Release Day Launch: Under the Spotlight (The Jamieson Collection #3) by Angie Stanton

We’re having a release day launch for Angie Stanton’s Under the Spotlight! I am so excited about this young adult romance!! Angie is sharing an excerpt and fantastic giveaway with us, so be sure to check out all the festivities!

Under the Spotlight (The Jamieson Collection #3)

by Angie Stanton

Publisher: HarperTeen

Release date: May 5th 2015

Age: YA

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Synopsis:

After an embarrassing stint on a reality TV music competition years ago, Riley Parks vowed never to sing again. Now she's working at the prestigious Sound Sync recording studio and life is looking up. But then Garrett Jamieson, the oldest brother in the famous band Jamieson, crashes into her world.

Garrett has hit rock bottom and is desperate to reinvent himself. After calling in a few favors, he ends up working at Sound Sync Studio to learn the ropes of record producing. And he can't believe his luck when he discovers that Rilely is an amazing singer. But Garrett is forced to use every trick in his arsenal to persuade Riley to record.

Sparks fly as Garrett finally meets his match. Dealing with the feisty redhead ranges from frustrating to thrilling, and in the heat of the moment, one stolen kiss changes everything.

Read my review for Rock and a Hard Place (The Jamieson Collection #1) by Angie Stanton

Read my review for Snapshot (The Jamieson Collection #2) by Angie Stanton

Chapter 1

Garrett’s head pounded, and not from the hangover that would greet him with the sunrise, but from being slammed against the wall. Or maybe it was from the few punches that came later when he crashed to the floor of Ye Ole Boston Brew Pub and knocked his head on the beer-stained tile.

He rubbed his unshaven face, and dried blood flaked into his hand. Great. He needed a shower and an aspirin, but the Boston city jail offered neither. Where the hell was Peter? It had been over an hour.

The sharp edge of the narrow bench he lay on cut into his back, making his already battered body even more sore. He only hoped the other guy felt worse. The jerk had the audacity to call him washed up. For Christ’s sake, he was only twenty-two. He’d accomplished more in the last five years than that asshole would in a lifetime.

Reaching for his phone, he remembered the cops had taken it, along with his wallet and keys. Damn it.

“Garrett Jamieson,” a bored cop with thinning hair announced, unlocking the cell. “You’re free to go.”

“About damn time,” Garrett huffed, rising slowly. He tugged his shirt into place, smoothed back his hair, and followed the officer down a long corridor past several cells with other perps. He couldn’t wait to get away from this hellhole. The officer opened a solid metal security door, and Garrett walked through, relieved to be free.

In the far corner of the waiting room, studying the Most Wanted posters, his brother waited, wearing faded jeans and a gray T-shirt.

“Hey Peter,” he called. “See anyone you know?”

Peter turned with a smirk on his face and his hair still ruffled from bed. “Just checking to make sure your ugly mug isn’t up here.”

Garrett sneered. “It wasn’t my fault.”

“Never is.” Peter sighed. “You realize this is becoming an annoying habit. You’re lucky your Jag is still in the shop from your crash last week, otherwise you might have added drunk driving to your record.”

“Stop acting like an old woman.”

“You have more to worry about than me. Dad isn’t going to be happy about this.”

“No reason Dad needs to hear about it.”

“You’re kidding yourself if you think you can keep this under wraps. A couple of photographers are outside. You’re busted. Again.”

Garrett stepped to the counter and signed his discharge papers.

“At least I know how to live a little. You’re tied down to a ball and chain.”

His brother grinned with a smile that melted millions of young girls’ hearts. “Well, I happen to have the hottest ball and chain on the planet.”

Garrett rolled his eyes as he collected his personal effects. Peter was so in love it made Garrett ill. It’s not like he wasn’t glad for his brother, but Peter and Libby were so damned happy all the time, he wanted to puke.

“Yeah, and you’re missing out on the best years of your life,” Garrett snapped.

