Review: Red Card

Red Card by Liz Crowe
My Rating: 3 of 5 stars

The first thing that I would like to point out is that it will be hard to write a review for this second book in the Black Jack Gentlemen series, RED CARD without revealing spoilers for the book, but I will do my best to try to avoid revealing too much.  I personally hate it when I read spoilers before starting a book, so I will try to walk a fine line here.

Unlike the first book in the series, RED CARD features a male/female pairing unlike the gay relationship featured in book one.  I know that will definitely turn off some of my reading buddies, but I don't mind reading male/female romances, so despite some surprise I didn't fault the author on that point.

Alicia dreams of playing professional soccer and seems to harbor resentment towards males, almost a reverse form of typical chauvinism, if you ask me.   Strangely, she and her sister are not afraid to call the hero misogynistic or piggish.  I didn't really see the behavior he exhibited as women-hating or chauvinistic.  Yes, he was a man-slut.   Yes, he even referred to the disposable women in his bed in his own words as "bed-filler", but does sleeping around mean you are misogynistic?   I don't think so.

Because Alicia is a soccer player and the hero, Metin, is also a soccer superstar, it was a lot of fun to have a scene in the book of them playing soccer together in a flirty way.   There's a fun daydream where Alicia dreams of tackling Metin in a crazy aggressive fashion.  I love to see women get sex-crazed in the book in the same fashion as the men.  Unlike the previous book in the series, there isn't as much focus on the Black Jacks team or soccer playing in general.  It's there, but it is more of a backdrop to the main plot of the story.   So, that was slightly disappointing.  Still, it was fun that the author slipped in some scenes.

There are some sex scenes in the book that involve unsafe practices, so if that kind of thing throws you out of a book, you may want to avoid this one.  Also, if you're not someone who can deal with angst in your romance, this might not be your book as well.   Finally, there are some rather large twists in this one that might not flow with certain reader's ideas of 'romance'.  I could see the big twist coming in this one due to some foreshadowing on the author's part, but I can definitely see how many readers will likely be surprised by the big twist.   Again, I don't want to spoil things so I can't really get into it.  

On a side note - there wasn't any scalp tingling in this book, much to my shock after the fixation the author had with it in book one of the series.  There was at one point, however, a spot where the hero claimed his hair was hurting.  I guess she couldn't neglect the hair/scalp region after all.  

All in all, RED CARD was an entertaining read.   I am still interested enough in the series to read book three by Liz Crowe and look forward to getting the opportunity.


✳✳ Copy provided by the author/publisher for an honest review.

✳✳ Reviewed on I ♥ Bookie Nookie Reviews by Guest Reviewer, FlibBityFLooB


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Review: Shut Out

Shut Out by Liz Crowe
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

One of the hardest things to do as a reader when given a free book in exchange for an honest review is to find that you didn’t like a book in the end.  I hate to hurt anyone’s feelings, especially an author who poured their time and passion into writing a book, but I believe in honesty, so I will do my best to explain why SHUT OUT was not my favorite read this year by far.

I have noticed since starting this series that the author has a tendency to jump back and forth in third person point of view between the characters.  In this third book in the series, the storyline was so jumpy, I almost felt like I was missing key portions of the plot.   It was abrupt and required me to constantly re-evaluate who was speaking and what I may have missed.   I prefer a more streamlined and smooth flow if an author wants to write in third person.   The epilogue appeared in the story roughly, right at the climax of the plot;  the full story wasn’t really seen to fruition in my opinion.  If I had been beta-reading this book, I would have had many things to say to this author.  I don’t like being confused when reading.

The other thing I have noticed since starting this series is the author seems to be unfocused in her plot lines in the series.  I should probably qualify what I mean by that statement.  The first book was a male/male romance, the second book had a completely different focus and barely had any soccer at all, and this third one attempted to focus in on the BDSM lifestyle (unsuccessfully in my opinion).  To me, it almost felt like the author wanted to take popular themes/tropes in romances these days and link them together through a series.  Unfortunately, I didn’t feel it was successful with cohesion between the books. Though there were shared characters, it didn’t feel like the same series to me.  If there was a fourth book, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a paranormal romance.   

