If you’ve been following me anywhere on social media, you’ve no doubt see me tease about a project I’ve been working on with my writing bestie, Ellis Leigh. We are launching a brand new pen name on May 2nd, and today is the cover reveal for our debut! WHEEEEEE! Daddy’s Best Friend is the first in the Temperance Falls series and launches a world of naughty fantasies and taboo romances set on a small island in one of the Great Lakes.

She’s temptation personified

Nathan had always been more than just my dad’s friend. I never thought he’d see me as an adult, especially not after avoiding me for so long. But one hug, one moment feeling every inch of him against me, shattered that illusion. Consequences no longer mattered—I was eighteen, and I was willing to risk everything for my shot with him.

He’s not going to resist anymore

I never should’ve seen Eve as more than my best friend’s daughter. As a cop, I knew it was wrong. It was my job to protect her from guys like me. Chasing her could cost me my career—not to mention the only family I’d ever known—but I couldn’t hold back another second. One taste, and I wanted her. To hell with the fallout.

Amazon US | Amazon CA | Amazon UK | Amazon AU | Goodreads

In celebration of our upcoming release, we’re doing a giveaway for a $25 Amazon gift card! Go HERE to enter. 

London Hale is the combined pen name of writing besties Ellis Leigh and Brighton Walsh. Between them, they’ve published more than thirty books in the contemporary romance, paranormal romance, and romantic suspense genres. Ellis is a USA Today bestselling author who loves coffee, thinks green Skittles are the best, and prefers to stay in every weekend. Brighton is multi-published with Berkley, St. Martin’s Press, and Carina Press. She hates coffee, thinks green Skittles are the work of the devil, and has never heard of a party she didn’t want to attend. Don’t ask how they became such good friends or work so well together—they still haven’t figured it out themselves.

Sign up for the Temperance Falls Gazette to get up to date information on all things happening on the island!

More London: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Reader Group | Pinterest | Instagram

A few of you may be aware that I’ve been working on the final novella in the Reluctant Hearts series for a while. Well, surpriiiiiiise! That book is done and can be in your hot little hands in six days. Our Love Unhinged features the couple of the wedding that was mentioned—though never named—in the epilogue in Paige in Progress and releases 8/20!

To help with my surprise release, I recruited some amazing blogs to help me reveal the cover (and the couple!) in a series of posts leading up to the final reveal which will happen on 8/20 over on Heroes & Heartbreakers. Each day, another piece of the cover puzzle will be released, as well as small excerpts from the book, until the final piece is revealed, along with the identity of the couple. If you’d like to follow along as the cover is revealed, the schedule is as follows:

8/14:

Stuck in Books
Kimberly Faye Reads

8/15:

BCS Reviews
We So Nerdy

8/16:

The Irish Banana

8/17:

Adventures of a Book Junkie
Prisoners of Print

8/18:

Four Chicks Flipping Pages
The Book Hookup

8/19:

Fiction Fare
Lovin Los Libros

8/20:

Heroes & Heartbreakers

What a week, she says as she starfishes on the bed.

In case you missed the news, you know, since I didn’t post about it here, CAGED IN WINTER dropped out of the publishing skies and floated down to bookstores all over the land on Tuesday. I may or may not have visited three stores since then (*cough* the WI Barnes & Noble stores in Racine and Brookfield, as well as the Deerfield, IL store all have signed copies *cough*). I’ve had friends sending me pictures of them spotting it in the wild, and it hasn’t gotten old yet. So if you see it out, snap a pic and send it to me on Twitter/FB/Instagram!

With release week comes a whole mess of social media brouhaha. There’s a blog tour going on right now, and there are excerpts and original posts and character interviews and giveaways going on all over the place! As such, I wanted to list them all here so you don’t miss out on them. And, I’ll be honest, it’s handy for me to have them all in one place.

Guest post on Heroes & Heartbreakers about sexual euphemisms
Character interview with Winter, Tessa, Haley (and a surprise appearance from Cade) on The Book Hookup
Character interview with Cade on The Irish Banana Review
Cade’s OKCupid dating profile on Fic Fare
Cade & Winter’s top dream dates on Adventures of a Book Junkie
Interview on HEA USA Today
Interview on No BS Book Reviews
Exclusive excerpt on The Rock Stars of Romance
Web show with yours truly on  Whiskey, Wine & Writing
Q&A on Harlequin Junkie
Q&A on Books Over Boys
Q&A on BCS Reviews
Q&A on Viviana Enchantress of Books
Exclusive giveaway on Bad Girlz Write

I’m pretty sure every single one of those has a giveaway attached to it, so if you’re into free stuff, go take a peek!

Besides running around like a chicken with my head cut off over release week, I’ve also just finished first pass pages for CAPTIVE (due out March 2015), completed drafting EXPOSED (the follow-up to CAPTIVE, due out summer 2015), and am now working on content edits for TESSA EVER AFTER (due out March 2015), the follow-up to CAGED IN WINTER. To say it’s been a busy couple of weeks is like saying Niagara Falls is a trickle.