“How’s that? I’ve been watching you drink yourself into oblivion, rack up speeding tickets, and pick a fight every chance you get. You don’t look too happy to me.”

“You ever think that maybe you’re to blame?”

“How do you figure that?” Peter asked, opening the door to exit the police station and ducking his head as cameras flashed.

“Seriously?” Garrett stopped suddenly. “You’re the one who broke up the band.” 

Angie Stanton never planned on writing books, she wanted to be a Rockette. However, growing up in a rural setting with her brothers' 4-H pigs as pets, dance didn't work out. Instead she became an avid daydreamer. After years of perfecting stories in her head she began to write them down and the rest is history.

She loves dipping french fries in chocolate shakes, natural disaster movies and Broadway Musicals. When not writing, Angie is concocting ways to make more dreams come true, whether it be tickets to a Broadway show or convincing her family they should rent an RV and travel the country. She's still working on that one.

Angie is a proud double finalist of the 2011 National Readers Choice Awards for Love 'em or Leave 'em, as well as a finalist for the Golden Quill Awards.

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FINNClub Exclusive Excerpt: Blurred Lines (Out of Line #5) by Jen McLaughlin

Blurred Lines by Jen McLaughlin will be releasing January 26th, but first we have some exclusive content to share. FINNClub team members will be sharing special details from the book this week, in order to share their excitement for the new novel.

Today we have the first chapter from Blurred Lines.

Blurred Lines (Out of Line #5)

by Jen McLaughlin

Release Date: January 26th 2015

Synopsis:

Once burned…

Finding my fiancée naked on my couch might’ve been a good thing, if her ex-boyfriend hadn’t been with her. For the past eight years I’ve been a witness to the power of true love, but after getting burned I’d decided there wasn’t any hope for me finding it for myself. Until I met Noelle Brandt in a hotel bar. Maybe it wasn’t the most romantic meeting, but the moment I met her I knew I had to have her. The more I learn about her, the more I know I’ll do whatever it takes to keep her.

Twice shy…

I’d already found the love of my life, but I’d lost that love forever. And I’d been lost ever since. But one night a wounded man makes all of that go away. He makes me laugh, live, and feel alive. When he tells me he has no intention of letting me go, I finally begin to believe in the power of true love again. That is, until I find out who he really is…and by then, it’s far too late to correct the mistakes we’ve already made. By the time we both know the truth, the lines have already been blurred beyond recognition.