Getting back to this particular installment in the series, I was very disappointed with the lackluster BDSM lifestyle portrayed in this book.  Though I don’t partake in the BDSM lifestyle, I have absolutely no problem reading books that focus on the Dom/sub theme.   I was disappointed in how the author presented such a thought-provoking lifestyle. Sophie, the heroine, is not what I would look for in a Domme.    In one of the opening scenes where she is shown in this capacity, her mind is wandering while her client is tied up.   Unsafe.  Not fun.  Very bad in my opinion.      I didn’t feel that there was enough exploration of why Sophie would have been in this lifestyle.  What did she get out of it?   Why was she such a switch?   It didn’t make sense to me;  I feel that the mental exploration in a BDSM book is the majority of what makes it interesting.     

Outside of the BDSM theme in  SHUT OUT :  there are other unrealistic things throughout this book:  unsafe sex,  a character is attacked and then frisky and ready to ‘make-love’ a page or two later, villainous females that refer to themselves in the third person, etc.     The worst thing to me was a plot device that I cannot reveal here (to save spoiling the book), yet it was so bad that it makes the story feel more like a soap-opera.    From the characters own mouths:  “We’re both so fucked up.”   I also was not attracted to the heroine’s thoughts.  As an example, I was truly bored reading about her talking about her yoga class.  I suppose I was supposed to be intrigued as a reader as the hero was in the same class, but it did nothing for me.   Her reactions were illogical, especially when it came to how she handled the second half of the book (sorry, I can’t spoil it for you so I have to be brief).

All in all, I am fairly certain I would not choose to continue this series if a fourth book is written.  Maybe I am just picky.  Your mileage may vary.


✳✳ Copy provided by the author/publisher for an honest review.

✳✳ Reviewed on I ♥ Bookie Nookie Reviews by Guest Reviewer, FlibBityFLooB

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Blog Tour and Giveaway: Man On by Liz Crowe

Man On by Liz Crowe

Book Synopsis:

Bad boy of European football, Nicolas Garza is about to hit American shores with a vengeance. Signed by the Detroit Black Jack Gentlemen as lynch pin for their expansion club, Nicco only half believes he’s making the right move. But with a past full of ghosts and rotten behavior chasing him from his homeland, he has no real choice.

Parker Rollings is a college soccer superstar, but his parents’ plans for their only son do not include professional athletics. When the Black Jacks approach him to finalize their roster, Parker leaps at the chance to keep playing, leaving behind medical school, stability and his first and only college sweetheart.

Nicco and Parker face off as bitter rivals for a coveted starting spot at midfield and are forced to channel their negative energy into something positive for the sake of the group—and themselves.

All eyes are on the fledgling team in its debut season. It’s crucial that the Black Jacks prove all the doubters wrong. They must make a good showing in the league and with new fans. But player drama, club dynamics, and misplaced priorities may tear it apart before it even begins.

My Review:

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I’ve always been a fan of sports-themed plots in movies and books, so I jumped at the opportunity to read MAN ON, a book about a newly formed professional soccer team with male players who were likely to have as much fun in the locker-room shower as they would playing the game itself.  Sweaty bodies…  flailing limbs… balls… the Black Jacks soccer team nicknaming themselves BJs…  I mean, how can you resist?    I had never read anything by Liz Crowe before, but I thought that this series would be a good place to start with a new author based on the theme.

I was a little puzzled when the hero introduced in the first few pages, Nicolas Garza, decided to finger-fuck a complete stranger on a plane, let alone a female character.  Where were the other passengers?   How did they not get arrested as the plane landed?  I guess I went into the book expecting gay characters, not men that were going to have sex with women as well.  Not that there’s anything wrong with bisexuals (I’m bisexual myself, so I can hardly hold it against a character).   However, I’m not too keen on my heroes in a romance sleeping around at random, especially if it’s pretty clear that they’re having sex with someone that they have no connection with whatsoever – a throwaway character, if you will.  In defense of the author in this regard, Nicolas does struggle throughout the book with sexual addiction.  So, it wasn’t completely random after all - it just felt that way when the story started.

