by ARHuelsenbeck
Have you ever found yourself stranded in Creative Badlands? You know, that parched place where you are just so dry that nothing trickles from your pen? Or what you write is so uninspired that it puts you to sleep?
Sometimes it helps to get away. A writers’ retreat could be just the boost you needed to refresh your writing.
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Beloved Lives: A Paranormal Romantic Suspense Novel
by Marilyn J. Evans
Genre: Mystery & Suspense/Christian Romance/Paranormal
April Robins is a mess. Her diet and wardrobe are disastrous, she’s stopped exercising, and the nightmares are back—nightmares that started at puberty and didn’t stop until she married. Now that she’s divorced, the dreams are worse than ever, and April’s malaise has her cat and her best friend, Trish, worried.
April decides it’s time to get her life back in order by running and eating better. She also agrees to attend a class Trish thinks will introduce them to new guys. When April meets the class instructor, Mitch van der Waals, an expert in the paranormal, she discovers they have a lot in common including a mutual attraction. When she and Mitch start dating, both cat and best friend approve.
But when the hospital where April works as a medical technologist hires Dr. Weston, a handsome, new cardiologist, things get complicated. At her first meeting with Dr. Weston, April faints. As he shows more and more interest in her, she finds herself unaccountably affected by Weston, sometimes irritated, other times literally falling into a trance in his presence.
April realizes Weston was a key player in her past lives as she struggles to find the root cause of her nightmares through past life regressions, sessions in the sleep lab, and strangely spontaneous trances.
Does she have a choice between being who she is now and who she seems to have been over and over again?
Solving the mysterious origins of the nightmares that have echoed down through April’s many lives could be a matter of life and death, in this life and beyond.
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Marilyn J. Evans was born in Chillicothe, Missouri. She has lived in Kansas City, Missouri, since 1972, except for two years (2003-2005) when she lived in southern England. For twenty years she worked in research laboratories studying human autoimmune diseases. For the next twenty years she was a regulatory auditor for the pharmaceutical and biologics industries.
Marilyn’s first book, Beloved Lives, a paranormal romantic thriller, was published in 2018. Her novella, Wasting Water, will appear in the anthology, Undeniable: Writers Respond to Climate Change.
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In Justice, Colorado, the Kennards run everything, including the only big business in the area. Their sawmill employs most of the town, and the Kennard brothers live up to a long family history of keeping their neighbors and coworkers safe—until a motorcycle club comes to town and starts causing trouble. Big trouble. The kind that ends in funerals.
He carries the burden of protecting an entire town
Being the oldest Kennard brother, I’ve got a centuries-old promise to uphold—run the family business to give the townspeople jobs and the sort of security they can only find in Justice. When a motorcycle club blows that plan apart, I’ll do anything to make them aware that they picked the wrong town to target. As a former Green Beret, I know just how to sabotage an enemy. The only weakness in my armor is my obsession with a five-foot-nothing blonde who unknowingly holds my heart in her hands. My attraction to her could cost me my life, but I’d sacrifice it all to save hers.
She owes a debt that could cost her life
I’ve spent three years hiding out in Justice and paying off a debt to the Soul Suckers, one they’ve decided to collect whether I’m ready to pay or not. When danger lands on my doorstep, one man jumps in to help. Alder Kennard—former Special Forces soldier and current object of all my fantasies. But the Soul Suckers won’t let a debt go unpaid, and with the price on my head rising every day, it’s only a matter of time until they come back for me. Alder would put his life on the line to save mine, which is something I simply can’t afford.
Everyone has a debt to pay, and the only currency I have left is my body. So when the time comes, I’ll trade my life for his.
The first sign that I was about to learn what happened came in the form of a rumble. A truck driving on the road, moving closer, and finally turning into the driveway. Then footsteps on the porch as Finn moved in front of the door. I kept my seat, too afraid to hope that Alder had pulled up. Telling myself that it would be Bishop or Gage instead, coming to tell Finn and me that something had happened and Alder wouldn’t be coming home. Fearing it.
Seconds dragged, every sound heightened and making my head throb. Voices, more footsteps, and then nothing. Silence for several long minutes. I finally stood, still staring at that blasted slab of wood keeping me away from the outdoors. Still waiting.
But then Alder opened the door and walked inside, and the world righted itself. I had a brief moment of relaxation before I took a good, hard look at him. Relaxation gone. I’d never seen him look so…mean.
I couldn’t move, standing still even though I wanted to run to him. Fearing how he would react. He looked bigger and rougher than usual, more military than I’d ever seen him. I’d always known he’d been in the Army, and he’d definitely acted like a soldier at times, but this was different. The man before me was all business, completely focused and ready to destroy anything in his path to complete his mission. From his heavy brown boots over his jeans to the neckline of his black T-shirt, he looked every bit like a man who would sooner take your life than listen to you mouth off. And he couldn’t’ take his eyes off me.
“All done?” I finally asked when the silence grew too heavy.
He nodded, still staring. His body tense and his eyes devouring me with a fierceness that made goose bumps appear on my arms. I didn’t know whether to be aroused or scared—maybe neither. Maybe both. I fidgeted with the coffee mug, bouncing slightly on the balls of my feet but not moving. The prey to his predator, too afraid to make a mistake and end up in his jaws. Too afraid not to.
But even prey had to take a chance at some point.
“Alder,” I whispered, my entire body trembling with the warring desires of safety and lust. One said to run away, the other to run toward. I couldn’t decide which instinct to follow, so I needed him to tell me. To give me some sign of what he needed. What he wanted. I set down the mug.
