Hi everyone! Julie Ann Walker here celebrating summer with my newest release, FUEL FOR FIRE With the sun high in the sky, your toes in the sand (hopefully), and a cold drink in your hand (naturally), it’s time to kick back and enjoy some rockin’ romantic suspense. Have I got just the thing. FUEL FOR FIRE has it all. Sass, snark, suspense, steamy hot lovin’, and all the sexy shenanigans that fans have come to know and love about my bestselling Black Knights Inc. series. Don’t believe me? Read on for a taste of FUEL FOR FIRE and the whirlwind that is CIA agent Chelsea Duvall and BKI bada$$ Dagan Zoelner! “There must be a better way to get this job done.” Dagan Zoelner noted his own thunderous expression in the mirror hanging on the wall near the front door before returning his attention to Chelsea, sullenly eyeing her when she leaned close to her reflection to apply lipstick in a shade that could only be described as take-me-big-boy pink. When she blew a kiss at him in the mirror, a coiling awareness tightened his gut. Then she turned and gifted him with a look that would have made a…

Excerpt of LORD OF LIES She pivoted in place and strode toward Dell as he stood leaning against the back of the sofa, his ankles crossed in front of him in a deceptively casual stance. His muscles tensed when she stopped all too close for his peace of mind to stare at him with her sharp, fixed gaze. “I need to be certain she is not still in some sort of trouble. I must be assured she is safe.” Instinct urged him to refuse. One thing he had learned was that when people spied on loved ones, they often discovered things they were better off not knowing. Still, there were only a couple of things he would never agree to do regardless of the profit. Outright murder was one. Harming a child was the other. Beyond those two rules, he was willing to do anything as long as it paid right. He had spied, stolen, threat­ened vile consequences to get what he needed, and infiltrated gangs and crime rings. He had used physical force to make a point and to save his own hide, and had occasionally been forced to do things he was not particularly proud of. But it…

Excerpt from THE OUTLAW Arizona Territory, Spring 1883 Amanda Porterfield gazed out the window of her bedroom at the endless landscape where cattle grazed and wildflowers were in full bloom and where she had spent the entire twenty years of her life so far. Even with all this natural beauty surrounding her, she was quite sure she would go stark raving mad unless something exciting happened to break the sheer monotony of her days here on the ranch. Practically everyone else in her family had found love or at least adventure, but here she sat with no prospects—either romantic, adventurous, or preferably both—in sight. She heard her mother and the family’s housekeeper, Juanita, talking as they sat in the courtyard and she decided to join them.  “I think I’ll go into town,” she announced after pouring herself a cup of coffee and flopping into a high-backed chair. “That’s a good idea,” her mother replied, setting aside her mending. “I’ll come with you.” Amanda swallowed a sigh. The point had been for her to be off on her own. If adventure did not find her, then perhaps she needed to go seeking it. But with her mother along for the ride,…

I’ve seen your eyebrows quirk when I tell you I write fantasy. That little twitch of the brow is enough to alert me to your inner-realist. You want books that you can relate to, you think. Not a bunch of dragons and wizards and faeries. That stuff is for kids. You require grown up fiction. Happily, I’ve converted quite a few nonbelievers like yourself. From grandparents that have never picked up a fantasy book, to hard-core historical romance buffs, The Tethered World Chronicles have made some unexpected fans. Fantasy themes, you see, are not so different from our everyday issues. In fact, they often bring the bottom line into sharper focus due to the larger-than-life contrasts of the characters and setting. For your consideration, I’ve collected my top five reasons to read fantasy. I hope you’ll test my assertions for yourself! I’d love to know if you ever read fantasy (and if so, what’s your favorite book?). If you don’t read fantasy, what’s holding you back? One lucky commenter will receive an ebook of THE TETHERED WORLD to jump into right away. Fantasy reflects our own flawed humanity on a grander scale. Some fantasy books include humans, others have entirely…

I have been happily married to the same man for almost 21 years (I was a child bride…no really…well, I acted like a child) and I love him more than chocolate. We have three beautiful daughters and we still have fun just taking a drive together. That being said, if Johnny Rzeznik (lead singer of the Goo Goo Dolls) showed up on my doorstep, all bets are off. In all fairness, my husband has a series of TV girlfriends who would make him forget he was married, so we’re even.  As kind of a joke we came up with the idea of a once in a lifetime freebie. What is a freebie you ask? Here is how we define it: A freebie cannot be anyone we actually know, like it can’t be my hot college roommate or the cute cop in town. This is only a one shot deal. You get one freebie and that’s it. If it is ever used, it will never be mentioned again—that was for me, I know myself and I’d throw it in his face every time I got mad at him. “Why don’t you ask (___insert hot chick of the month here___) to iron…