The other hero, Parker Rollings, was an interesting, closeted guy who was torn between his love of the game and his family and girlfriend and their ideal view of him as a future doctor.   Once again, the hero was bisexual, but the females that he was intimate with felt like throwaway characters to me as well. The author piqued my interest when she seemed to indicate that Nicolas and Parker would be competing for the same position on the newly formed team, despite their instant sexual attraction when they met.  Unfortunately, I felt that portion of the story was glossed over and wasn’t delved into the way I would have liked to see.  Too bad.

Getting back to the instant sexual attraction between Parker and Nicolas, I really was perplexed because on their first encounter, Nico’s scalp tingled at the sight of Parker.  All I could think when I read this was that Nico had been abusing his dandruff shampoo.    I can’t say that I have ever in my life had my scalp tingle.   I laughed it off and was prepared to let it go, but I found that the author had a fascination with describing the feelings of her characters’ scalps.   One time, even the phone ringing caused someone’s scalp to tingle.   I ended up counting more than a handful of times where the zing of scalps was described.  EEK!   I asked my husband if his scalp ever tingled or zinged when he was aroused. His response was of course not and clearly the characters in the book were likely aliens.   I admit my husband’s logic may be a bit flawed, but I might just have to agree with him.

Though I liked the characters of Nico and Parker and found their attraction to be sexually charged, there was a scene in the book that really pulled me out of relationship.   I’ll paraphrase (if you read this out loud, be sure to use a ridiculous Spanish accent a la Antonio Banderas as that is how it sounded in my head):

• Fuck Me.

• No, I’m no good for you. 

• Fuck Me.

• No, but I will make love to you.

• If you don’t fuck me right now, I will be pissed.

• No, I need to watch your face while we make love.

• Shut up and fuck me.

I happen to have a big prejudice to the ‘make-love’ vs. ‘fuck’ thing in my books, so I was very distracted by that sort of dialogue.  I guess I just wanted to tell the one character to shut up and pound the fuck out of the other guy (especially because he was begging for it!)  *grumble* ☺

I was slightly disappointed that the author would at times focus attention away from the two heroes and switch perspectives to the coach and his family.  I didn’t really feel invested in the coach, so I found it distracting when she did that.


Re-reading this review so far, I realized it sounds like I didn’t like the book and all I am doing is complaining or mocking.   I thought I better qualify to say that I definitely didn’t dislike MAN ON.   It kept my interest and I enjoyed reading it.  I liked how author, Liz Crowe wasn’t afraid to focus on sports; it wasn’t merely a backdrop to the book.  I liked how the characters interacted with each other.  I thought most of the sex scenes were interesting to read.   I can just get nit-picky at times.   I definitely plan to continue the series, as I would like to read more about the Black Jacks to see where things go.

✳✳ Copy provided by the author/publisher for an honest review.

✳✳ Reviewed on I ♥ Bookie Nookie Reviews by Guest Reviewer, FlibBityFLooB

EXCERPT:

His first session with the psychologist, an earnest, nerdy-looking guy with square glasses and a cleft chin, had been brutal. But Nicco knew he’d been deflecting, pretending, and to his credit, the shrink had let him front and show off for a full hour.

Then, just as he was getting up to leave, convinced the whole thing had been a total waste, the guy looked up at him, pinning him with eyes so sharp and clear they made Nicco gasp in spite of himself. “Nicco,” he’d said. “When you’re ready to face up to your addiction, I’m here to listen. I know you have a problem with sex. You know you have a problem with sex. I’m glad you made this appointment. Next time, let’s make it more useful, shall we? And for the record, I did not support the concept of putting you out there as poster boy for gay rights or gay athletes.”

