was lost, angry, sad, wanted the average person to know what a soldier went through day after day waiting for a stray bullet or an explosive device to shatter their life or end it; wanted families of veterans to understand why their loved ones seemed different, distant, and burdened.

It took 3 years and countless rejections before “CONTACT” was published.  It became a bestseller and was made into an award-winning film. But my inspiration was always the experience with my men and the communities we patrolled and witnessing the strength of the human spirit to survive against all odds.  My motivation was the desire to ensure those lives lost and lives torn apart meant something. Much like vets of Iraq and Afghanistan I wanted those lives to count for something – their voices be heard and not forgotten in the noise of political and religious rhetoric.

Was your second book as successful as your first? No. You see, I made a rookie mistake back then, I did not have another book to follow my first book “CONTACT” quickly enough and so I lost some of the momentum I had gained. When “Collisions” came out it did OK but not nearly as well as it could have.  It’s an important lesson for any author – while you’re basking in the glow of success you need to take your ego, box it up and nail down the lid – then quietly put your head down and get back to work.  The limelight dies quickly but you want your memory to linger and have new works to build a strong base of readers. But setbacks are just an opportunity to learn something new – I spent a few years writing screenplays for Hollywood, but I’ve always preferred novels – and so now I’ve “written my way back” to being a fulltime novelist, writing fiction of many different genres and loving every minute.

Was it easier to write other books after your first book was published? Yes and no.  Yes in that the passion for writing had been ignited and has never been extinguished – I feel more alive, happier, more satisfied when I write than when I don’t. But no, not always easier in that the first book for me came more from instinct without much self-editing initially.  Once you’ve written a book though, the danger is you start to second-guess yourself – you over analyze what you write, question your style, content, whether the pace is right, whether the characters have enough depth, whether there’s enough dramatic tension, intrigue, genuine emotion and so on. So I have to stop that kind of thinking while writing and allow the spontaneity and instinct to take over.

Who or what influenced your writing over the years? Reading great authors, my first editor John Blackwell, the film director Alan Clarke and my family have all been significant influences on my writing. Great authors inspire me with their sheer mastery.  John Blackwell reached into my soul and drew out the writer in me without ever forcing his opinion. The film director Alan Clarke (no relation) brought my first book “Contact” to life on the screen and influenced how I’ve written books and screenplays ever since, by heightening my sensibility to imagery and its emotional effect.  My wife Krystyna has been a huge influence. And it’s not just her tireless editing and valuable feedback in the face of my often loud defensiveness, but her insight into human behavior and willingness to help me understand and face my own demons and human frailties that have enabled me to transfer that sensitivity and insight to my characters and onto the page. Only by facing myself, have I matured as a writer as well.

Do you intend to make writing a career? Absolutely – writing IS my career and I can’t imagine doing anything else.  I certainly don’t want to do anything else, put it that way!  Though one can never know for sure what life has in store just around the corner.  From the time I published my first book, writing has been a significant part of my life, either as a novelist or screenwriter.  I’ve had the ups and downs that all writers have financially, have made tons of money and then had to do other things to put food on the table, but I’ve never given up and now I am truly lucky to be writing fulltime and be making a living at it.  I consider it a career in the sense of it being a life long activity, focus and passion that I aim to develop, expand and master a little more each time I put pen to paper.

What genre do you like writing most? I only write fiction now but I don’t write just one type of genre – my novels are very diverse and I think they reflect my life in general.  I’ve lived all over the world so I’ve immersed myself in different cultures, values and ways of life.  I’ve also had many “lives” – as a bus conductor, soldier, computer programmer, racing car driver, pilot, screenwriter, sailboat captain, father and author.  I’m insatiably curious and never tire of trying new things.

And so I think the way I write is the way I live life – I love to delve into different genre, and use each genre to explore life and ideas from many different perspectives.  So for example, An Unquiet American is provocative political thriller; The Orange Moon Affair the first of a new suspense series; The Book of Baker series are satires which allow me to use humor to say things I could never get away with normally; Dry Tortugas is about the drama and fragility of family relationships; and the “horror” book Collisions explores PTSD and a mind becoming unhinged.  Yet what they all have in common is that they draw on my own experience and emanate from my intense curiosity about and desire to make sense of the world around me.

For me, great books entertain, inspire, inform and expand my sense of possibility. They take me on a wild ride or wonderful journey of imagination – and so if I can achieve just some of that for my own readers then I’m very happy and deeply grateful to them for letting me into their lives.

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Genre – Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Rating – PG

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Connect with AFN Clarke on Facebook & Twitter

Website http://www.afnclarke.com/

An Unquiet American by A.F.N. Clarke
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Were there any other especially interesting characters? Other than Rufus, it was the three supporting characters that propelled the story.

From whose point of view is the story told? Rufus, he is kidnapped and accused of terrorism. As he tries to clear his name, his captors find out that he is no normal captive and this if of course, where the story becomes really interesting.

