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Audiobook Blitz: Hook Shot by Kennedy Ryan narrated by Jakobi Diem and Mia Ellis

 Hook Shot by Kennedy Ryan
Narrated by Jakobi Diem and Mia Ellis


A deeply emotional standalone romance set in the worlds of professional basketball and high fashion.
Divorced. Single dad. Traded to a losing squad.
Cheated on, betrayed, exposed.
My perfect life blew up in my face and I'm still picking up the pieces.
The last thing I need is her.
A wildflower. A storm. A woman I can't resist.
Lotus DuPree is a kick to my gut and a wrench in my plans
from the moment our eyes meet.
I promised myself I wouldn't trust a woman again,
but I've never wanted anyone the way I want Lo.
She's not the plan I made, but she's the risk I have to take.

A warrior. A baller. The one they call Gladiator.
Kenan Ross charged into my life smelling all good, looking even better and snatching my breath from the moment we met. The last thing I need is him.
I’m working on me. Facing my pain and conquering my demons.
I've seen what trusting a man gets you.
I. Don't. Have. Time. For. This.
But he just keeps coming for me.
Keeps knocking down my defenses and stealing my excuses
one by one.
He never gives up, and now...I'm not sure I want him to.

AVAILABLE ON:

Audible| Amazon| Free on Kindle Unlimited

CLICK TO BUY: LONG SHOT

CLICK TO BUY: BLOCK SHOT

CLICK TO BUY: HOOK SHOT

 

FINISHED READING? CLICK TO JOIN THE HOOK SHOT DISCUSSION GROUP

 

About Kennedy Ryan

A Top 30 Amazon Bestseller, Kennedy Ryan writes for women from all walks of life, empowering them and placing them firmly at the center of each story and in charge of their own destinies. Her heroes respect, cherish and lose their minds for the women who capture their hearts.

She is a wife to her lifetime lover and mother to an extraordinary son. She has always leveraged her journalism background to write for charity and non-profit organizations, but enjoys writing to raise Autism awareness most. A contributor for Modern Mom Magazine, Kennedy's writings have appeared in Chicken Soup for the Soul, USA Today and many others. The founder and executive director of a foundation serving Atlanta families living with Autism, she has appeared on Headline News, Montel Williams, NPR and other media outlets as an advocate for families living with autism.

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Book Blitz: Know Your Place by Shelly Ellis

KNOW YOUR PLACE BY SHELLY ELLIS

 

Success didn't come easy for three best friends from the streets. And now dangerous choices and reckless desire will push their bond to lethal limits.
A stint at the Branch Avenue Boys' Youth Institute taught Ricky, Derrick, and Jamal to unite when the going got tough. But fallout from their very different adult lives is making loyalty something they can't afford--and igniting drama they never saw coming . . .

Arrested during a city-wide raid, Ricky must inform on D.C's drug king pin, Dolla Dolla--and find the woman who loved and betrayed him. But revenge is a slippery slope that's putting a target on his back . . .

Institute head Derrick hopes reuniting with his fiancée will keep his secret affair with a colleague in the past. Unfortunately, one of his students is hiding Dolla Dolla's major stash--and Derrick's attempt to do the right thing will have shattering consequences . . .

Jamal's backroom deal with D.C.'s corrupt mayor is giving him everything he thought he wanted: money, power, and women. But murder and the unexpected return of the woman he's always loved is getting him in way over his head. His attempts to manage the damage will put him and his friends at killer odds to be the last man standing . . .