The man had removed his glasses, still staring Nicco down as if he could see into his very soul. “I am gay. I have been with the same partner, a man I love dearly for six years. I understand, on a certain level, what you’re dealing with. So,” he’d put the glasses back on and glanced down at his tablet computer. “When will I see you next?”

Now, he pulled the card from his pocket and stared at the therapist’s name and phone number. Then he ripped it into small pieces as the rest of the new team filed into the room. He noted two German players he’d had run-ins with in World Cup play, a South African player who must have cost the casino owners a pretty penny, at least three Brits, a Welsh guy or maybe Irish, and two South Americans whose dark, intense good looks made him shiver with memory.

A handful of fresh-faced young Americans interspersed in the group made him feel old. And that pissed him off. What was that Inez pup thinking anyway? There were two per position in the room, two strong players for each spot—except his. He sipped his water bottle and glared at the Germans. Nervous tension gnawed at his gut but he kept his face calm. Finally when their new coach showed up and flipped the blinds closed, he relaxed.

So everyone in the room has to fight for their spot except me? That works. He dropped his feet to the floor at Rafe’s pointed glance and propped his elbows on the table prepared to ignore the forthcoming pep talk.

He’d already made plans for the night and wanted to rest up before hand anyway. This goofy welcome pep talk would be as good a time as any. Letting his thoughts wander to the nightclub catering to gay men and promising full discretion, he forced himself to stop obsessing over the failed therapy session.

The door clicked open and all eyes landed on the tall, blond man who snuck in, backpack on his shoulder, dressed to play. Nicco’s scalp tingled at the sight of him—strong torso, long legs, firm jaw covered with several days’ worth of fuzz. Good Christ but he was a perfect specimen. Nicco kept his casual stance but startled when the kid’s bright blue eyes and huge white smile landed on him.

He resisted the urge to smile back. Something about the man made Nicco distinctly uncomfortable but horny at the same time. He suddenly wished he’d held onto the shrink’s business card.

“And Parker will be working with you, Nicco.”

Nicco sat up, knocking his water to the floor as Rafe’s words got his immediate attention. What the fuck? He stared at the polite hand the kid stuck in his face then over at Rafe. His throat closed up between the proximity of the impossibly handsome man and realization of the fact that the vision of masculine perfection he’d lusted after for the last few seconds wanted to take his spot on the field.

Oh hell no. He leaned back again and ignored his brain that clamored for him to be nice, to take the kid’s hand. To smile and act like an adult.

Instead, he smirked, ignored him, and turned to face their coach as if suddenly fascinated by what the guy had to say. Parker stood a minute, and Nicco watched his face turn red before he sat in the one empty chair nearest the door.

Rafe passed out new phones, instructed them that they were obliged to “tweet” and “post profile updates” on Facebook at least three times a day. All shit that Nicco already knew. Rafe’s hot young lady assistant issued key cards to the ones who’d just arrived, including the kid Nicco studiously ignored but whose very presence was making the front of his jeans uncomfortable.

He shifted in his seat, trying to get control of himself, a bizarre combination of anger and lust spinning around his brain. The room rose, and Nicco joined them making their way out into the hallway.

A gaggle of kids and parents awaited them, and the team spent about an hour signing soccer balls, slips of paper, jerseys, getting photos for camera phones. Nicco joined in to prove his ability to schmooze like a pro. At one point he caught sight of his new young coach with his arm around a tall, attractive, pregnant woman with coal black hair. Rafe caught his eye and beckoned him over.

“Nicolas Garza, this is Maureen, my wife and her son, Adam.” A dark-skinned teenager next to the stunning woman stuck out a hand. Nicco took it, noting the kid’s own club kit and backpack. He took Maureen’s hand, kissed it, and eyeballed Rafe.

“Well done, young Rafe. What a vision. How did a loser like yourself rate such beauty?”

Maureen frowned but her eyes sparkled. “Spare me, Nicco. I’ve heard all about you.”

“I have no doubt of that lovely lady.” He gave a short bow. “But may I also say, congratulations on the coming joy.”