Were the characters and their problems believable? It most definitely was and like David Icke the author raises some interesting questions about world history and past events.

Disclosure: I received a review copy of this book from the author.

View all my reviews

“My name is Rose,” she said to the air in front of her as they climbed the stairs.

Martin said nothing, his senses too occupied with analyzing the changing surroundings to respond even if he had the inclination. When she turned around suddenly to face him, he almost went for the quick kill punch to the Adam’s apple he automatically used whenever threatened in close quarters. But he pulled back before she even noticed.

“And what’s your name?” she asked in the tone you use for a shy three-year-old.

He felt angry at her patronizing tone. He wasn’t an idiot for Chrissakes. Yet he was shocked to see his anger melt away under her smiling gaze. “I’m Martin,” he replied.

I couldn’t believe it! His real name! What was going on here? I wanted to shake him and say, “Hey wake up!” But I wasn’t there, not all the way. So I kept my mouth shut.

“Hi, Martin,” said Rose, shaking his hand and smiling again. Then she turned with a toss of her short black hair and started up the stairs again.

Martin actually looked at his hand before following her.

As soon as Rose opened her door, Martin’s eyes bugged out in wonder. Had he entered some science-fiction teleporter? A time machine? A Moroccan opium den? She couldn’t have been living here more than a few months, yet every square inch of the walls was covered in exotic draperies, the intricate patterns almost causing him to hallucinate. His eyes scanned across them and down to the floor, which was layered with what looked like big, white, hairy yak-fur rugs on top of Persian carpets. Resting on the rugs and carpets were giant silk-embroidered pillows, so many he wanted to count them, but his eyes lingered on the low table they surrounded. The table was made of black teak and held over a dozen fat beige candles, all lit and dripping into the red dragon inlays carved into the surface.

Fire hazard, he thought, ever the pragmatist. How she could even think of leaving her apartment with so many candles burning? She could burn the whole building down! He would escape, of course, his acute sense of smell alerting him far in advance, but that didn’t mean he shouldn’t snuff them out right now for the risk they represented.

“The sink’s over here,” Rose said brightly, extinguishing his thoughts instead.

She was pointing at a door and he was shocked again to realize that he couldn’t match the floor layout with his own apartment. It must be the same or at least a mirror image. That was one of the things he liked most about apartment living, the predictability of the environment. But everything seemed so different.

“Over here,” she coaxed in a warm, relaxed voice. When he didn’t immediately respond, she took his hand and led him. He looked at her small hand in his and watched in disbelief as his feet started moving, skirting the pillows to follow her. On his way, he paused in front of a thick (couch? mattress? futon?) covered with the silkiest blankets he’d ever seen. Everything seemed so soft, including the translucent curtains draped from a central gathering on the ceiling. They surrounded the bed on all sides like a wispy cocoon.

Rose tugged on his hand again, pulling Martin away from the wonderful cocoon.

On their way, they passed in front of her altar. Martin stopped again, mesmerized by the candlelight illuminating all the gems and minerals. He stroked the large red gem much as Rose had done, not for luck, but for the sheer pleasure of the tactile sensation. It was so beautiful. The candles made it look like it was glowing from within, like it was alive and might respond to his touch with an even greater display of brilliance.

“Nice,” he said appreciatively, crouching down to gaze at it even more intently.

“It’s a bloodstone,” Rose bragged, elated that he was enjoying it as much as she did.

“Rhodochrosite,” Martin corrected her. “Probably from the Sweet Home mine in Alma, Colorado. It’s a fine specimen,” he added, standing up again, “best I’ve ever seen.”

“Thanks.” She beamed, his admiration erasing her frown from his previous comment.

They silently stared at each other for a moment that stretched out far too long until she couldn’t take it anymore and pulled on his hand again. Yes, Martin thought, feeling the same discomfort and needing to get back on firmer ground. The sink.

When they passed through the door, Martin landed with a whump back on the planet. It was like he was in his own apartment again—sink over here, cabinets there, just a normal kitchen—no candles, no rugs, no softness, no nothing! He wanted to run back into that other world...the world on that side of the door. But he stood there dumbly, his mouth open, his head swiveling back and forth between the two rooms.

“I’m not finished,” she said, not sure why she was acting so apologetic. “I blew all my money fixing up the other room.”

Money? All you need is money? Martin thought, not sure why he felt so angry and disappointed. Then he looked at her pretty face and turned his attention back to the sink, grateful for something to do. “It’s not broken, it’s clogged,” he said with characteristic bluntness. “Don’t you have a plunger?”

“I tried.” Rose said with a shrug, holding up the still-dripping implement. Then she added with a wince, “Macaroni and cheese.”

Cute, Martin thought, an unfamiliar warmth invading his chest.

