Every so often, I get this huge craving for ice cream. It doesn’t last long but I never remember that as I’m buying three gallons of ice cream at the grocery store on the day it hits. So then I have three half-opened containers just growing ice crystals in my freezer for the next month or two until the craving comes around again. It’s a vicious cycle. My newest novel, PAIGE TURNED, just released this month and one of the things that came up for my character as I was writing it was the cycle of forgiveness. Paige is faced with a lot of both who she is and the pasts of the people around her. She has to let go of a lot of the expectations she had of herself and her future and she’s put in the position of making a lot of major life decisions because of letting go of those expectations and truly forgiving. It’s so easy to grow up thinking your life will turn out a certain way. But there are so many things about my life that are so much better than what I expected! I always hoped to have kids but being a…

Everyone loves a great deal, right? What if you could have amazing deals, and get a steal of a price (sometimes even free!) on riveting books every single week? Entangled’s Steals & Deals offers you just that opportunity. We offer new release books On Sale, or at the introductory price of just 99¢, and every once in a while, we throw in a free book or novella to keep things interesting. Why do we do this? We believe in loyalty. We’re a small, grassroots company. We started with a vision of offering the best books to readers, all the while doing right by our authors by offering them the best royalty structure possible. So many authors and readers took a chance on us when we were brand new. Now, 3 years and multiple USA TODAY and NY Times bestsellers later, this is one way we’re able to give back to you, the reader. We value you. We know you have myriad reading choices out there. You’re discerning and we want to be the publisher you turn to first for the best books at the best prices. Offering you the chance to try some of our books at great introductory prices…

Fresh Pick for Wednesday, April 16th, 2014 is HARD TIME by Cara McKenna #RomanceWednesday InterMix April 2014 On Sale: April 15, 2014 310 pages ISBN: 1101622016 EAN: 9781101622018 Kindle: B00GY9SK4O e-Book Add to Wish List Romance Contemporary Buy A Copy Amazon.com Kindle BN.com Powell’s Books Indiebound Hard Time by Cara McKenna In this all-new novel from the author of After Hours and Unbound, a woman with a rocky past finds romance in the last place she’d ever expect… Annie Goodhouse doesn’t need to be warned about bad boys; good sense and an abusive ex have given her plenty of reasons to play it safe. But when she steps into her new role as outreach librarian for Cousins Correctional Facility, no amount of good sense can keep her mind—or eyes— off inmate Eric Collier. Eric doesn’t claim to be innocent of the crime that landed him in prison. In fact, he’d do it again if that’s what it took to keep his family safe. Loyalty and force are what he knows. But meeting Annie makes him want to know more. When Eric begins courting Annie through letters, they embark on a reckless, secret romance—a forbidden fantasy that neither imagines could ever…

After eighteen years in a dying town where nothing ever happened, I struck out on my own and ended up living in five different states over the next two decades. And in that time, I never lived in the same house for more than a couple years. But all that changed when I settled near the ocean and finally bought my first home. I guess I just had to find the place that felt like home to me. I wasn’t necessarily looking for it, and neither is my heroine in my latest release HOME TO STAY. In fact, the last thing Willow “Will” Parsons can afford to do is settle in one place. You see, she has a secret. A big one. And that secret is on her tail. But the very remote Anchor Island, at the base of the Outer Banks and accessible only by ferry, gives Will a little breathing room. She’s still ready to leave on a moment’s notice, but the longer she stays, the more she feels at home. And then Randy Navarro works his way into her life and her heart, giving Will an even bigger reason to stick around—the love she never expected to…

Lucky Charms? No. I’m not talking about the cereal, although they are magically delicious. Sugary oats and colorful marshmallows… Num! Sorry, I’m easily distracted by yummy things. I’m talking lucky charms, talisman, totem or symbols. However you wish to classify those things we hold dear. Symbols for love. Symbols for protection. Symbols for luck. We are surrounded by symbols every day, in our relationships, even in our landscapes. We can’t seem to escape them. Everywhere you turn, beliefs and superstitions attached to symbols exist. From the infinite circle of a wedding band that symbolizes the everlasting union of a man and woman, to the four leaf clover that is so elusive, that it ensures good luck for its finder. How many of you remember the lucky rabbit’s foot? Didn’t everyone have one of those? Ugh. I think I just showed my age. It’s not just in the things we hold close, there is also luck and security attached to occurrences. Remember this saying, “Find a penny pick it up and all day long you’ll have good luck.” Or, when was the last time you saw a star shimmering in the sky and made a wish? Sports fans and players are…