AVAILABLE ON:

AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE | INDIEBOUND | POWELLS | TARGET

 

 

CHAPTER 1

Derrick Miller stared down at the two open suitcases in front of him, closed his eyes for a few seconds, and slowly opened them again.
It was insane but, in the back of his mind, he had hoped they would disappear. Maybe the suitcases—one filled with multiple stacks of hundred-dollar bills bound neatly with multicolored rubber bands, the other stuffed with packs of white powder that was more than likely cocaine—were figments of his imagination, mini mirages right here at the Branch Avenue Boys’ Youth Institute dormitories.
But of course, they weren’t; the suitcases didn’t shimmer then disappear like a waterfall floating in the desert. They were still there with their lids yawning open, and what they contained was bared for all the world to see.
This was real, too real for Derrick’s liking.
“Come on, man! We gonna be late,” someone shouted in the hallway, shaking Derrick out of his stupor.
His eyes darted to the dormitory’s open door as two boys jogged by, probably on their way to their morning classes. Derrick’s eyes snapped back to the suitcases. He couldn’t leave them here. He certainly couldn’t let any of the boys at the Institute see them. He didn’t know whom they belonged to, but he suspected Cole, the student who was assigned to the bunk where he’d found the suitcases, knew who the owner was. He’d talk to Cole later, but his first mission was to find a place to hide these damn things.
Derrick quickly flipped both of the lids closed, zipping each of them with shaking hands. He grabbed the handles and yanked them off the bed. They landed on the linoleum floor with a thud. They had to weigh about a hundred pounds each.
Derrick gritted his teeth as he lifted the suitcases and lugged them to the door, one in each hand. He walked straight down the hall to the stairwell. A few students eyed him curiously. Several boys had a questioning look on their faces, probably wondering what the Institute’s director was doing, carrying luggage down the hall in the middle of the day like he was heading to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport fifteen miles up the road.
“Hey, Mr. Derrick!” one of the boys—dark skinned and stocky—called out as he held open the stainless steel door for him. His dark eyes dropped to the suitcases. “Damn, those look heavy! You need some h—”
“No!” Derrick barked between bursts of breath.
The boy’s ready smile disappeared.
“I mean . . . I mean, no. I-I got it. Th-thanks for asking though,” Derrick stuttered with a slight grimace.
The boy nodded just as Derrick disappeared into the stairwell and made the slow trek down the stairs to the floor below. With each step, the suitcases felt heavier and heavier. Sweat erupted on his forehead and rolled down the bridge of his nose. The short bursts of breath came out faster, making a faint whistle between his clenched teeth. The tendons and muscles in his arms started to jitter. His heart was beating fast from the stress and the strain. When he finally pushed the steel door open and reached his office, he didn’t lower the suitcases to the floor as much as hurl them.
He shut his office door behind him, locked it, and looked around frantically for a place to hide the suitcases. The office didn’t have a storage closet and the suitcases certainly wouldn’t fit in any of his cabinets or shelves. The only spot where they could possibly fit was a corner beside his file cabinet. He shoved them both into the dusty, dark space.
By now, not only was his brow sweaty, but pools of sweat had also formed under his armpits. His palms were slick with it. Sweat even dripped down his back and the crack of his ass.
When Derrick finally finished shoving the suitcases into the hiding space, he dragged across the floor a potted fiddle-leaf fig tree his fiancée, Melissa, had given him for his birthday to add a little softness to his sterile office. He set it in front of the suitcases. He then stood back and surveyed his handiwork.
It was a questionable hiding job—the plant barely provided any coverage—but it would have to do for now.
He flopped back into his rolling chair and let out a slow, long exhale. It took another ten minutes for his heart to finally return to its normal pace, for his hands to stop shaking.
How the hell did those things even get here?
How had the boys managed to smuggle something so heavy and massive into the dorms, right under the noses of the instructors and security guards? When had they done it? It must have been recently because the suitcases certainly would have been noticed during their weekly inspections of the boys’ bunks and lockers. Had someone else brought them?
Cole knows all the answers, he thought, staring at the fig tree. And that boy better tell me the damn truth!

CLICK TO ADD ON GOODREADS

 

ABOUT SHELLY ELLIS

Shelly Ellis is a NAACP Image Award-nominated women's fiction/romance author and creator of the Gibbons Gold Digger and Chesterton Scandal series. Her fiction writing career began when she became one of four finalists in a First-Time Writers Contest when she was 19 years old. The prize was a publishing contract and having her first short-story romance appear in an anthology. She has since published several novels and was a finalist for 2015 NAACP Image Award in the Literary Fiction Category, a three-time finalist for the African American Literary Award in the romance category (2012, 2016, and 2017), and a finalist for the 2015 RT Reviewers' Choice Award in Multicultural Romance category.

