2/20/2013 1 Comment Welcome Brenda MaxfieldThe Lance Temptation by Brenda Maxfield Sophomore Emili Jones has had it with being a boring, straight-A student. Itching for excitement, she sees plenty of it in classmate Farah Menin’s life of frequent dates and edgy adventure. Hoping the popularity will rub off, Emili latches onto Farah and manipulates herself into best friend status. The connection helps her land the hot new guy, Lance Jankins, but there’s a catch. Now a pawn in Farah’s dating games, Emili is on a crash course to betrayal. Will she realize it in time to save herself? Excerpt from The Lance Temptation (Book One of The Edgemont Collection): Farah carried her tray with its plate of green beans as if it were the royal jewels. She sashayed toward our regular table in the corner of the cafeteria, her hips lightly brushing the backs of the entire high school football team who’d already grabbed the table in the nearest the food. The catcalls began immediately. “Hot stuff,” one player yelled, and then whistled. With practiced innocence, Farah paused, and turned to face the guys. She rolled her green eyes and shook her head, feigning annoyance. A smile played on her lips. Then she fluttered her thick lashes and continued on, skirting her way to our table in the back. Oh yeah, she’s a master at everything I’m not. All Farah has to do is show up and the boys follow, frolicking like puppies around a bone. So, shameful as it sounds—I made it my business to become her friend, even if it meant dropping everyone in my tight circle. I was done being the boring, straight A girl. I wanted the hot guys to drool around me for once, and I figured the connection couldn’t hurt. Watch and learn, Farah had said. Right. I stood with my tuna sandwich stuffed inside my crumpled lunch sack, sighed heavily and followed her, trying not to let my shoes clack out my progress. Nobody’s eyes followed my every move. Well, there’s a surprise. I slid onto the bench across from her. It was Monday—the only day Farah’s halfway civilized because she’s tired from the weekend—and we were eating lunch together as usual. Farah opened her milk carton, and took a drink. She tipped her head, letting her thick red hair cascade down her back. The loose curls nearly touched her waist. Farah’s well aware how flat-out gorgeous she is, and she quickly glanced around to see who might be watching. The table of girls to the side of us stared at her. When they spotted me looking at them, they huddled together in one big gossip head. Farah saw them laughing, pointing, and whispering. Her expression hardened. “What a bunch of wannabe’s.” “They’re jealous,” I said. Farah leaned across the end of our table toward them. “Talk about me all you want, you sad groupies.” Their heads jerked apart and each one of them glared at her. Farah scowled, and then turned her attention back to me. I heard a yelp behind me, and someone hollered, “You’re disgusting!” A burst of raucous laughter filled the air. I could see Farah watching the whole scene over my shoulder. Wide-eyed, she jumped from her seat and flew to a table of freshmen girls. I swirled around to observe. Farah lunged across their strewn trays and stuck her face against a shocked girl’s nose. “Leave her alone! Do it again, and you’ll deal with me.” Her harsh voice echoed across the cafeteria. The freshmen girls were shocked into silence, but their lips fairly curled into snarls. A choked sniffle came from a girl cowering at the end of the table. Macaroni was splattered all over her uniform. Farah stood up to her full height, her cheeks blotched red. She regarded the sniveling girl. “You okay?” There was no answer. “Want help cleaning up?” The girl shook her head, picked up a napkin, and started wiping at her shirt. Farah squared her shoulders and returned to our table. I stared at her. “What was that?” “Bullies. I hate them. And where are the lunch monitors, anyway?” She picked up her fork and took a bite of green beans. “You know, sometimes you’re actually nice.” Farah grimaced. “Don’t let it get around.” I laughed and picked up my sandwich. Right then a tender feeling of protectiveness toward Farah washed over me. And that’s when he descended upon our table. The New Guy. The one I’d secretly been panting after since he transferred to our school two weeks earlier. Want to grab your own copy of The Lance Temptation? Then check out these fine retailers: Astraea Press Amazon Barnes and Noble Brenda Maxfield loves writing novels for young adults. She explores teens’ heartaches and triumphs—and always with a bit of romance thrown in to complicate matters. Brenda is a high school teacher and spends most of her waking hours with teens. She loves hearing their views on love and life, and is honored to be part of their lives. Brenda has lived in Honduras, Grand Cayman, and Costa Rica. Presently, she lives in Indiana with her husband. They have two adult children and are grandparents to one precious little guy, special delivery from Africa. When not writing or teaching, Brenda can be found at her lake cabin with a book in her hand and her dog Lucy on her lap. If you’re looking for good, clean teen reads, check out Brenda’s books! She loves getting to know her readers better, so stop by and say hello at: www.brendamaxfield.com