Fresh Pick for Tuesday, April 15th, 2014 is WE’LL ALWAYS HAVE PARIS by Jennifer Coburn #WhatsNewTuesday For my own son & daughter! Trips together build memories Sourcebooks April 2014 On Sale: April 8, 2014 400 pages ISBN: 1402288638 EAN: 9781402288630 Kindle: B00HFDVOHI Paperback / e-Book Add to Wish List Non-Fiction Memoir Buy A Copy Amazon.com Kindle BN.com Powell’s Books Indiebound We’ll Always Have Paris by Jennifer Coburn A Mother/Daughter Memoir How her daughter and her passport taught Jennifer to live like there’s no tomorrow Jennifer Coburn has always been terrified of dying young. So she decides to save up and drop everything to travel with her daughter, Katie, on a whirlwind European adventure before it’s too late. Even though her husband can’t join them, even though she’s nervous about the journey, and even though she’s perfectly healthy, Jennifer is determined to jam her daughter’s mental photo album with memories—just in case. From the cafés of Paris to the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Jennifer and Katie take on Europe one city at a time, united by their desire to see the world and spend precious time together. In this heartwarming generational love story, Jennifer reveals how their adventures…

On April 14, Carina Press is publishing six brand-new sports romances. Today Rebecca Crowley is here to tell us about her tennis novel, LOVE IN STRAIGHT SETS. I’ve always been a sucker for the underdog. From cursed losing streaks to teams coming back after bankruptcy to players who are too young or too old, I just don’t have it in me to cheer for the reining champion. Regan Hunter, the tennis-playing heroine of Love in Straight Sets, has been an underdog since the first day she held a racket – which was years after most pro-bound players learn the game. Throughout her career she’s been told she started too late, she has the wrong body type, and the wrong background to play tennis, and she loves nothing more than facing up to all those naysayers and telling them, “yes.” It takes a special kind of hero to see past Regan’s negativity-thickened skin, and it’s not easy for Regan to let him in. But that’s what makes the underdog my favorite – where’s the reward in winning if it was always a sure thing? Do you love an underdog too? Or is it just too hard to resist the winning appeal…

I don’t trust Happy Heroes. They have nowhere to go but down – and guess who is along for the ride? You. Nope, no Heroes brimming with positivity for me, thanks. I’ll keep my broody, slightly introverted thinkers, if you don’t mind. As an author, I have the most fun dissecting those men and figuring out what makes them tick. Very seldom do I have them completely understood when I start writing, so I think the reader takes a ride with me that is authentic. I’ve just been on the same roller coaster ride as them and gotten off with my hair blown back. I like Broody Heroes. A hero who has faced a little adversity in his life, and if he hasn’t, he’s gone out looking for it. Whether it be in law enforcement or on the sports field. Perhaps he’s gone backpacking in Peru or become a Big Brother. Either way, I like a hero who’s seen something in this life and come back from it a different man. He’s not fixed yet, but he thinks he is. He thinks he’s got everything figured out. Then I get to come in and blow that theory to Hell. Shane…

The question I get most often when folks see that like the heroine in my mysteries, I was once a reporter, is “are the stories Nichelle covers in the books based on real life?” Yes and no. I covered murders, fires, child abuse, a serial rapist, and tragedies of every shape and color in the seven years I spent as a full-time journalist before I left the newsroom for full-time motherhood. So far, the books have seen the more fun stories: an abandoned casket, a Houdini catburglar, cowboys and church ladies nearly coming to blows in a girly bar parking lot. Playing in Nichelle’s world is a blast. It has everything I miss, minus the 80-hour weeks away from my family. Bonus: fiction forensics labs can work faster and have bigger budgets, and Nichelle isn’t nearly as afraid of fictional jail as I was of the real thing. Fictional bereaved people are at least a little easier to interview, too. My favorite writing moments are those when shiny ideas pop out of nowhere and braid themselves into a plot. I only love them a little less when they come at 2 a.m. One night last week I woke with a…

Fresh Pick for Monday, April 14th, 2014 is THE ASSASSIN’S HEART by J.A. Kazimer #SuspenseMonday is he there to help or … kill her? Camel Press March 2014 On Sale: March 1, 2014 250 pages ISBN: 1603819754 EAN: 9781603819756 Kindle: B00IIVOGG2 Paperback / e-Book Add to Wish List Romance Suspense Buy A Copy Amazon.com Kindle BN.com Powell’s Books Indiebound The Assassin’s Heart by J.A. Kazimer When CIA assassin Hannah Winslow mistakenly kills the wrong man, she vows never to take another life. Unfortunately Hannah’s superiors believe the killing was intentional. Now Hannah is the target. Hannah always knew it might come to this. Surprising her colleagues, she manages to disappear completely into a new, screamingly dull life, assuming a fake identity, shacking up with an overweight cat, and starting a new career as an ad executive. Hannah’s past finally catches up with her at a company retreat in Hawaii, where her former partner Benjamin Miller has tracked her down. Is it a coincidence that assassination attempts on her life are now as common as rum, suntan lotion, and tiny umbrella drinks? What is the real reason for Ben’s presence? Will he be her savior or her assassin? A deadly, exciting…