She smiled at him, and he mirrored her liking her already. He valued women who took no shit from him. He winked at Rafe and made his way back into the teeming throng after nodding at the woman’s son who didn’t look that much younger than his mother’s new husband. But when he turned he immediately locked gazes with the blond American usurper and his throat closed up. The man stared at him wide-eyed and innocent, and Nicco had to grip the back of a chair to keep from saying something utterly stupid.

He’d wager his left nut that young Parker had never been with a man, but the sheer sexual energy that poured off him was intoxicating. His fresh, clean good looks spoke of a typical American, upper class upbringing, expensive soccer clubs and college scholarships. Shit that Nicco usually despised and denigrated.

He broke the eye contact and set his jaw. The kid had another think coming if he honestly believed he’d be taking Nicolas Garza’s place on the team. Pure and simple, no matter how fevered his sudden fantasy over popping the kid’s cherry. He ran a hand down his face and swallowed hard. Things had certainly gotten complicated and then some. But he knew that he had a focus now—keeping his starting spot ahead of the delectable Parker.

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About the Author:

Microbrewery owner, best-selling author, beer blogger and journalist, mom of three teenagers, and soccer fan, Liz lives in the great Midwest, in a major college town.  Years of experience in sales and fund raising, plus an eight-year stint as an ex-pat trailing spouse, plus making her way in a world of men (i.e. the beer industry), has prepped her for life as erotic romance author.

When she isn’t sweating inventory and sales figures for the brewery, she can be found writing, editing or sweating promotional efforts for her latest publications.

Her groundbreaking romance subgenre, “Romance for Real Life,” has gained thousands of fans and followers who are interested less in the “HEA” and more in the “WHA” (“What Happens After?”)

Her beer blog a2beerwench.com is nationally recognized for its insider yet outsider views on the craft beer industry. Her books are set in the not-so-common worlds of breweries, on the soccer pitch and in high-powered real estate offices.  Don’t ask her for anything “like” a Budweiser or risk painful injury. 

Social Links:

Goodreads ● Website ● Twitter ● Amazon

Blog Tour Giveaway, Review & Excerpt: Love & Devotion by Jove Belle

GIVEAWAY ENDS ON 6/28!

Love & Devotion by Jove Belle

Description:
KC Hall loves her family, her small East Texas town, and her best friend, Emma Reynolds. All of that takes a backseat when her lover beckons. Lonnie is blond, beautiful, and willing. She’s also married and a lifelong friend of KC’s mama.

KC knows the affair is a bad idea, but she just can’t help herself. When presented with the lush landscape of Lonnie’s body, KC subscribes to the philosophy of “orgasm first, think later.” Unfortunately, a secret that big is impossible to keep in a close-knit community where everybody knows everybody else’s business. The scandal would hurt her entire family.

Emma is KC’s exception, the one woman she loves enough to not have sex with. When Emma confesses that she’s loved KC since high school, KC is terrified. One wrong move and she could lose Emma completely.

Is she willing to let her family pay the price for her good time? Or will she turn to Emma to discover the true meaning of love and devotion?

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Review:

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

LOVE & DEVOTION takes place in small-town Texas, where lesbians are as scarce as cow-tippers living in New York City.  A town where drinking away your problems seems commonplace and necessary.  It’s also a town where gossip flows faster than sermons at the local Baptist church.

The lead heroine, KC, is a womanizer and is described in very feminine terms.   She appears to be very close to her family  and has cheerleader trophies in her childhood room at her mama’s house.  At first when I pictured her character, I thought of one of the actresses in the movie Thelma & Louise, but I later changed my image to Demi Moore when she is going through one of her femme-phases with long hair.   Though I couldn’t really identify with KC’s life, I did identify with her need to drive around aimlessly when she needed to think with no clue where she was headed.  I thought this line from one of KC’s sisters was humorous and summed up KC as a character:

                ❝You’re the Dalia Lama for lesbians now?❞

KC, shamefully, has been sleeping with a married woman for the past year, and (gasp) the woman is her mother’s good friend to boot.  Lonnie, the harlot who is tramping around on her husband with KC, is a quintessential Southern Belle who oozes sexuality in a Southern Cougar style.  I pictured one of the Sugarbakers from the 80s sitcom Designing Women.  Not something that is personally going to get me going, but the image somehow popped into my head and stuck.   I thought this quote from the novel summed up my image of Lonnie very well:

                ❝She kissed KC on the cheek and with her hand hidden from view, squeezed her ass fondly.

