Genre:
NA Contemporary Romance, Modern Day Fairy Tale, Romantic Comedy
Release
Date: July 10th, 2018
Molly
Ivers thinks she is falling for the opposite of Prince Charming, and
she knows she should give him up, but, oh, the temptation.
WHEN
YOU WISH UPON A STAR
Molly
Ivers thought she found Prince Charming, complete with a devilishly
sexy accent, and six months ago she gave into their undeniable
attraction. But the swarm of ever-present groupies was so not part of
the fairy tale. As much as it hurt her heart, she shut out rocker
Evan Castle.
Now,
on the verge of finishing her graduate degree and moving to Paris—she
even hires a French life coach—Molly begins to realize Evan, who
hasn't given up on her, might be the man of her dreams after all.
Molly laughed while she told her what had happened last night, though at the moment, she wasn’t sure it was a joke. She sighed and left the computer to go make scrambled eggs.
Nell followed her to the kitchen. “So, should I call you ‘Number One’ now?”
She could never keep a straight face with Nell. Molly speared a peach slice with a fork and nibbled the end of it. Sweetness filled her mouth. “‘Make it so.’ No, nerd. He seems pretty cool. I mean, if I check it out, this may turn out to be a positive change. At the least, he’ll get me in shape for Paris. His bio says he’s from Giverny, and he’s a retired civil-rights attorney. His website says that when he retired, he decided to change his objective to improving people’s lives, which is why he’s a life coach. Pretty impressive.”
“So, you’re going through with it?”
“Going through with what?”
They both looked into the living room, where a bemused Evan stood half naked and barefoot in a pair of black pajama bottoms.
Molly licked nectar off the peach on the end of her fork to save it from dropping to the floor.
Evan’s jaw tightened, and his eyes gleamed as he zeroed in on her. He cleared his throat and lifted an empty half gallon of milk. “Sorry, you left the door cracked open. I came to borrow milk.”
“Jesus, Evan! Knock next time, or at least text. I’m in my panties.” Nell smacked him on the arm and tugged down her nightshirt as she ran past him into her bedroom.
“Sorry,” he said, but he seemed distracted as he strode toward Molly, eyes glued to her lips.
She sucked the rest of her peach slice into her mouth and wiped at a little of the nectar at the corner of her lips. Her cheeks blazed at the hungry longing in his eyes. She turned away to open the fridge to get the milk. It wasn’t uncommon for them to borrow food from one another, and he always watched out for them. He had a comforting, protective nature she’d gotten used to. She grew painfully aware of her night shorts, which had a tendency to ride up her butt and cut off at mid-thigh, and her thin white tank top. Could he see her nipples? And jeez, Louise, why did they have to harden every time he came near her? She pushed hair out of her face and poured the milk into his empty half gallon.
“Help yourself to the fruit in the bowl there. Nell had leftovers. How much milk do you want?”
“Enough for a bowl of cereal, please. I’ll get some at the store later.” His voice only dropped that low and husky during sex.
She stopped after she poured enough milk, then gave him extra.
Evan reached over her to open a nearby drawer. He took out a fork, inserted it into the flesh of a peach slice, and brought it to his lips. “Forbidden fruit, hmm?” He teased the fruit around his lips with a wicked smirk. He winked at her and sank his teeth into half the peach as he watched her, licking it.
Her mouth went dry.
Oh, he knew what he was doing.
Roxanne
D. Howard writes sizzling erotic romance with Boroughs Publishing
Group and The Wild Rose Press. She is a U.S. Army veteran, and a
Columbia College alumni. She loves to read poetry, classical
literature, and Stephen King. Also, she is an avid Star Wars fan,
musical theater nut, and marine biology geek. Roxanne resides in the
western U.S., and when she's not writing, she enjoys spending quality
time with her husband, children, and furry companions. Roxanne loves
to hear from her readers, and encourages you to contact her via her
website and social media.
The
Emperor’s Seal – the divine symbol of the Emperor on earth – is
missing. The Empress will do whatever it takes to get it
back.
Jiayi
has a gift – she can travel through time just by touching
historical artifacts. More than anything, she wants to escape the
clutches of the Empress and run away to a foreign land. Finding the
Emperor’s Seal could be her only chance at freedom, but is she
willing to risk the wrath of the Empress?
