Freebie Friday Giveaway! SUMMER GIRLS and CAROLINA GIRL

I've got a SIGNED copy of Mary Alice Monroe's THE SUMMER GIRLS to give away along with a signed copy of CAROLINA GIRL. Leave me a comment on my Facebook page to enter the drawing!

I'll pick a winner Sunday night.

June Newsletter - Carolina Girl release day!

Carolina Girl, on sale today! At Amazon ~ B&N ~ IndieBound

Smart, ambitious Meg Fletcher had a major crush on her brother's best friend, Sam Grady. But back in high school, Meg had places to go, and Sam had things to prove, and except for one disastrous New Year's Eve, she never acted on her attraction.

Years later, in the wake of her company's restructuring, Meg is back in her family home on beautiful Dare Island to nurse her wounds and plot her corporate comeback. The last thing she needs complicating her life and her plans is Sam, all grown up and irresistible as ever.

But this time Sam is determined to make Meg notice him...

Carolina Girl is a reunion story, about first times – first crush, first sex, first big, big mistake – and second chances. It's about our fears of turning into our mothers and our discovery that maybe Mom isn't exactly the person we thought she was. It's about Meg and Sam. I hope you enjoy their story.

Happy reading!

Thank you for your support. It means more than I can say.

Visit with me, Mariah Stewart, Carly Phillips, Kristan Higgins, Susan Andersen, and Jesse Hayworth as we chat on the USA Today Happy Ever After blog about the reasons we love contemporary romance. http://usat.ly/17ljsgj

Want more Dare Island?

Click here to read an excerpt of Carolina Home about Meg's brother, charter boat captain Matt Fletcher. Matt is a stand up guy, a single dad--quiet, steady, tough, and sexy as hell. He’s the one who stayed behind, the man who’s put his own dreams on hold in support of his family. He keeps his love life uncomplicated and his heart intact by following two rules: No dating island women. And no serious relationships. Of course, all that changes when pretty young schoolteacher Allison Carter comes to the island and challenges both his son’s school performance and Matt’s notions of what his own life can be.

and in March 2014 look for Luke's story, Carolina Man!

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Carolina Girl - TWO big giveaways!

I'm doing TWO big giveaways to celebrate the upcoming release of CAROLINA GIRL on Tuesday, June 4!

The lovely ladies of Book Binge are giving away a copy of Meg and Sam's story. Contest Ends: 6/4/13 (release day!) @11:59pm. US Only. Enter by leaving a comment at Book Binge, here.

And at Plot Monkeys, fabulous Carly Phillips is sponsoring a big beach giveaway - beach book, beach towel, and beach tumbler!

Leave a comment at the Plot Monkeys blog here. Winner announced Sunday.

Good luck! Happy summer and happy reading!

"I’m here if you need anything," Sam said.

Meg narrowed those shining blue eyes. “Like what?”

He shrugged. “An ear. A shoulder.”

“Thanks, but . . .”

“A full-body naked rubdown.”

That choked a laugh from her. He watched, satisfied, as some of the tension drained from her shoulders. “I can do without the extraneous body parts, thanks.”

“Anytime,” he said sincerely. “You let me know if you change your mind.”

And tried not to imagine her tight, compact body, round and responsive under his hands. Under him.

“In your dreams, Slick.”

Probably. Tonight, for sure.

He shoved his hands into his pockets. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then.”

“Tomorrow?” She looked wary, like he was coming over to make good on that full-body naked massage.

“To work on the ramp.”

“Oh. Yes. Good idea.”

He cocked an eyebrow. “I’d take that as a compliment if you didn’t sound so surprised.”

“I meant it as one.” An actual smile this time. “I appreciate you doing this for Mom.”

“Not just for your mother.”

“And Matt.”

Matt was his best, his oldest friend. Sam shook his head. “Not only for Matt.”

She pressed her full lips together. “You’re not doing it for me.”

He didn’t answer right away. He owed the Fletchers, Tom and Tess, more than he could say. Their home had been his refuge throughout high school, an escape from his stepmother’s moods and his old man’s tirades. Tom had taught Sam to change the oil in his first car. Tess had taken him in and treated him as one of her own, equally quick with a cookie or a scold. He would have done a damn sight more for either of them than build a ramp.

But his feelings for Meg were mixed in there, too, a potent brew of attraction and regret.

He smiled at her with intent.

“Oh, no,” she said. “You don’t even know me anymore. There’s nothing between us but one lousy hookup and some memories.”

He took his hands out of his pockets. Nothing between them? “Let’s see,” he suggested and made his move.

Carolina Girl, coming June 4 from Berkley Sensation
         

Teaser Tuesday! Carolina Girl

“Want to come?”

Meg’s heart gave an extra thud. She met Sam’s gaze as his question hung on the air, heavy with expectation. She wanted to say yes, she realized, dismayed. Yes, to the building supplies. Yes, to going with him. Yes, to pretty much anything he proposed that would get her out of this kitchen and away from the career coach’s stupid questions.