                The damn woman got off on the duplicity of it all.❞

KC’s best friend is Emma, another ultra-femme character.  This is probably how the Thelma & Louise picture originally got stuck in my head when trying to imagine the characters I was reading about.  Emma has obviously got a big ole crush on KC, but KC seems oblivious to it and continues with sexing-up Lonnie in 5 minute rendezvous sessions.   Emma and KC have an extremely tactile friendship, complete with cuddling each night in the same bed and kissing each other frequently in greeting.   It’s obvious to the reader from the get-go that they belong together,  and the rest of the story is pretty much the culmination  of how their relationship will come together.  A humorous line from the author about Emma:

                ❝Sometimes talking to Emma was like trying to extract stock advice from a schnauzer.❞

Before I go any further in my review of this novel, I must admit that though I am bisexual and had many girlfriends before I got married, the women described in this book are decidedly not my type.  Unfortunately, that was slightly distracting for me and kind of made it hard to picture the characters in a titillating way without doing a lot of extra help from my brain to supplant the author’s descriptions.  I’m afraid that’s my little caveat before I continue.  Lipstick lesbians are not my thing, but I tried not to hold that against the plot of the book.

The sex in this book was a mix-bag for me.  I found some personal humor from the author occasionally referring to anatomy as “naughty bits”, “sexy parts”, and even “girlie parts”.  Then again, she also would got down and dirty with her descriptions.  The first sex scene didn’t involve any oral sex at all, and I immediately questioned whether the author was actually a lesbian.  I continued to question this when in a later sex scene involving KC donning a strap-on the author referred to KC coming inside Lonnie.   The idea of that actually made me raise my eyebrow.  However, after reading several of the other scenes, I canceled my confusion over whether the author was a lesbian.  I enjoyed reading some very sexy scenes in the book including sex against the door, domination in drag, imminent fear of getting caught during sex, and lots of sexy dirty talk in very commanding tones.  I’ve chosen a line from one of my favorite sex scenes to share below:

                ❝ ‘Good, let it go.’ KC nipped at Lonnie’s ear, punctuating each word with her teeth.

                ‘ So I can push you down and do it all over again.’ ❞

I was definitely puzzled by KC’s and Emma’s friendship.  I’ve already mentioned that they were very touchy-feely with each other.  They were also constantly saying “I love you” to each other.  I would have been very confused in a female friendship that was that close, trying to determine if the person loved me in *that* way or not.  I think there was a lot of mixed signals.  At one point, my mind started wandering while looking at their complex relationship of confusion, and I pictured KC cutting her hair into a Demi Moore’s G.I. Jane style and showing up, doing some one-armed push-ups for Emma,  and then fire-arm carrying a squealing Emma in a naval uniform à la Officer and a Gentleman.  Then I chastised myself and had to give my brain a lecture that this is not what the author had in mind. *big sigh* oh well. ☺

Overall I would give the book 3 stars.  It was interesting enough to keep my attention for a Saturday afternoon.  I thought the author had good writing skills and wrote interesting characters.  There was some humorous and witty dialog at times.   The sex was interesting to read, and certainly thought provoking.  I could picture myself reading another novel by the author in the future.

✳✳ Review by Guest Reviewer, FlibBityFLooB


Excerpt:

The crunch-slide of tires on gravel was KC Hall’s only warning that she was about to have company. She barely had time to check her teeth for signs of the cold pizza she’d been eating and run her hands through her hair. Lonnie slammed through the door, leaving a string of curse words such as “fucking hell” and “damnation” in her wake.