She is married and lives in Prince George's County, Maryland with her husband and their daughter. Visit her at her web site www.shellyellisbooks.com.

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Book Blitz: Rhyme & Reason by Nia Forrester

RHYME AND REASON BY NIA FORRESTER

 

“Maybe friendship is all that’s realistic for us right now.”
With those words, Zora ended their long-distance relationship, shattering Deuce’s vision of a life with the only woman he’s ever loved. But after months of silence, he thought he was over it. He’d moved on, hadn’t he? And as far as he knew, she might have done the same. Now Zora is back from California, and he’s thrown into an immediate tailspin. Nothing’s changed.
She’s the one, the only, his rhyme, and his reason …
But this ain’t no college romance. There are serious, grown-folks’ obstacles standing in the way, and the other woman in his life isn’t even the half of it.
And sometimes growing up might mean moving on …
Over a few short summer weeks, Deuce and Zora will have to decide whether the great love they shared in the past, is enough of a foundation to build a future.

 

Available On:

AMAZON | FREE ON KINDLE UNLIMITED

 

Click to Add on Goodreads

 

Book Chat

Authors Jacinta Howard and Lily Java are hosting a book chat for Nia Forrester’s new release Rhyme and Reason on May 5th at 7PM EDT.
To attend, you have to be a member of Because My Heart Said So, their online book and discussion group where they talk books, culture, music and of course... more books.

Click to Join

 

Enter to win a FREE ebook from Nia Forrester’s ‘Afterwards’ Series

Nia Forrester is giving away 2 ebooks for each of her ‘Afterwards’ new generation series.
All you have to do is follow her on Amazon, and click these links:

Young Rich & Black

Snowflake

Rhyme & Reason

 

About Nia Forrester

Nia Forrester lives and writes in Philadelphia, PA where, by day, she is an attorney working on public policy and by night, she crafts woman-centered fiction that examines the complexities of life, love and the human condition.

She welcomes feedback and email from her readers at authorniaforrester@gmail.com or tweets @NiaForrester.

Subscribe to her newsletter for exclusive shorts, giveaways and news of upcoming releases at: https://bit.ly/2X3yLGW

 

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AUTHOR SITE | NEWSLETTER | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | GOODREADS | AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE

Book Tour: Temptation by Chiquita Dennie

TEMPTATION BY CHIQUITA DENNIE

Age ain’t nothing but a number.
Gabriel McCollough is the star basketball coach, Top draft pick that played in one season and retired from the game of basketball from a injury and the twenty-five-year-old alpha male every young woman in town can’t help but like.

Desiree Spence is a good teacher, a good person, a quiet, reserved soul, but a chance meeting with a handsome coach, ten years her junior, tests her limits and stirs up a controversy she could’ve ever anticipated.

He wants her. She wants him. Everyone in their lives is against their relationship.

Will they give into societal pressures or follow their hearts’ desires?
Note: Chiquita writes stories with explicit language and adult content.

 

AVAILABLE ON:

AMAZON | BOOKS 2 READ

 