Historian
and wannabe archaeologist Zhihao has no love for the Empress or the
Qing Dynasty, but when the Empress orders him to find the Emperor’s
Seal in exchange for funding China’s first history museum, he
cannot refuse. It is only after he accepts the assignment that he
realizes the key to finding the seal lies in the hands of a palace
slave.
Civil
unrest and encroaching foreign powers threaten Jiayi and Zhihao's
mission and lives as they hunt for The Emperor's Seal.
Amanda
Roberts is a writer and editor who has been living in China since
2010. Amanda has an MA in English from the University of Central
Missouri. She has been published in magazines, newspapers, and
anthologies around the world and she regularly contributes to
numerous blogs. Amanda can be found all over the Internet, but her
home is TwoAmericansinChina.com.
From
USA Today bestselling author, Karpov Kinrade, Of
Dreams and Dragons begins
an incredible tale of magic and wonder and love. For fans of Throne
of Glass, Harry
Potter,
and Game of
Thrones,
experience a story of epic proportions.
The
day darkness descends into my life begins like any other.
Taking
care of the kids I call my own. Fighting fires in my small Northern
California town. How could I have known evil walked my streets and
would soon rip apart my world?
But
death comes for us all, and when a stranger with mysterious abilities
shows up demanding payment for a promise I never made, I refuse. When
he kidnaps my baby sister, I fight back.
And
I discover the power of the dragons within me.
Now,
I must leave everything behind and travel to a world of magic and
wonder in order to train with a charismatic dragon lord, in the hopes
that one day…
I
can save my sister.
Or
make her killer pay with blood.
But
nothing in this world is what it appears. And my closest friends are
keeping secrets from me.
Secrets
that could tear the worlds apart.
"Absolutely
amazing!" – Kayla
Erickson ★★★★★
"A
book I would read again and again" –
Alyssa
Williams ★★★★★
"run
out and grab a copy"-
Mindy S ★★★★★
"Karpov
Kinrade's words are magic, painting a picture in your mind that stays
forever."-
Courtney Cole, New York Times bestselling author
I brace myself for the cold shock of water, but instead emerge into a sea of stars. A night sky never ending. I float through the darkness, as if there is nothing but space around me. No air. No water. Only cold. Only night. And the stars and planets and moons shimmering in the unspeakable distance.
There is the sound of water breaking. I look up and see Kaden appear from nothingness. His scarf and coat and hair drift up slowly, as if he were sinking, and he moves through the space as if swimming, until his arm is touching mine.
I want to speak, but I dare not let the air out from my lungs. I do not know if I can breathe in this strange place. Kaden gestures for me to follow him, then swims forward, toward a ring of golden light. A nebula, I think I’ve heard it called. I follow Kaden, paddling through the sky, and find that moving here is much like moving through water, but easier and faster, as if there is no friction of any kind. It's like my dreams, where I would fly as if swimming. I wonder if I am really in space, but I cannot be.
I would freeze to death.
The nebula grows larger before us, until it covers all my vision with gold. Up close now, I realize it’s not a multitude of stars as much as a wall of light. Or perhaps it changed as I grew closer. Kaden swims past me, disappearing behind the golden hue. For a moment, I hesitate to follow, but there is no turning back now. I reach out with my hand, touching the light. It feels soft and smooth and warm. With one final push, I plunge forward, letting the sea of stars engulf me in its warm embrace.
My head breaks through the surface, and I emerge as if from a deep dive, gasping for air. I stand in a shallow pool of crystal clear water, my feet touching sand that was not there before. The air is thinner here. The wind weaker. And the heat stronger.
It is bright. Night has turned to day, the sky a clear blue. Lush green bushes that look like the tops of palm trees circle the pond we just stepped out of, and thick vines fall from taller trees. Dense emerald grass covers the ground, and small purple flowers that sprout in clusters dot the landscape. Far above, I hear a shrill bird call, then a chorus of responses from the nearby trees, a beautiful song reverberating through the air. Past the trees and the grass, past this little oasis we have landed in, is an endless horizon of silver sand shining too brightly in the sun. An endless stretch of desert with no signs of life, at least above the surface.
