Book Blast: Emblazed by Nikki Narvaez

Emblazed

The Elemental Prophecy Book # 2

By- Nikki Narvaez  

Expected Publication Date- September 20th, 2013

Three days. Three days seems like a lot of time, but not when you are racing to save the one you love. Not when time is against you.

Three days is all Jace has to save Brielle, to prevent both of their deaths. Both have more to battle than they ever imagined while they fight for their lives, their souls, and their love.

Will Jace be able to rescue Brielle, or will the fate of the world die with her?

Meet the Blackjack Gentlemen: Man On, Book One in the Series by Liz Crowe

The Black Jack Gentlemen

The newest series by Liz Crowe

A city and a sport with something to prove—Meet the men who take that challenge.

The Black Jack Gentlemen—Detroit’s expansion soccer team.

They play hard. And live harder.

Book 1: Man On (August 2013)

Book 2: Red Card (August 2013) 

Book 3: Shut Out (September 2013)

And Coming Soon…

Book 4: Set Piece

Book 5: Hat Trick 

 

Pretty in Pink will be doing an on going series with reviews on each of these books.  This week we are featuring book one in the series Man On.  Please be advised that there are some explicit sexual situations and the books include alternative lifestyles.  Enjoy!

 

Blurb

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.

Excerpt

 

His fingertips grazed a small card in his pocket making him wince at the memory of his first encounter with the team psychologist. He’d set it up one morning after booting Terry out the door, along with a couple of girls he’d convinced to come by for some playtime. His head hadbeen pounding, not so much from a hangover but shame.

When he had flipped through his expensive-looking orientation packet the words “team psychologist” had leapt out at him as if connected to a hand that gripped him by the short hairs. Not a new thing, all teams had one. But, sick of his bizarre need for constant physical contact—for fucking, he’d corrected, tired of even glossing over it in his own stupid head—he had been desperate for someone to simply listen. So, he made the call. And in the meantime, had enjoyed the workouts with the trainers, the few times he’d scrimmaged around with some of the other players. They’d all been contracted but not obligated to do anything for a month but “acclimate to their new surroundings.”

Part of that acclimation came with the requisite social networking and attendance at a some high visibility fundraisers—which is where Nicco had hooked up with Terrance who’d been attending as personal assistant to some politician. He’d also been encouraged to look around for a place to live with the assistance of an eager young real estate agent, an adorable,sexy, woman whose name he had forgotten within minutes of banging her brains out in an empty mini-mansion. Par for his course, really. But behavior that made him angrier than ever.

His first session with the psychologist, an earnest, nerdy-looking guy with square glasses and a cleft chin, had been brutal. But Nicco had deflected, and to his credit, the shrink had let him front, and show off like a dumb ass 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 your information, 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, 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, Nicco pulled the card from his pocket and stared at the therapist’s name and phone number. Then 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 Inez 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 temporary 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. 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 made himself stop obsessing over the failed therapy session.

The door clicked open and all eyes landed on the tall, blond man who walked 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’sbusiness 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 signingsoccer 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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 Author Info

Microbrewery owner, best-selling author, beer blogger and journalist, mom of three, and soccer fan, Liz lives in the great Midwest, in a major college town. She has decades of experience in sales and fund raising, plus an eight-year stint as a three-continent, expat trailing spouse. While working as a successful Realtor, Liz made the leap into writing novels about the same time she agreed to take on marketing and sales for the Wolverine State Brewing Company.

Most days find her sweating inventory and sales figures for the brewery, unless she’s writing, editing or sweating promotional efforts for her latest publications.

Her early forays into the publishing world led to a groundbreaking fiction subgenre, “Romance for Real Life,” which has gained thousands of fans and followers interested less in the “HEA” and more in the “WHA” (“What Happens After?”). More recently she is garnering even more fans across genres with her latest novels, which are more character driven fiction,” while remaining very much “real life.”

With stories set in the not-so-common worlds of breweries, on the soccer pitch, in successful real estate offices and many times in exotic locales like Istanbul, Turkey, her books are unique and told with a fresh voice. The Liz Crowe backlist has something for any reader seeking complex storylines with humor and complete casts of characters that will delight, frustrate, and linger in the imagination long after the book is finished.

If you are in the Ann Arbor area, be sure and stop into the Wolverine State Brewing Co. Tap Room—but don’t ask her for anything “like” a Bud Light, or risk serious injury.

Website  Brewing Passion  Beer Wench  Facebook  Twitter  Facebook Group  Goodreads

My Review

 

I know next to nothing about soccer, except for the little I learned when my son played in the 4-5 year old league.  (I'm not sure that even counts lol) I was intrigued though by the excerpt's from the series.  Man On is the first book in the series The Blackjack Gentlemen, about an expansion soccer team in Detroit.  While the book will not appeal to everyone due to the alternative lifestyle it revolves around, but anyone with an open mind sexually will thoroughly enjoy Man On, soccer fan or not.  Liz combines just the right amount of smut with a great story that makes for an awesome read!  Pretty in Pink gives Man On 4 stars. 