ENTER TO WIN

Heart of Stone 1 (e-book) & $10 Amazon gift card



PLAYLIST


EXCERPT

Prologue: Desiree
“Do you, Desiree Spence, take Gabriel McCullough to be your lawfully-wedded husband?” the pastor asked. He looked between Gabriel and me as we stared into each other’s eyes. Gabriel’s touch was reassuring; his eyes alone seemed to undress me, as though it were just the two of us standing there.
That was the moment we’d been waiting for. After multiple obstacles and breakups, I realized I needed to put myself first and not let other factors define my happiness. Gabriel showed no signs of hesitation in marrying me, and I appreciated his strength and motivation.
Over the past year, I’d taken a new job at East High School after leaving my old job as a substitute teacher. I’d dealt with David’s betrayal and getting fired. My family stood by me—even though my father wanted to kick his ass. Hearing the gossip around town helped my decision to start over in a new town and make new memories. What I didn’t expect was to encounter an overwhelming force that turned my life upside down—this smooth, charismatic charmer with rich, milk-chocolate skin and dimples, with a small scar next to his mouth. Some people might have been put off by it, but in a weird way, it made him even sexier to me. Standing tall, at around 6’3”, he had broad shoulders and thick, muscular arms that brought me comfort every night in bed—not to mention Gabriel’s soft, oval, dark-browneyes that had me melting in the palms of his hands. I loved climbing onto him every chance I got. Feeling his hands running up and down my back brought chills to my spine.
We waited before having sex again until the wedding night. It was Gabriel’s idea, and after the shock wore off, I remembered he always put my needs above his own.
David could never compare to Gabriel; many times, David came off as selfish, making plans that revolved around his own needs. He liked to show off to our mutual friends and make himself seem bigger and more important than anyone else. I could count on my one hand how many times he got involved in the community.
After several nights of tossing and turning and yearning to have Gabriel by my side, I couldn’t wait to get him alone and try something new. The church we picked out was beautiful, with its fine crystal-and-gold window trimming. Flowers adorned each row, and thanks to the high ceiling, the church choir sounded exquisite as they performed one of my favorite songs, Tamia’s “Spend My Life with You”.
“Baby, you, all right?” Gabriel asked and squeezed my hands tighter to pull me out of my trance.
A part of me felt nervous; my stomach was doing somersaults and my hands were sweaty; I was about to become someone’s wife. I looked around the room at my family, and my best friend, Sidney, as she rocked her newborn baby and my goddaughter, Coco, to sleep. If I hadn’t listened to Sidney that day and interviewed for the job, I wouldn’t have met my future love, my backbone, best friend, and my weakness.
“Excuse me, Pastor,what did you say?” I asked as our guests laughed at me for zoning out during my wedding.
“I asked, do you take Gabriel to be your wedded husband, to have and to hold, through sickness and in health, till death do you part?”
“I do,” I answered, giving Gabriel a coy smile.
“I do,” Gabriel answered huskily.
“I now pronounce you husband and wife, and you may kiss the bride.”
I heard everyone shout and cheer before we even kissed.I caught a glimpse of Gabriel’s mother and sister, whispering back and forth; apparently, his mother was not the least bit interested in what was going on at her son's wedding. I was amused by her long, sleeveless black dress and black sunglasses. Of course, she dressed like it was a funeral, instead of our wedding day. I was not surprised she showed up—just surprised she didn’t stop the wedding.
I had a great relationship with his father, grandparents, and friends. His mom thought I was the devil, and she had tried her best to keep us apart—even conspiring with his ex-girlfriend to break us up, and then trying to convince him to play basketball again and quit teaching.
Gabriel lifted my veil and stared into my eyes as the tears slowly slipped down my cheeks. Standing on my tiptoes, I met him halfway, and our mouths sealed our vows. It was a sensual, pulsating kiss that had my juices flowing. I was ready to take him into the bathroom for a quickie.
“I love you, Mrs. McCullough,” he said.
“I love you too, Mr. McCullough.”
He gently wiped the tears traveling down my face.  “How does it feel to marry a man 10 years younger than you, babe?”
“Like I have a lifetime to share new memories—”
The church doors opened, and a familiar voice cut me off. “Desiree!”
“Da—David?” I stuttered, shocked at his interruption.

 

ABOUT CHIQUITA DENNIE

Chiquita is an Author and Entrepreneur. Born in Memphis, TN, and currently a Los Angeles CA native. Her background in film/tv has taught and shaped her passion for writing with her debut romance novel Antonio and Sabrina Struck In Love. Favorite genre to write Contemporary Romantic Suspense. Since its debut, fans have embraced the unconventional love story of Sabrina Washington and Antonio De Luca. Amazon Best Seller in Italian, African American Drama,and Multicultral Romance. Check out her other work in Erotic, Paranormal and Women's Fiction under amazon.com/kekerenee.

 

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