“Something is wrong,” says Kaden, walking out of the water, his clothes dripping onto the grass. “We were supposed to arrive closer to the Cliff. This place…” His words trail off, and he stands silent, looking at the sky.
I walk onto dry land, my wet clothes rubbing against my skin. At least it’s warm. I’d be freezing in the wind. “What happened? Your fountain portal broke or something?”
“They’re not portals,” he says, “not really. It’s more about the stars. When the stars align over certain bodies of water, that water can be used to travel between worlds. All one needs is a travel talisman and the knowledge of which stars align where and when. It changes from month to month, year to year. It’s not a simple science, but I was certain we should have arrived miles north of here.” He pauses, frowning. “I heard whispers… talk of the stars fading, the light dying…”
I raise an eyebrow. “Care to explain what you’re mumbling about?”
He turns to me. “Some say this world is ending. That soon our magic will fade away and the light will vanish. That darkness will come. Of course, there are always those who speak of the apocalypse and there always will be. I gave no credence to it, but the stars…” He shakes his head. “I must have made a mistake is all. Simple as that.”
He glances around. “Now where was… ah. Here.” He runs up to a tree with emerald vines and large, multi-faceted crystals that grow in place of fruit. He brushes away a pile of sand and stone, revealing a symbol underneath: two black swords crossed over each other in an X. “One of our hidden caches,” he explains, grabbing a handle obscured in the ground and pulling. The symbol opens like a hatch, revealing a small space stuffed full of objects: clothing, a pair of daggers, something that might be food.
Kaden passes me a blue cloak and robes and a towel. “Dry off, then put these on. They will keep you warm in the night. And they’ll help you fit in with the locals.”
He grabs a pair of black robes for himself, then pulls off his shirt. He starts unbuckling his pants and—
“What are you doing?” I ask.
He pauses. “Apologies. I forget myself. Modesty is much less important on Nirandel than in your world. I’ll find a more private location.” He walks away, disappearing behind a tree.
I take the moment to undress and dry off, then put on the new robes. They are thin and light and seem made of silk, and it isn’t long until I start to feel cooler in the heat. I throw a hood over my head to shade my face, and adjust the blue cloak on my back, then check my reflection in the lake. I look as if I've stepped out of a fairytale, one about knights and princesses and wizards.
Kaden emerges from the trees, dressed all in black once again, except for his red scarf. He grabs a bag from the cache and packs our old clothing. “This look suits you,” he says.
“Is this how everyone dresses here?”
“More or less. This world is much like your medieval age in some ways, and yet quite different in others.” He pulls a scroll of leather from the cache and unrolls it on the sand, revealing pictures of mountains and trees and cities and borders. A map. Kaden points to the bottom left of the scroll. “We are here, in the Silver Desert. We need to get here.” He points to a picture of a fortress to the north.
I read the script next to the drawing. “Dragoncliff.”
Kaden nods. “The place where you will train. We call it the Cliff for short.” He points to a line on the map near our location. “We will follow this river until we reach a village. Then we can hire a carriage. I’d say we should be at Dragoncliff in three weeks.”
That’s much longer than I expected, and I feel anger burning inside me for the delay. Every moment I’m not training is a moment I waste. The faster I master my abilities, the faster I can stop Pike. But this rage is foolish. I was stupid to think this journey would be a quick one. I will need to train, but I will also need to eat and sleep and rest. I will need to learn about this new world: the laws, the manners, the customs, just so I can survive long enough to defeat my enemy. This journey may take months, I realize, even years. I will need to steel myself for what is to come.
A small creature flutters down from the trees and hovers before me, pulling me from my stupor. I almost think it a bird, but it’s unlike any bird I have ever seen. Its skin is smooth, featherless, and glows a pale blue. Though it has wings, they are more like fins, and the creature appears to swim through air rather than fly. I raise a hand, and it twirls around my finger, gently touching it with its wispy long tale. The creature hums, a sort of ethereal purr, and rubs against my palm. It has no beak, more a toothless mouth, and it seems to smile.
“Starcatchers,” says Kaden, as he grabs two water skins from the cache and fills them in the oasis. “This one seems to like you.”