He grabbed the plunger and pounded the drain like a pneumatic drill. The clog was obliterated in eighteen seconds and his anger had almost vanished too, when a fresh new horror caught his eyes.

“Woolite? You use this shit?”

Rose didn’t understand the appalled expression on Martin’s face, wasn’t even quite sure she heard him right. Did he really just make a disparaging remark about her fabric softener? She didn’t have time to ask. He was already out the door, grunting, “I’ll be back,” like you-know-who.

Martin flew down the stairs, unlatched the seven pick-proof locks and the cold-rolled-steel dead bolt and threw the door open so hard the frame almost splintered. He grabbed a jug from his special stock and bounded back up the stairs. Rose was waiting right where he left her. There was something about seeing her lean against that sink that made his cock inflate like a meat balloon. The hard-on was a real surprise for him. Even so, he didn’t pay any attention to it, as usual.

She did. Martin had a really big one. Figures. Why should someone who couldn’t care less if he used it or not get a really big one? The head of his cock pushed its way out the leg of his gym shorts and was still growing down his thigh. Rose knew her mouth had to be open as she watched its progress, but she couldn’t do anything about it. When she looked back at his face, she was even more shocked to see he was completely oblivious to what was happening. Instead, he turned to the sink and thumped down the big plastic jug.

“Here, use this,” he said proudly, handing her the bottle. “This is the good stuff.”

Rose couldn’t decide which was a bigger turn-on…the man standing there with his big huge cock hanging out his shorts like a fat log, or the fact that he was so blissfully unaffected by it. She reached down, grabbed the big fucker in both hands, looked him straight in the eye and said, “No. This is the good stuff.”

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Genre – Paranormal Thriller / Dark Fantasy

Rating – R

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Connect with Richard Long on Facebook & Twitter

Website http://www.thebookofpaul.com/

Lionslayer’s Woman - Nhys Glover

Amazon Kindle US

Amazon Kindle UK

Genre - Historical Romance

Rating - R

5 (1 reviews)

Free until 24 June 2013

A mother and child kidnapped at Imperial command!

Only they can save them…

An Imperial Purge leaves a stoic philosopher dead and his wife and youngest child kidnapped. Galeria, the teacher’s elder daughter and Cyra , her Parthian slave girl, are the only ones who can save them. But their task seems impossible until two men arrive to aid their search.

Nexus once saved his mistress from Vesuvius. But since the death of his lover, he is only half the man he was. Sent to save the family from the emperor’s wrath, he never expected to find love and a reason to live again. But, from the first moment he meets Galeria and agrees to help her, his life has meaning again. And he will do anything to find her mother and keep his new love safe from the fiend who wants her for himself.

Decaneus the Dacian warrior, renamed Leonis after he slew a lion in the Colosseum, has no goal but regaining his freedom. That is, until he meets Cyra. Then her goals become his, as they set out to rescue the child that she loves most in all the world.

Across the Aegean, from Rhodes to Ephesus and Antioch, the couples pit themselves against the might of an emperor, a devious fiend and treacherous slavers, as they race to rescue a mother and daughter from their terrible fate.

What readers say about Nhys Glover’s Roman Historical Romances:

“This is a very good romantic adventure with well-developed characters that held my interest until early into the morning” Lorijay

“I LOVED this book (note the shouty caps). This is a beautifully written novel with strong engaging lead and secondary characters and a gripping story line that kept me in suspense right until the end.” Ereviewer

“Interesting story line full of adventure and romance. Can’t wait for more books by this author. I never thought that the Roman empire was so depraved.” Eda

When and why did you begin writing? I started really “feeling” my writing in late high school and then was actually a little surprised in university that I was getting good marks on essays. That was partly because my best high school grades were actually in math and the sciences. But anyway, I started to find my voice in university and I have been writing ever since, primarily as a journalist.

What inspires you to write and why? In the past I was usually inspired by the issues of the day and wrote editorials on a variety of things but I have been gravitating to human rights, disability, love, and spirituality kinds of things the older I get.

What genre are you most comfortable writing? Personal experience, persuasive pieces… I guess because of my many years writing editorials for newspapers.

What inspired you to write your first book? It was a kind of catharsis. I had dabbled with the story of my life with disability and trauma in the family but it was painful to relive in the writing. Finally, though, I got that first book together. I should have, could have done a few sequels but, again, it’s very painful because in writing it you have to relive it.

Who or what influenced your writing over the years? I have read a lot of Wayne Dyer, Deepak Chopra and similar authors and have always been interested in the meaning of life, valuing life, and accomplishment. Motivational speakers, too, have influenced me a lot.

What made you want to be a writer? I remember early in life being fascinated with books because of all those thousands of words. What wonders would I experience reading all of them; what great things could I learn. Would I not be a better person? And to think that somebody put all those words together… and I thought every person who ever wrote a book had to be a genius.

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Genre – Self-Help / Mental Health

Rating – PG

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