The first three books you can also find them in The Out Of Line set

Read my review for Out Of Mind

Chapter One

- Riley -

I parked my car in the driveway and just sat there, staring up at the house I shared with my fiancée, Sarah. It was dark outside, and somewhere in the distance, a dog barked. It sounded pissed as hell, but that wasn’t why I didn’t get out of the car. It wasn’t why I was sitting here, feeling empty as hell and just as lost. The truth was, I wasn’t going inside because I knew my fiancée wasn’t in there alone. I’d seen the car parked down the road, conveniently hidden behind large shrubbery. If I was any other man, it might have worked. I might not have noticed it when I drove by on my way to my next meeting. But I’d know that fucking car anywhere. It was Sarah’s ex-boss’s car. The same one she’d once dated. When we’d met, they’d been freshly split up. He’d broken her heart, and she’d sworn him off forever. We’d dated a suitable amount of time before getting engaged. My parents had liked her, and so had I. It had been an arranged marriage of sorts, but in my circles, that wasn’t such a strange thing. Our fathers were political affiliates. We were expected to marry. Once upon a time, I’d hoped to have more. I’d hoped to have the kind of love that consumed your soul. I still hadn’t found it. So, I’d asked Sarah to marry me. She’d said yes. I’d thought she loved me. I’d been fairly certain I would grow to love her. But if she really loved me… Why the hell was her ex-boyfriend’s car outside my house? Slowly, I opened my car door and made my way up the driveway. My heart thudded in my ears, and I knew what I’d find when I opened that door. There was no doubt my fiancée was naked and having sex with another man. And yet, I went inside anyway. The door creaked when it opened, and I froze, half expecting to hear frantic shouting and retreating footsteps. Nothing moved. I crept inside the rest of the way, leaving the front door open. As I walked, I found a man’s sweater on the floor. I stepped on it. Another step and I scored a pair of men’s pants and a skirt. There was no doubt anymore, if there ever had been, that my fiancée was cheating on me. I didn’t need to go any farther. I had confirmation. But still… I kept going. For some reason, I needed to see it with my own eyes to believe it. I’d truly believed Sarah was an honest woman. One who wouldn’t sleep with someone behind my back. I’d thought she would be a good partner for life. A trustworthy one. I reached the couch. The couch I’d picked out. Sarah was kneeling between her ex’s feet. She was naked, and so was her ex. The man’s bare ass was on my fucking couch. I didn’t know what upset me more: that, or the fact that she was giving the dude a BJ. She never did that with me. Said it was undignified. So was fucking a dude on my couch. And, yes, I knew that the fact that those two things bothered me just as much as the actual betrayal did was fucked up. But I hadn’t loved her. I’d wanted to… But I didn’t really know what real love felt like. Fisting my hands, I cleared my throat. “I’m home early.” Sarah shrieked and flew to her feet, grabbing the throw blanket off the arm of my couch and covering her body with it. Which was absurd, really. We’d both seen her naked before, obviously. The man also stood, grabbing a pillow and covering his half-hard dick with it. “You can keep that now,” I said drily, not taking my eyes off Sarah. She was pale and shaking. I forced myself to remain calm. To act as if this hadn’t completely taken me off guard, even if it hadn’t broken me like it should have. “So, I take it the engagement is off, then?” “Riley, I’m so sorry.” Tears streamed down her cheeks. “I didn’t want you to see this…” “Obviously,” I said. “Cheaters rarely do.” She shook her head, her blonde hair flying everywhere. “No. I’m not a cheater. I just—” “Seriously?” I threw my arms out. “If this isn’t cheating, what the hell do you call it?” Her cheeks flushed. “I love him, Riley. Really love him.” I froze then, absorbing the knowledge that she’d felt the same way about me that I felt about her—and I hadn’t even known it. I’d naïvely thought she actually loved me, instead of just, well, accepting me as a suitable partner. How had I missed that? “I thought you loved me,” I said softly, scratching my head. “I didn’t know…” “I do.” She came up to me, resting her hand on my heart. The same hand that had been cupping another man’s balls moments before. That skeeved me out, so I stepped back from her touch. “I love you, Riley.” “But you’re not in love with me,” I said, swallowing hard. I might not love her till my dying breath, but the reality of what was happening hit me pretty hard. We were together for three fucking years, and it was over now. We’d just mailed the wedding invitations out last week. And she’d been fucking him. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, tears falling down her cheeks. I had no doubt she was. She was always a nice person, which was why this came as such a shock. I never suspected this of her. Hell, we’d made love last night, and she’d spent half an hour talking about wedding dresses and centerpieces. I locked eyes with her bright green ones. “When did this start?” “Riley…” “When?” She crumbled. “A week ago.” The dude finally spoke up. He took a step forward. “Look, man, I’m sorry, but—” Without thinking, I cocked my fist back and punched him right in the fucking face. He’d broken her heart, and now he was going to do it again. She might think he’d changed, but any man who would fuck another man’s fiancée on his own couch was not a changed man. He was scum, pure and simple. And she’d fallen for him again. “Don’t speak to me,” I snarled. I went after him, even though he stumbled backward and tripped over a fallen pillow. “Don’t you ever fucking—” “Riley, don’t!” Sarah called out, sobbing. “Please. Don’t hurt him.” I fisted my hands, my breathing coming out harsh. She’d cheated on me with this lowlife, and she was worried I’d hurt him? I whirled on her. “If you loved me, even if you weren’t in love with me, you wouldn’t have done this, Sarah. Not to me.” She covered her face and cried. “I’m sorry.” “Yeah.” I shook my head. “You made a big mistake, Sarah. I would have treated you right. I never would have…never…I wouldn’t have done this.” “But you don’t love me,” she whispered. “You never have.” “I care about you. I respect you.” I looked at her again. “I would have treated you right. That’s more important than love. And it’s safer, too.” “I know,” she said, shrugging hopelessly. “I wanted more, though.” And she thought she’d find it with this guy? I looked at him again. He sat on the floor, butt-assed naked and shaking. Pathetic. Turning my attention back to her, I forced a calm smile. My lawyer smile, as I liked to call it. The one that said: I have no problem with taking your ass to court and whooping it publicly, so you better enter a plea bargain. I’d never given it to her before. “Well, then, I wish you the best of luck. Goodbye.” Sarah stumbled after me, grabbing my arm. “Wait. What will we tell everyone?” “Tell them whatever you want.” I shook off her hold. “I don’t care.” She grabbed for me again, but I pulled back. “But—” “I said I don’t care, okay?” I held my hands up. “You were right about one thing—I never loved you. So, I don’t give a damn what you say to them.” She covered her mouth and cried. I felt nothing. Not really. But I didn’t want her touching me. Not anymore. This was the second time I’d found my significant other in bed with another man. The first time had been in college, and it had hurt like hell. I’d actually loved her…or I’d thought I had, anyway. Now I was starting to think I was incapable of love. Sure, I’d loved a girl once, but she hadn’t loved me back. She’d been in love with her now-husband, and they were the only couple I knew actually in love. Like, the kind you see in movies. Finn and Carrie had it, but I never would. Not in this lifetime. I stumbled out the door, tugging on my tie as I went. It felt tight. As if it had come to life and decided to choke what little life I had left out of me. I was tempted to let it. I was stuck in a job I hated, at a firm my father owned, and now I was single, too. And for the second time in my life, I’d been duplicitously cheated on. Was it something I’d done? Something that was missing in me that made my women look elsewhere? Maybe I was broken. Maybe I should stop trying to find a partner and just accept the fact that I was better off alone. Maybe I should just stop trying. But first? I’d call off the meeting that I was already late to…and I’d get drunk as hell as quickly as possible. I’d get so drunk that I’d forget all about Sarah and the naked man on my couch. So drunk that I’d forget all about how broken I was, because instead of being heartbroken over her betrayal, I was angry that we’d have to deal with the mess she’d made. I was mad I’d have to tell my mother that I was no longer marrying the woman she’d handpicked for me, and deal with the drama that came with it all. But I wasn’t upset I lost her… Not at all. 