 

Pretty in Pink will be doing a post on the second book in the series Red Card on 9/28 and book three Shut Out on 10/5.  Enjoy!

Phase One: Identify Territory of the Dead Book One by Rose Wynters

Blurb

From author Rose Wynters, comes a new zombie series set in Pleasant, Louisiana. Can this checkout girl learn how to survive in a world full of zombies?

Tabitha Alexander is an 18 year old that has just graduated from high school. Working as a checkout girl in the small town of Pleasant, her long-term goals for the future don't go beyond enjoying the upcoming summer and enjoying her freedom.

Fate has something else in store for her, though.

One night, right before closing time, her world is turned completely inside out with the first screams and sounds of gunfire that tear through the dark night. Nothing will ever be the same again..... If they even survive.

Links

OmniLit  Barnes and Noble  Kindle  Smashwords  Goodreads

Author Info

I’m just your average, everyday female that loves to write about passionate love affairs and the the ups and downs of falling in love with extremely hot, alpha, supernatural men that push all the boundaries when it comes to sex.

I’ve always loved romance, starting with books from my childhood like Cinderella or Snow White and Rose Red. As the years passed, I developed an interest in the paranormal and supernatural. My love of romance continued to grow stronger, prompting me to write books about what women really want. There really is magic in the pages, and what red-blooded woman doesn’t want a gorgeous man willing to do everything it takes to claim her?

I enjoy the shows True Blood and The Walking Dead. For some odd reason, I am extremely fascinated by zombies and the idea of living in an apocalyptic world, although I’m definitely grateful that we don’t! I’m not sure how long I’d survive without electricity, Internet, and all the other modern day stuff we take for granted. Still though, I love to write about them, and I hope it reflects in my series, Territory of the Dead!

I enjoy almost all things exotic from exotic food to exotic travels. When not working on my sexy alpha characters and real-world heroines, I like to travel, camp, and just enjoy life as much as I possibly can! I will try just about anything once, and twice if I like it. I enjoy meeting new people and getting to know my readers.

Website   Facebook  Twitter  Goodreads

Excerpt

It would have been worth the complaint and subsequent chewing out I would have received, if the events of the night just wouldn’t have happened. I would later look back on this night and pray that things had ended differently. You can’t change events that are completely out of your control, though.

Even so, anything would have been preferable to that one moment when you find your reality has just been blown to pieces and would never be the same again. That’s assuming you live to survive it.

She was halfway to Jim, her teased hairdo bouncing, when it happened. A loud, panicked scream tore through the night, originating somewhere from the parking lot in front of the store. Even through the thick glass, we could hear it loudly. It sounded like someone was being murdered. I immediately stopped scanning, turning in an attempt to see what was happening.

A body slammed against the glass, face and palms pressed to the surface. It was a horrid sight. His pupils were red and crazed, his face extremely pale and dirty. Dark red blood was smeared across his cheeks and chin. The man stood still for a moment, just watching us with his crazy eyes. Something reanimated him. He slid his palms down the clear, clean glass, leaving a trail of bloody streaks.

I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the blood. As odd as it sounds, I felt irritated. I’d just cleaned that glass when I first came in on my shift today. Knowing Jim, he’d make me clean them again before I could go home. After he chewed me out, of course.
I shook my head in aggravation, lost in my thoughts. Dimly, I heard one of the customers ask, “What in the hell is that?” It pulled me back to the present.

Nobody moved, to stunned to do anything but watch. Even Jim stared at him, his jaw slack from shock. The man started pounding on the glass with enough force to cause them to shake. It was obvious he was looking for a way in. I shook my head at his idiocy, and wondered why he didn’t just use the door.

The sound of repeated gunfire broke the silence. It sounded like a war zone outside of the walls of the store, and panic immediately set in. The customers abandoned their purchases and shopping carts, running straight toward the automatic doors.

“Don’t go out there,” I yelled out, suddenly afraid for the man outside to figure out the way in. For whatever reason, so far he hadn’t. To my way of thinking, if someone isn’t in their right mind enough to figure out how to get into a store, they didn’t have any business being there in the first place.

The customers ignored me, the first one getting close enough to activate the automatic door feature. With horrified shock, I watched him step through and into the outside world, but he didn’t get any further. The crazed man grabbed him roughly and immediately bit his face.

Nobody stopped to help him, to desperate to save themselves. As the other customers raced away, I watched a man slowly ate to death. There was simply no other way to describe it. Screaming, he tried to fight, but it was no use. Red-eyes was strong enough to lock him into place as he quickly tore chunk after chunk of flesh out of his struggling body.

With a gasp, I put both hands over my mouth and attempted to not vomit. My stunned mind simply couldn’t comprehend what it was seeing. I felt like I was trapped in a nightmare, one that I couldn’t wake up from. After another minute or two of screaming, the customer grew silent, his body limp.