I am looking forward to taking a small break once these edits are done and doing the things I’ve been neglecting for the last five weeks. I never thought I’d be so excited to clean out my e-mail, but seeing those multiple pages in gmail has me all twitchy. I did take some time on Wednesday last week to go and get a tattoo to celebrate the release, and I’m in looooooove!

In between all the drafting/editing/release week craziness, I’ve also started up a reader group over on Facebook. So far, I’ve mostly just shared pictures of dudes who are the inspiration for upcoming heroes and posted excerpts. That’s where I will post all news first, so if you like to tease your friends that you know something before they do, well. This is the place for you.

I also sent out my first newsletter ever! (See, I told you I wouldn’t spam you.) One lucky reader won a signed copy of CAGED IN WINTER, so if you’re not signed up yet, I’ll just leave this right here.

Now I must dive back into TESSA EVER AFTER. Anyone waiting for that diddy? While I’m doing my read-through, I’ll be posting some snippets in my reader group. Js js js…

It’s hard to believe that CAGED IN WINTER will be released into the world a week from today. Much like with the birthdays of children, the release of this book both feels like it’s taken forever to get here, and also that it was just yesterday I’d gotten the offer from Berkley (it’s actually be a year, almost to the date!).

I’ve been in crazy-drafting mode, trying to finish up EXPOSED, the follow up to next year’s CAPTIVE, so I haven’t been consumed by all things pre-release. It’s both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because I’m not getting so wrapped up in it, but a curse because ALL THE THINGS are happening at once!

A week is so close, but for those of you waiting patiently for the release, I know it feels like foreverrrrrrrrrrr. As such, how about a little excerpt to tide you over?

A slow smile spreads across his face, his eyes dancing. There’s nothing sweet about his expression. It’s the look of a predator capturing his prey. And as much as the idea rankles me, I can’t ignore the flare of excitement that grows low in my belly, the awareness he makes me feel in my body.

Everything about him is larger than life. His size, most notably, but there are other things I didn’t pick up on before when the only illumination we had was the moon and passing streetlamps. But here, under the harsh track lights of the bus, everything is accentuated. He’s imposing, even sitting there, his back curled as he leans toward me. His face looks like it was carved from stone, the angles of his jaw and cheekbones sharp and unforgiving. I feel like his shoulders are twice the width of mine, at least, though I know that’s not possible. Probably. His arms are massive, roped with muscle and completely covered in ink. I’d seen hints of tattoos before . . . pieces here and there, but this . . . This is more than I anticipated. Designs cover both forearms, disappearing into the short sleeves of the shirt wrapped tightly around the bulk of his biceps, tiny whispers peeking out of the neckline.

I wonder where they stop. If they stop.

“I guess it’s my lucky day then.”

And his voice . . . low and deep and rumbly and so perfectly matched to the rest of him. I glance down once again at the name he’s had permanently etched on him. The idea that someone—a girl—means enough to him to have her name forever branded into his skin is foreign to me. I can’t imagine that kind of love . . . that kind of commitment. Not after the examples I’ve had in my life. The low hum of disappointment in my stomach at him being taken is a completely unwelcome sensation.

Meeting his eyes, I recall what he said and ask, “Why’s that?”

He stares at me for a beat, his smile growing even more until his entire face lights up with it. “You just agreed to dinner.”

I sit back in my seat, brow furrowed. “Um, no I didn’t. What I said was I don’t do committed guys.”

“Right. And then you said, ‘Too bad, I was going to say yes.’ And you should know . . . this?” He runs a finger over the flowing letters that make up the girl’s name on his arm. “Is my niece, not my girlfriend. That?” He points to the date. “Her birthday, not an anniversary.”

I open my mouth to say something, anything, but nothing comes out. And then his hand is under my chin, coaxing my jaw up until my lips are no longer parted. With a single finger, he makes a path down the side of my neck, over my shoulder, down my arm to my wrist before he grabs my hand, and I swear to God, I’m on fire. Every nerve ending in my body is setting off a CODE-RED alarm, and I’m helpless to stop it. His thumb rubs back and forth on the inside of my wrist, his touch gentle and reverent, and I can’t remember the last time someone’s touched me so sweetly.

And I realize with clarity it’s because I’ve never been touched this way.

When I meet his eyes again, they are open and honest and beseeching.

“So. What time can I pick you up?”

To celebrate the release of CAGED IN WINTER, I’m doing a little giveaway! I’ve got a NOOK Simple Touch Reader and two paperback copies of my backlist titles, PLUS ONE and SEASON OF SECOND CHANCES. Both these titles are e-only, and won’t be available ever in paperback form. Fortunately, I have a few copies that I’d love to share with you!

The giveaway will go through release day (11/4), is for readers 18+ and is open to US only! There will be three winners in total, and I’ll announce them next week on the blog.
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