Eloisa’s publisher is happily sharing the first three chapters of Wilde in Love! But it’s only available for a limited time, until June 29. It’s super easy to claim—and Team Eloisa wants you to know that they think Eloisa’s written her most amazing hero yet! Read an excerpt before the reviewers get ahold of it! WILDE IN LOVE by Eloisa James Wildes of Lindow Castle Lord Alaric Wilde, son of the Duke of Lindow, is the most celebrated man in England, revered for his dangerous adventures and rakish good looks. Arriving home from years abroad, he has no idea of his own celebrity until his boat is met by mobs of screaming ladies. Alaric escapes to his father’s castle, but just as he grasps that he’s not only famous but notorious, he encounters the very private, very witty, Miss Willa Ffynche. Willa presents the façade of a serene young lady to the world. Her love of books and bawdy jokes is purely for the delight of her intimate friends. She wants nothing to do with a man whose private life is splashed over every newspaper. Alaric has never met a woman he wanted for his own . . . until…

It feels like yesterday that Samantha Chase released A SKY FULL OF STARS, but as we all know there is always another book on the horizon. Yes, we have to wait until February for her next Shaughnessy Brothers book, ONE MORE PROMISE (out February, 2018), but as a little treat, Samantha wants to share the cover with us today!   Ambitious Paige Walters is ecstatic when she’s hired to recruit musicians for a literacy campaign—it’s her chance to prove she’s got the chops to make it in the family business. She rolls up her sleeves and gets ready to make this the best campaign ever. Fallen idol Dylan Anders catches wind of the project and thinks it’d be the perfect way to redeem himself. Paige is less than thrilled that Dylan is using the cause for his personal gain—and she makes it clear. But as the campaign has them working side by side, their attraction grows. And so do their challenges… Pre-order ONE MORE PROMISE: Amazon.com | Kindle | BN.com | Powell’s Books | Books-A-Million | Indiebound | Ripped Bodice | Amazon CA | Amazon UK | Amazon DE | Amazon FR

Who loves to travel and see new places? Even though I am a home body—I love nothing more than curling up on a cold afternoon in winter with a mug of coffee, and a book or my kindle in hand—losing myself in new worlds, we also do a lot of travelling around researching settings for my books.  Even in summertime down under, you will often find me (when I am not writing or researching) swinging in my hammock with an icy glass of something beside me. But always, always with a story in front of me. I love reading, and wish I had more time to indulge, but new stories and new places beckon. But even though I love being home—being a Cancerian, home and hearth is very important to me—we hit the road each winter, and head off exploring settings and doing research for my stories. I’ve written contemporary romance, romantic suspense, and I’ve dipped my toe into historical and paranormal stories as well over the past six years since I began writing. My writing world is a place I love to be and I hope you enjoy visiting and seeing what I’m currently researching and writing, as well…

In my mid-twenties, I had a group of friends that got together every Friday night for wine tasting.  Sounds like a fairly mundane thing to do, particularly week after week. However, what made this group different was every tasting was blind. The guy who organized these get-togethers would typically choose ten wines, and put them in paper bags. Some weeks we’d know the theme of the tasting—he might ask everyone to bring a bottle of syrah, for example. Other weeks it was a complete mystery. He’d give us tasting sheets, some would make notes, some didn’t care, and at the end of the evening, we’d see what we tasted, and talk about the wines. This was my introduction to wine tasting. Over the course of the years I became a certified executive sommelier, which is the second tier, similar in experience to an executive chef. My husband and I also owned a wine bar. As any writer who has attended any workshop, or even read a book on writing, has heard, write what you know. Thus, my newest series, Butler Ranch, is set on the central coast of California, one of my favorite wine regions—and was hugely inspired by those…

Coming to you from Down Under. The great southern land. The sunburnt country. The—actually, that’s plenty of that. Jess Anastasi here and today I’m talking about what Australia has done for the world of heroes. Like many authors, I love nothing more than “researching” for inspiration when working on my latest book and deciding what my hero is going to be like. Now, we all know the Hemsworth brothers have a made a big impact on Hollywood, but I’m a TV show addict, and today I’m listing my top five favorite Aussie heroes of the small screen. Bob Morely aka Bellamy Blake  Like many Aussie actors, Bob Morley got his start on the long running Australian soap, Home and Away. I’ve personally never watched the show, even though it’s been on TV as long as I can remember. Morely has certainly cemented his abilities as an actor in playing Bellamy Blake on The 100, which started out as a teen drama on the CW (though in its 4th season, I think it’s grown beyond that now). Bellamy has faced a lot, has had to make hard choices and tried to protect a sister who didn’t want protecting. Morely gives the…