“Lonnie, what’s going on?” KC sounded like she wasn’t happy to see Lonnie, which wasn’t true. She mostly wasn’t happy to see her car—a candy-apple red Mustang—slanted next to her beat-up Accord. No way her neighbors wouldn't recognize it as Lonnie's. There were a few other Mustangs in town, but hers was the only one with a FRONT STREET BAPTIST CHOIR bumper sticker on one side and THE PTA GETS THINGS DONE on the other.

Lonnie grabbed KC’s lapels and kissed her hard. She’d have liked it better if Lonnie had kissed her like she meant it rather than pouring off anger about whatever brought her to KC’s door in the first place. KC eased back a tad, teasing the edge of Lonnie’s lips with her tongue. This woman was melted-sugar hot, and the taste of her made KC weak. She still didn’t know why she’d arrived at KC’s door early on Sunday morning for God and all creation to see, but the longer they kissed, the less KC cared.

By the time Lonnie released her, she’d have let Lonnie add a bumper sticker that declared I’M FUCKING KC HALL.

“I’m going to kill that bastard.” Lonnie’s eyes were on fire, and not the good kind of fire that said KC'd touched her in just the right way. Nope, this was more of a spitting-mad kind of fire.

KC stepped away. She didn’t want to get caught at ground zero if Lonnie decided to give life to that temper of hers. Fortunately, Southern women were simple—a glass of whiskey and a little bit of time was the standard therapy session. She poured four fingers of Jack Daniel’s, added some ice, and passed it to Lonnie.

“Thanks, sugar.” Lonnie closed her eyes and tipped the glass. The lines of her face softened.

She waited until the first sip passed Lonnie’s lips, then asked, “Which bastard?” No doubt Lonnie was talking about her husband. KC liked to pretend he didn’t exist, but she asked the question anyway.

Lonnie drained the whiskey and handed her the glass before saying, “Forget about that. We don’t have much time.” Lonnie zeroed in on KC’s lips and kissed her in a way that made her think she was being substituted for the whiskey.

KC pulled away with a gasp and set the empty glass on the counter. Lonnie’s chest heaved and she reached for KC, trying to pull her back in.

The flush in Lonnie’s cheeks ran down her neck and covered her chest. KC wanted to touch, to ride the wave of Lonnie's labored breathing with her tongue. She moved closer to her, bent her face to Lonnie's neck, and inhaled deeply. The sweet subtle scent of honeysuckle and lavender surrounded her, drawing her in. She exhaled long and soft against Lonnie's skin. “Church starts in an hour.”

Lonnie tilted her head to the side, opening the line of her neck to KC. She gripped KC’s head, her fingers woven into her hair. “I know. Stop talking.”

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• 5 e-copies of Love & Devotion by Jove Belle
• 1 signed paperback copy of Edge of Darkness by Jove Belle
• 1 signed paperback copy of Split the Aces by Jove Belle
• 1 signed paperback copy of Indelible by Jove Belle
• 1 set of 4 wine charms (heart)
• 1 set of 4 wine charms (cowboy boot)

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About the Author:

Jove Belle was born and raised against a backdrop of orchards and potato fields. The youngest of four children, she was raised in a conservative, Christian home and began asking why at a very young age, much to the consternation of her mother and grandmother. At the customary age of eighteen, she fled southern Idaho in pursuit of broader minds and fewer traffic jams involving the local livestock. The road didn’t end in Portland, Oregon, but there were many confusing freeway interchanges that a girl from the sticks was ill-prepared to deal with. As a result, she has lived in the Portland metro area for over fifteen years and still can’t figure out how she manages to spend so much time in traffic when there’s not a stray sheep or cow in sight.

She lives with her partner of twelve years. Between them they share three children, two dogs, two cats, two mortgage payments, one sedan, and one requisite dyke pickup truck. One day she hopes to live in a house that doesn’t generate a never ending honey-do list.

Incidentally, she never stopped asking why, but did expand her arsenal of questions to include who, what, when, where and, most important of all, how. In those questions, a story is born.

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