I pet the little Starcatcher in my hand, half wondering if this is all a dream. “Where did the name come from?” I ask.
“They are born as little Pods.” He holds his index finger above his thumb. “Little bitty things, that can’t fly or glow. But when they’re old enough, the old tales say Pods go on a quest, a voyage amongst the stars. And when they find a star of their own, they eat it up, and let it engulf their bodies in warmth. The star becomes a part of them, and so they glow from within and forever get the power of flight. And thus a Pod becomes a Starcatcher.”
The little bird squeals in delight, then zips up, disappearing amongst the trees. I chuckle, and realize my sadness has been swept away by the little creature, at least for a while. There is so much to see here, so much to learn. Perhaps I can lose myself in this new knowledge, and make learning, and not despair, my guide.
“Tell me more about your world,” I say, gesturing to the map. “Show me your capitols and borders. Your cities and towns.”
Kaden begins. “As I said, we are in the Silver Desert. Just north of us is the city of Al’Kalash, and deep within, lies the Palace of Storms. It is where the Emperor, Titus, rules.”
“How much land does he control?” I ask.
Kaden gestures at the map. “He is Titus, the Unbroken, the Slayer of Dragons, the Emperor of Nirandel.”
“Of Nirandel… so you mean… all of it? The whole world?”
Kaden nods. “Yes. The whole world. Though of course, there are places where his laws are… difficult… to enforce. The Ashlands, for one. The Frozen Mountains, for another.” He points to the locations. The Ashlands at the center of the map. The Frozen Mountains to the north. Then he points to the east. “Here are the Sunstar Isles, where people ride giant beasts amongst the waves and study the ancient arts of Kargara, a form of martial arts.” He points to the west. “And here is La’Moko, a giant island with a proud and wise people, who believe in peace above all.”
Kaden leans back, sighing. “Once, long ago, these lands were ruled by the High Dragons.”
“The ones in the story? Half man? Half dragon?”
Kaden stares into the distance, at the silver sand, his eyes dark. “They were real. Magnificent beings with a connection to Spirits unlike any other. They could do things with Beckoning, Transmuting and Imbuing that I can only dream of. Their Spirits were like giants, titans, forces of nature capable of shaping the very earth.” There is awe in his eyes now, wonder in his words. “I dreamed of being one of them, wished for it with all my being. But…” the thrill leaves him. “But it was not meant to be. And the High Dragons were not meant to live on.”
There is a sorrow in him now, and I touch his hand with mine, seeking to ease the pain. “What happened to them?”
“First, they turned on each other,” he says. “They divided the lands amongst themselves, but like Alandel’s children, they were not content with a small piece of the world. They had to have it all, and so civil war after civil war ravaged the land. There were times of peace, of course, but they were always short lived. And then the High Dragons made a terrible mistake. They burned the wife of Titus Al’Beckus.” He pauses. “Titus was a man of the middle class, a group of people who had grown in wealth and power yet still had to heed every High Dragon’s order no matter how mad. They were tired of wars they cared nothing for, tired of rules that did nothing but rob them, and so, under Titus Al’Beckus, they rose up. Like a tidal wave, the rebellion swept through the land, killing every High Dragon in its path, until none remained.”
He takes a swig from his water skin, and says no more.
“But if the High Dragons were so powerful,” I ask, “how were they defeated in battle?”
“The Emperor’s Shadows,” Kaden says, his brow furrowed. “Little is known of them, other than they were Titus’s most loyal servants, and underwent rituals best forgotten. They are… more beast than man. Unnatural things. I pray you will never come across one.”
He turns back to the map, his mood shifting, turning lighter, as if to brush away the darkness of the past. He points to a large circle at the center of the map. “And here is the Wall of Light.”
I trace my hand over the lines on the map. “The Wall of Light? Like the one in the story?”
He nods. “It is the one in the story. The one Nir created to keep the dragons at bay. It is an Ashlord's sacred duty to defend the Wall, for if it were to fall, the Nine Worlds would be covered in death and ash.”
I point at the picture of Dragoncliff. “But if this drawing represents a fortress, then the Wall of Light is huge. Longer than all your rivers, and larger than any city. This map can’t be to scale… can it?”