I knew he was dead, but it didn’t stop the cannibalistic actions of the wild man that had hold of him. With loud smacks, he chewed every exposed section of flesh until finally he had his fill. At least, of him.

His red eyes swung in my direction. Without a second glance, he released the dead man’s body. It hit the ground with a loud thump, but I couldn’t bring myself to look at him. He was already dead, but even if he wasn’t, there wasn’t a thing in this world I could do for him. My death was waiting in those red eyes, if I didn’t figure out how to save myself in the next several seconds.

Birthday Blast: Born in Flames by Candace Knoebel

Born in Flames

Born in Flames Trilogy Book #1

By-Candace Knoebel

Publication Date-September 6, 2012 

Red mirrored scales race up my arms as the haze of pain blurs my vision. My bones crack, breaking to realign. I scream. It is then that the realization of my unavoidable fate sinks in; I am of a dying race. I am dragon.  

Aurora Megalos, orphaned and teetering on the edge of adulthood, thought finding her past would curb the sting of being an outcast. Having no memories of the time before she awoke on her foster mother’s doorstep, she yearns for the emptiness inside her to be filled. With her fellow orphaned best friend, Fenn, by her side, she has nothing to lose and everything to gain. But something powerful stirred within her that she couldn’t explain. Something wanted out.  

In the dark of night, a crazed Seer, dubbed Mr.Creepy, erases everything she’s ever known with an impending prophecy. She now faces two paths. Return to her true home to protect a dying race against a growing evil, or stay hidden in the safety of our realm with a shot at a true love. With a vengeful Arch Enemy stopping at nothing to see her dead, she’s running out of time; a decision must be made. What would you choose?

Book Blast: The Man Without Rules by Tiffani Clark Kemp

The Man Without Rules

Without Rules Series # 1

By- Tyffani Clark Kemp

Genre-Erotica

Publication Date-September 5th, 2013

Sebastian Boa is "The Man Without Rules." Rules just don't apply to him. When he meets Mariss Red one night at one of his night clubs, he sets his sights on her and makes a play. But Mariss is married and she has no desire to lose what she loves for a one night stand. The harder Sebastian tries the more Mariss refuses and he realizes that his feelings for her may be deeper than he ever thought possible for a man like him. And he finds himself changing to be worthy of the one woman who has ever told him no.

Cover Reveal: Alluring Turmoil by Skye Turner

Review: Hugged by an Angel by Roberta Capizzi

Title:  Hugged by an Angel

Author: Roberta Capizzi

Expected release date: July 22, 2013

Genre: Contemporary Romance (with a little angelic theme)

Age Group: New Adult/Adult

Cover Designed by: Mooney Designs

       

How can you ever love again when tragedy has crushed your heart?

Kathleen used to love life. She had plans, dreams, and faith in life; but that was before the accident that took it all away from her in an instant. Now that her beloved brother is dead and she's confined to a wheelchair, her future is but a dark cloud hovering above her head. How can she ever find the will to move on and keep living without him? Even the cares of the happy-go-lucky American physiotherapist who's helping her with her rehab therapies are all in vain. Life seems to have lost its meaning, until one night she receives an unexpected celestial visit…  

Colin has been working as a physiotherapist in Dublin for almost five years, but he’s never bonded so much with a patient like he is bonding with Kathleen; there's something about those sad blue eyes that makes him want to help her, to take away the pain that reminds him so much of his own. Having lost both his parents in a plane crash when he was only sixteen, Colin knows how it feels to have someone you love taken so abruptly away from you, and he makes it his mission to help Kathleen find her faith in life again. But something changes along the way…  

Sometimes love can work miracles. If you believe.
 

 About the Author

An avid reader since her childhood years and being an only child, Roberta always enjoyed the company of her fictional friends from the children’s books she loved reading, while she dreamed of writing her own stories one day.   It was when she discovered novels by authors Rosamunde Pilcher and Maeve Binchy in her teenage years that she realized it was time she put down in words the stories she had kept well hidden in her mind until then.   What started as a hobby, soon turned into a real passion and a way of life, until she could no longer keep the stories to herself, and decided to get over her fears and share them with the world.   Roberta lives in Italy, but her dream is to move out of her country and live either in a thatched cottage in the Irish countryside or in a country house with a swing on the back porch, somewhere in the United States, where she would love to spend her days writing novels as a full-time job, and maybe one day even get as far as writing a screenplay for a movie.

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My Review

I beta read for Roberta for both of her books, Hugged by an Angel and The Melody in our Hearts and I quickly fell in love with both her books.  Roberta has a way of capturing the sweetness of romance and of the hope for a love like everyone dreams of.  If you like sweet, optimistic, love stories with a captivating plot and characters, then you will love Hugged by an Angel  and The Melody in our Hearts as well.  Pretty in Pink gives both her books 5 stars!