So take a break. You need a little fun.

No. The sooner she finished the assignment, the sooner she could begin the real work of finding a job. She wasn’t abandoning her schedule to go joyriding around the island with the Boy Who Had Everything.

She dug in her heels, resisting the tug of temptation. “I’m not scavenging materials off a construction site. I’m perfectly capable of buying what we need.”

“Think of it as close proximity sourcing. This isn’t about money, Meggie. It’s about time and energy. A trip to the mainland and back would cost me a couple of hours and half a tank of gas. This is quicker. Get in, get out. No problem.”

Okay, she could accept his reasoning. To a point. Time is money, Derek was fond of saying. In their relationship, household chores and errands were calculated and divided as neatly as the monthly utilities. So many minutes to unload the dishwasher or carry the trash to the garbage chute, so many hours to pay the bills or wait for the super or pick up the dry cleaning . . .

Sam wasn’t anything like Derek. Maybe, in this one instance, that was a good thing. “At least let me reimburse you for the cost of the materials.”

“Nope.”

She was forced to be blunt. “Look, I don’t want to owe you any favors.”

“Consider it payback.”

“For what?” The instant the words escaped her mouth, she wished she could snatch them back. What did she want him to say? For being drunk? For taking everything you offered? For not calling you the next day or for weeks afterward? They were too old for any of that to matter now.

And if he apologized again, after all these years, she would hit him.

Carolina Girl, coming June 4 from Berkley Sensation
         

Teaser Tusday! The Reforming of Matthew Dunn

It seems only right in honor of the 2013 Romance Writers of America Golden Heart and RITA announcements (yay! congratulations, guys!) to post an excerpt from my 1998 Golden Heart winner. Enjoy!

Matt turned the pickup onto the rundown street he was forced to call home for the next three months. A half-starved cat ran for the bushes alongside an empty house. An old man, well wrapped against the chill, sat motionless on his porch. Three boys hung on the corner, watching with hostile eyes as the Chevy passed.

Matt found himself scanning the lot across from his place for a boyish figure with red hair. She wasn’t there. Pulling into the drive, he told himself he was glad. He didn’t need the hassles. He didn’t want the woman, any woman, even one with sunlight in her hair and the earth’s warmth in her smile and the devil’s own determination. And then he caught his eyes in the rearview mirror taking one last, quick check across the street, and his mouth quirked up.

Liar.

Movement pulled his attention to the front of his house. His cop’s instincts went on alert. Someone crouched on the other side of the concrete steps, half hidden by a screen of bare- branched bushes. Vandal or robber? Matt’s lips compressed. He wasn’t wearing his shoulder holster. His gun was in the house under lock and key.

Stiffly, he got out of the car, never taking his eyes from the kneeling intruder. His boots crunched on the graveled drive. For all his size, he knew how to move quietly, but it was better if his unknown visitor heard him coming. He didn’t want to startle the guy into firing.

The jean-clad rump wiggled. Matt stepped away from the vehicle, arms loose, hands ready, and slammed the car door.

A dark head wearing an Atlanta Braves cap popped into view above the steps.

“Damn,” said Richie Johnson. “You trying to give me a heart attack?”

Matt felt his tension ease even as he tamped down his irritation. “What are you doing here?”

The kid waved a muddy trowel. “Planting.”

“Planting what?”

“Flowers, man.” His tone was defensive.

Matt grinned. So, real men didn’t plant flowers. He approached the porch. Soiled clumps of squiggly roots dotted the ground. A line of holes edged the bush in front of the boy. Tan sticks stuck up like grave markers from mounds by the house.

“I don’t want flowers.”

Richie shrugged. “Don’t tell me. Tell her.”

Matt didn’t have to ask who her was. “Where is she?”

“Back of her house. She keeps digging stuff up and bringing it over for me to put in,” he confided, faintly aggrieved.

Matt glanced across the street. Sure enough, here came Tinkerbell, slim arms corded with the weight of the pots she carried, small breasts outlined by her earth first T-shirt. He noticed her nipples. In spite of the sun, the air was chilly. She ought to have on a jacket.

Squashing his involuntary pleasure at the sight of her, he rested his weight on his whole left leg, hooked his thumbs in his back pockets, and waited for her explanation.

THE REFORMING OF MATTHEW DUNN

Now available for Nook and Kindle

Freebie Friday! Hank Phillipi Ryan's THE OTHER WOMAN

Hank Phillipi Ryan's THE OTHER WOMAN is collecting awards like Easter eggs. 

I was lucky enough to see Hank last weekend at the Liberty States Fiction Writers conference. (That's me in the pink scarf; Hank is the tall and typically well-turned out blond in the black jacket.) 

Visit my Facebook page and leave a comment below the Freebie Friday post between now and midnight Sunday, March 24, to be entered in a drawing for a signed copy of THE OTHER WOMAN. Winner announced Monday!

Good luck, happy weekend, and happy reading!