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2/3/2013 6 Comments Welcome Nell DixonFor all of you who don't know Nell, she is a Black Country author, married to the same man for over twenty-eight years she has three daughters, a tank of tropical fish and a cactus called Spike. Winner of the RNA’s prestigious Romance Prize in 2007 and 2010, she writes warm-hearted contemporary romance for a number of publishers in the US and the UK including Astraea Press, Myrmidon Press, Samhain Publishing, Little Black Dress, E-Scape Press and Freya’s Bower. You can find her at: Facebook: www.facebook.com/nelldixonauthor Twitter: @NellDixon or her Website: www.nelldixon.com Just a little heads up, she loves hearing from her readers. Now on to one of Nell's newest releases. Lights, Camera, Poltergeist! is my 21st title so it’s a bit of a milestone for me. It was great fun to write as I’ve visited many Manor Houses in Scotland which are very similar to Fingelly Manor in the story. I’ve always been interested in things which have no rational explanation. My great, great, aunt Lizzy was a renowned Victorian medium. Apparently she had quite a reputation for reading teacups too!
Here’s a bit more about Lights, Camera, Poltergeist! Things don’t just go bump in the night, sometimes they throw tea cups! As the presenter for Ghost Uk, the leading TV show investigating paranormal activity, Fae thought she’d seen it all. Until a Valentine’s Eve live show from Scotland’s Fingelly Manor upsets both her preconceptions and her love life. Excerpt: Fae snuggled down deeper into the chunky knitted roll neck of her sweater and wished she could shake off the eerie sensations. She puffed out a sigh and watched her breath condense in the air before her face. It wasn’t only the room that was chilly. The relationship between herself and John had taken on a distinctly frosty tinge lately too. She strolled across the room to the huge diamond leaded window that would have filled the room with light if it hadn’t been shrouded in dust and some dark red velvet drapes that had seen better days. Out in the corridor the electricians and tech staff were hammering and cursing the ancient electrical wiring. The afternoon light had already started to fade and fingers of frost were beginning to form at the corners of the window. A flicker of movement near the trees on the far side of the lawn caught her attention and she leaned forward, almost bumping her nose against the glass in her quest to see what it was. Whatever or whoever she thought she’d seen had vanished and she relaxed back on her heels. Working as a presenter on Ghost UK had made her jumpy. Every dark corner now held the possibility of something spooky. In such a deserted spot it was unlikely that anyone would be outside in the grounds, especially in this freezing weather. “Fae, darling, there you are!” She turned around to see her producer, Tim, sweeping towards her. She pasted a fake smile on her lips when she saw he was accompanied by the owner of the house, Giles McGinty, Laird of Fingelly. She’d already met Giles when she’d arrived and her impressions hadn’t been favourable. “Giles has invited us all to dinner tonight before we start filming. Isn’t that marvellous?” Tim raised his eyebrows at her. “That’s very kind.” Fae was quick enough to pick up the signal. Giles smiled at her, his gaze lingering just a fraction of a second too long on her bust before raising his gaze to her face. “The pleasure is all mine. I’m looking forward to getting to know you all better before the filming.” She suppressed a shudder as his dark eyes locked on her face. “John and I will look forward to it.” © Nell Dixon 2013 http://www.nelldixon.com Romance with Heart You can get a copy of Lights, Camera, Poltergeist from all good etailers, including: Amazon Amazon UK Why not read more about Fae in Cue Me In? Haunted happenings in a Welsh Castle. Available at Amazon. |
Felicia RogersWriting clean romance with laughter and love. Archives
April 2017
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