Alder cocked his head, probably at the plea in my voice. Watching me. Waiting for something. An animal finally off his leash. My dragon at the gates set free and hungry for me. I whimpered at the thought, and he finally broke.
“You going to get over here and love me, honey? Or am I going to have to bend you over that counter and eat your pussy nice and slow to remind you that you’re mine?”
Kristin Harte started off as a chemistry major in college but somehow ended up writing romances featuring ex-military heroes and the women who knock them to their knees…literally and figuratively. She likes drinking in the shade, snuggling under a warm blanket on a cold evening, and researching how to blow things up. Her children know nothing of what she writes, and her husband just hopes he’s not at their Chicago-ish home the day the government shows up to confront Kristin about her Google search history.
When not writing good men doing bad things, Kristin can be found writing paranormal romance as Ellis Leigh or co-writing naughty novellas as London Hale.
I’ve been away this week spending time with family and now it’s time to play catch-up. A Strong Heart will do double duty as my lyric fiction challenge AND my short story challenge which means… you will see it again soon! 😀
Today’s lyric prompt is:
For the rules, click on the lyric above.
My body is heavy, weighted to the bed by a cocktail of painkillers, monitors, metal, and casts.
And lying here, even now, I wonder where you are.
Trapped tears pool and sting my eyes, unable to flow past the eyelids swollen shut. A broken wrist and dislocated shoulder keep me from wiping the tears away.
Tears I shouldn’t be crying for you. Tears you do not deserve.
I loved you. For seven years, you were my religion and my belief. Since the day we met rollerblading on the pier, I knew I’d found my soulmate.
To me, you were the smartest man in the world. It didn’t matter to me you failed the state bar exam and I passed. I didn’t blame you for taking your frustrations out on me. I was insensitive for wanting to celebrate my own success. I should have been more considerate of your feelings.
When you failed the exam two more times, I shouldn’t have chastised you for not trying hard enough. You carried the burden of repeated failures. I deserved the slaps for thinking only of myself.
Our night out with friends to celebrate your new position was one of our best times together… until we got home.
I was confused when you threw me into the wall and accused me of throwing myself at your friend, Marty.
You punched me in my side and said I embarrassed you by dancing like a slut, even though I only danced with you.
The next morning, fed up, I packed with one hand, determined to get away from you. Your tears and promises to change broke my heart and I stayed.
Only things didn’t change. I was still your punching bag when things didn’t go your way. When you missed out on a promotion, lost a case or even had car trouble, it was my fault for not being supportive enough; for being too consumed with my own career.
And still, I stayed, making excuses for black eyes and bruises no one believed. That’s when I knew I was as broken inside as you… and I had to save myself.
But I was foolish to believe you’d allow me to walk away.
Your silence made me believe you accepted my decision.
But I was wrong. Again.
I opened my door to you for old times’ sake, trying to be a friend. I didn’t see the first punch coming… or the second, but you swung your fists until I fell to the floor. Trading fists for feet, you kicked with wild abandon, not aiming or caring where your blows landed.
No longer feeling your kicks and punches, I knew I was in shock… and probably dying. But as I slipped into the darkness, I’m sure I heard you say, “You’ll always belong to me. You can never leave.”
I awake to the rhythmic beeps and low hums of medical devices standing watch over my body. My senses are dull, and my thoughts muddied with memories I don’t recognize. I am aware of pain only after I attempt to breathe deeply. The sharp stings ripple deep inside my chest and though still disoriented, I try to keep my breathing shallow.
My injuries are extensive and will take weeks to heal. As the doctor discussed the severity of my injuries and the violence it took to inflict them, I heard something akin to pride in his voice when he said, “Young lady, I’ve seen men succumb to less than what was done to you. Those broken ribs were a problem… we were afraid they would puncture a lung. But that didn’t happen. Your heartbeat was always strong. You were determined to live. You’re a survivor.”
A survivor.
You broke my heart and battered my body. But you couldn’t break my spirit.
###
The DA contacted me again.
He said you took the deal.
Your sentencing is in a couple of weeks and I’ll be allowed the opportunity to make a victim’s impact statement.
But I won’t.
Because I’m not your victim. I am your end.
I’ll attend your sentencing and smile as you’re taken from the courtroom in shackles.
And then I’ll walk away… with no fear, and not haunted by the way you brutalized me.
It’s said people pass through one’s life as a blessing or a lesson. I’ll remember this lesson… but not the man.
I’m already trying to erase you from my mind.
©2018 Felicia Denise, All Rights Reserved
Making the First Move (Bad Boys Gone Good Book 1)
by Reese Ryan
Genre: African-American/Multicultural/Romance
Big promotion, complete with $300 pen? Check.
A hot man who cuddles, spends the night and makes breakfast? Check.
Waiting for the other shoe to fall? Check.
“If it feels too good to be true, it probably is.”
Five years of obsessing over her career pays off when Melanie Gordon gets a promotion that could make or break her. But the new job takes her back to her hometown to face the family she’s distanced herself from, and forces her to leave behind sexy, mysterious philanthropist Raine Mason, who just might be the man of her dreams.
By the time Raine makes his move with Melanie, her one-way ticket to Cleveland is booked. He convinces her to take a chance on him long-distance, but can’t yet trust her with the whole truth about himself.
Raine and Melanie slowly peel back each other’s layers (starting with his bicep-hugging sweater). She is finally ready to give her heart to him…until she learns the dark secret of his past. He’ll have to prove to her that love is worth the risk.
94,000 words
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