Jen McLaughlin is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author. She writes steamy New Adult books for the young and young at heart. Her first release, Out of Line, came out September 2013. She also writes bestselling Contemporary Romance under the pen name Diane Alberts.Since receiving her first contract offer under the pen name Diane Alberts, she has yet to stop writing. She is represented by Louise Fury at The Bent Agency.

Though she lives in the mountains, she really wishes she was surrounded by a hot, sunny beach with crystal clear water. She lives in Northeast Pennsylvania with her four kids, a husband, a schnauzer mutt, a cat, and a Senegal parrot. In the rare moments when she’s not writing, she can usually be found hunched over one knitting project or another. Her goal is to write so many well-crafted romance books that even a non-romance reader will know her name.

Release Day Launch: Wasted Summer (Stone Cliff #2) by Cathryn Fox

We're having a release day launch for Cathryn Fox's WASTED SUMMER!! I'm so in love with this amazing NA romance. Cathryn is sharing an excerpt with us and hosting a fantastic giveaway. Be sure to check it out and grab your copy of Wasted Summer today!!

Wasted Summer (Stone Cliff #2)
by Cathryn Fox
Release Date: January 13th 2015

Synopsis:

When Broken meets Beautiful. 

Melody Spencer has a plan: work hard, stay focused and save enough money to get out of Stone Cliff and the rumors that surround her. Wounded and distrustful, she’s learned the hard way that if a guy is nice to her, it means he’s only after one thing. 

Until Ryeland Montgomery cruises back into her resort town, beautifully protective as he insists they get to know each other better. 

Ryeland’s future is in the palm of his hands. Problem is it’s the future his hard-nosed father has chosen for him, not the one he wants. Warned by his folks to steer clear of the local girls who will do whatever it takes to escape the sleepy mountain town, he’s always played the good son and kept his distance. 

Until he sees Melody, sweet yet tough, standing on the road side, drenched and furious—a girl he knows he has to have. 

Soon this unlikely pair find themselves lost in each other, and after a whirlwind summer of passion and pleasure, he vows to protect her from everything and everyone. But when secrets unfold, Melody is forced to make the toughest decision of her life and Ryeland must determine whether he's wasted the summer on nothing more than a beautiful lie, or if they can move past the deceit and rebuild the wreckage that has become their lives.

Wasted Summer

by Cathryn Fox

“You okay?” he asked.

She wrapped her arms around herself and stared at the sky. Ryeland followed her gaze and took in the streaks of pink and purple bruising the horizon.

She rubbed her hands over her arms. “Yeah, it’s just, the sun is going down and the temperature is dropping.”

“We could always get in the hot springs.”

“I don’t have a suit.”

“We can wear our clothes.”

“I guess it wouldn’t be the first time you caught me soaking wet and fully dressed.”

“Then I take that as a yes.” He jumped to his feet and pulled her up.

She yelled when he scooped her into his arms and carried her to the edge. “No, I was kidding.” She whacked him and wiggled to get free. Jesus, he wished she wouldn’t wiggle like that. “And we just ate.”

“Don’t care.” He jumped, and she wrapped her arms around his neck to hold on as the warm water enveloped them. She pushed away from him and they both came up sputtering.

Laughing, she swiped her hair off her face and swam away. “You’re crazy.”

“You think?”

“Yeah, I think.”

He moved closer when she stopped swimming, watching the way the water dripped down her face, making her look so sexy, so damn tempting. His cock thickened, need propelling him forward and urging him to act on what he was feeling. Her smile fell and her mouth opened slightly as his gaze dropped to her lips.

He took a breath and let it out slowly as he closed the distance between them, standing so close he could feel the pounding of her heart. “You want to know what I think?”

She stared into his eyes and he could almost hear her brain buzzing. She opened her mouth and closed it again. When she finally spoke, her voice was so soft, so quiet he had to strain to hear it.

“Okay,” she whispered.

With his heart picking up tempo, he ran his thumb over her cheek then cupped her chin. “What I think is I’d like to kiss you.” When she didn’t flinch, he leaned forward and pressed his mouth to hers. His lips moved over hers, reveling in the warmth, the softness.

“Ryeland,” she whispered into his mouth.

“Yeah?” he asked, barely able to think straight as she melted against him. His body tightened, pleasure racing through him.

Her breath grew shallow, her chest rising and falling quickly against his. “What are we doing?”

“We’re kissing.”

“Friends don’t kiss.”

“Friends kiss,” he murmured.

“No, they don’t.”

Breathing hard, he rested his forehead against hers, working to keep his shit together. “Do you want me to stop?” he asked, his voice so tortured he barely recognized it. “If you want me to stop, I will. Just tell me and I will.”

New York Times and USA today Best selling author, Cathryn is a wife, mom, sister, daughter, and friend. She loves dogs, sunny weather, anything chocolate (she never says no to a brownie) pizza and red wine. She has two teenagers who keep her busy with their never ending activities, and a husband who is convinced he can turn her into a mixed martial arts fan. Cathryn can never find balance in her life, is always trying to find time to go to the gym, can never keep up with emails, Facebook or Twitter and tries to write page-turning books that her readers will love.

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