Kaden sighs. “The Wall of Light is vast. It can be seen from nearly all of Nirandel. Especially in the night, when the skies are dark.”
“So it's enormous.”
“Thousands of dragons live within. Maybe hundreds of thousands. The Ashlands past the wall stretch on for hundreds of miles. We do not even possess an accurate map of them. Every couple hundred years, an Ashlord with great ambitions will set out to make one, but none have ever returned from the center alive.”
Kaden glances at the sun. “It’s past midday now. We should travel while we can. Before it gets dark. Then we’ll make camp.” He rolls up the map, stuffs it in a bag, and throws the pack over his shoulder. “Once I get a better look at our surrounding area, I should be able to pinpoint our exact location,” Kaden says. “Then it should be easy to find the river.”
“You seem to know these lands quite well,” I say.
He smiles. “There is a library at Dragoncliff full of books and scrolls. As a child, I would pour over all the maps, dreaming of adventure. I wanted to uncover new lands and discover new creatures, but as my teacher once said, such things are not for those of Ash.” He looks down. “It saddens me, sometimes.”
This world may be old to him, but it will all be new to me, and for the first time since jumping into the fountain I’m filled with something akin to excitement. Then a thought occurs to me. “You were at Dragoncliff as a child?”
Kaden doesn’t look at me. “We do not choose when we become Broken Ones, nor when we become a Twin Spirit, and my training began when I was very young.” He walks away before I can say more.
I follow him through the brush and emerge onto a desert of silver sand, a vastness of rolling dunes as far as the eye can see. Kaden stares at something in the distance, his smile fading. I follow his gaze to a ruin amongst the sands. Structures and pillars half buried in the earth, withered by time and wind and weather.
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
“That place…” Kaden clenches his fist. “That place is where my best friend was murdered.”
Karpov
Kinrade is the pen name for the husband and wife entertainment duo
Lux and Dmytry Karpov-Kinrade, aka The KK Duo.
Together,
they write award-winning, internationally and USAT bestselling books,
make music, create art, write screenplays and direct -- all the
things.
Look
for more from Karpov Kinrade in the Vampire Girl series, The
Nightfall Chronicles and The Forbidden Trilogy. If you’re looking
for their suspense and romance titles, you’ll find those under Alex
Lux.
Check
out their music by clicking on the Music tab.
They
live in wine country California with their three offspring who have
crazy creative genius oozing out of them in the form of music, art,
performance, and all the things, and too many cats who all think they
rule the world (spoiler alert: they do).
Her father’s dream. Her crossroads. And a man
who sees just her . . .
Megan Calhoun doesn’t stick with anything
long. She’s the daughter of a billionaire—why pretend to be
somebody else? Until she finds out her father’s will says she has
to. She has to last a year in the oil patch, in the dust and heat of
West Texas, working for her daddy’s company. Otherwise she’s cut
off without a cent—and no way to earn one.
The only upside is her new pal Rowdy Baker,
ex-football star, Calhoun engineer, and grade-A stud. If she has to
live in a trailer, his doesn’t sound so bad. Rowdy knows the
roughnecks running the rigs won’t take kindly to a smartass blonde
rookie whose last name matches their paychecks. He can’t control
his attraction to her. And with everyone from the foremen to the
stockholders spitting mad at the Calhouns, he expects trouble ahead.
But Megan has never been scared in her life.
And with Rowdy to help her plot, she has the chance of a lifetime: to
find her calling, to fix her company, and, if she doesn’t screw it
up—to capture a heart . . .
Gerry Bartlett is
a native Texan who lives halfway between Houston and Galveston. Her
antique business is on the historic Strand on the island. When she's
not treasure hunting, she loves heading to the Texas capitol of
Austin where she imagines her vampire Glory St.Clair of the Real
Vampire series has her own vintage clothing shop. She also loves
writing about the big city of Houston and the oil business in her new
contemporary series, Texas Heat.
Gerry
has over a hundred cookbooks but would rather read them than cook
these days. She also has way too many purses and posts pictures of
her latest finds on Pinterest. This former elementary school teacher
is working on her twentieth published novel. Her first three were
written as Lynn McKay and can be found on Amazon for a penny. Now
she's out of the classroom and happy to write under her real name.
