Month: November 2024

From enemies, to lovers…

AMAZON: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DL3T3JBF

She can heal the dying…

Two men—enemies of her people—will stop at nothing to have her gift, her desire and love

The Prophecy, Book 1

Trapped in a blood feud, Liz uses her healing power to bring Zeke Neekoma from the brink of death so her clan can exploit his prophecies. During the ceremony, she drapes her nudity over his, experiencing his building strength, the stunning pleasure of his caress as he takes her without warning, using her as he wills.

His hunger for a woman he’s supposed to hate isn’t what Zeke expected, nor does he intend to deny himself. Kidnapping Liz, he’s resolved that she heal his brother Jacob ambushed by her people. At his stronghold, Zeke keeps Liz captive to his and Jacob’s desires. The brothers pleasure her without restraint and in ways she’s never known. Before, her life was filled with loneliness and wanting. Now…

Used by two powerful men, threatened by her clan’s determination to get her back, Liz risks all as she surrenders to Zeke’s and Jacob’s lust, the ecstasy of their touch and her most traitorous needs.

EXCERPT:

He lay in the center of the king-sized bed. His breaths were quiet, his eyes closed, legs sprawled, one arm draped over his head as though he was sleeping.

The bullet holes in his muscular left pec contradicted that notion.

Forcing down a swallow, Liz pulled her attention from his wounds—three perfect black circles—to his face.

Her lips parted on a quiet sigh. Rarely had she seen a man wear such a look of serenity. So unlike the terror she’d witnessed on Carreon’s features or those of his men when they’d been so close to death.

Zeke Neekoma was different. The words boyish and innocent came to mind, which Liz dismissed quickly.

Looking to be in his early thirties, he was no boy. Nor was he innocent. His size, surely six-three, his sharp, masculine features and powerful form were perfect for battle against men and pleasure with women.

Heat suffused Liz, making her limbs feel heavy and weak. She recalled what Carreon and his men had told her about Zeke, no doubt a mixture of truth and lies. Not knowing which was which, she moved deeper into the dimly lit room. Spanish-style lamps created pools of honeyed light, giving the space a sacred feel one might experience in a church. The cherry-wood four-poster dominated the sparsely furnished chamber, while a series of leather wing chairs—reserved for observers—circled the bed.

The man who’d been guarding Zeke left the room. Carreon and his men went to their seats, their weight causing the chairs’ legs to scrape against the polished hardwood floor.

For one foolish moment, Liz thought the intrusive noise would cause Zeke to open his eyes and lose his blissful expression. That he’d ask why they’d pulled him from such blessed rest and what appeared to be happiness.

This man didn’t want to be healed. Liz knew it in her soul; saw it in the upward curve of his beautiful mouth. Was he the same as her father, tired of fighting? Or was he welcoming the end so he could reunite with someone he’d loved?

His parents and siblings, perhaps…or a wife.

A new rush of warmth stung Liz’s chest.

Disturbed by the sensation and her aching loneliness—the need for a powerful yet good man at her side—Liz recalled what Carreon’s lieutenants had claimed the first night she’d come here.

“He’ll murder our women and children so our line dies out, just as his kind have always wanted.”

If that was the truth, then Zeke was no different from Carreon, who hunted the weakest, eliminating them first. Once more, she examined Zeke’s face, lingering on his mouth. Instead of a sneer or a smirk, she imagined him smiling at her, his grin honest, reaching his eyes, his wanting of her obvious and—

Stop it.

What was the matter with her, indulging in a romantic fantasy when she was well aware of their people’s conflict and unending hatred for each other? Even if Zeke wasn’t a murdering psychopath, he wasn’t likely to be stirred by a woman from an enemy clan. So why was he affecting her like this? Was it a power he had…or something else. Perhaps the truth as to who he really was?

Ignoring her persistent longing, Liz replaced it with a healthy dose of distrust. “This is Zeke Neekoma?”

“You sound surprised,” Carreon said. “Why?”

About Tina:

Tina’s an Amazon and international bestselling novelist who writes passionate romance for every taste – ‘heat with heart’ – for traditional publishers and indie. Booklist, Publisher’s Weekly, Romantic Times and numerous online sites have praised her work. She’s won Readers’ Choice Awards, was named a finalist in the EPIC competition, received a Book of the Year award, The Golden Nib Award, awards of merit in the RWA Holt Medallion competitions, and second place in the NEC RWA contests. She’s featured in the Novel & Short Story Writer’s Market. Before penning romances, she worked at a major Hollywood production company in Story Direction.

On a less serious note: she’s an admitted and unrepentant chocoholic, brakes for Mexican restaurants, and has been known to moan like Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally while wolfing down tostadas. She’s flown a single-engine airplane (freaking scary), rewired an old house using an ‘electricity for dummies’ book, and is horribly shy despite the hot romances she writes.

MeWe: https://mewe.com/i/tinadonahue

Website/Blog: https://tinadonahuebooks.blogspot.com/

Newsletter: https://tinadonahuebooks.blogspot.com/p/newsletter.html

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/tina-donahue

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/146988.Tina_Donahue

Twitter: https://twitter.com/tinadonahue

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Amazon author page: https://amzn.to/1ChWFkO

Sweet ‘n Sexy Divas: https://sweetnsexydivas.blogspot.com/

Wattpad: https://www.wattpad.com/user/AuthorTinaDonahue 

Shoulda been a cowboy…

PLEASE WELCOME LYNDI’S ADVENTUROUS FRIEND LEE ANN SONTHEIMER MURPHY!

Sometimes an author finds a story but often a story finds the author. My recent release, The Cowboy’s Last Chance (The Wild Rose Press) is one of those tales that tracked me down, hollered in my ear until I sat down to write.

Cowboys have always intrigued me, both contemporary and in the past. Growing up in the historic city of St. Joseph, Missouri – where the short-lived Pony Express began and outlaw Jesse James met his end – the past was always nearby. I lived in a home built in the 1870’s and in our aged neighborhood, no one lived in anything new. Some of the streets were still brick and there were so many places an imaginative child could envision the past. At the age of nine, I attended a multi-generational family reunion where my great-grandfather’s brother took a liking to me. He asked if I could spend some time with him so I did. He told me tales about the family. An interesting man in his own right, the former prison guard at the Missouri State Penitentiary in Jefferson City, Missouri, shared stories of how the family headed for California in a wagon trail in 1849. They were bound for the gold fields but instead, they stopped in St. Joseph and stayed. It might have been because Elizabeth Bruce Lewis was with child. My great-great grandfather, the first Thomas Jefferson Lewis, was born in April of1850 in St. Joe.

My hometown in that era was a crossing spot for covered wagons heading west. It was also populated by cowboys, more than a few Native Americans, and other frontier characters. I grew up, despite living in town, attending rodeos and playing with horses at my dad’s friend’s farm. His name was Owen Pulley but I called him “Old Mac Owen.”

Fast forward from childhood to the present. I grew up and became an author, something I dreamed about while I was a student at Webster Elementary School. I penned my first novel, such as it was, in the fifth grade, scribbled in the back of my blue pressed cardboard binder. By the time I wrote “The Cowboy’s Last Chance”, I had multiple titles under my belt. Some were about cowboys, others about military men, and even vampires. My career began by writing sexy novels for another publisher but I had decided I’d rather tell a story than describe sex.

A bull riding cowboy came into my head. He was tall and lean and strikingly handsome. Calhoun Kelly had suffered terrible tragedy in his life. Despite close ties with his remaining brother’s family, he was lonely. Before long, my overactive imagination created a young woman who had experienced her own hardships. Vivian Blackburn returned to Southwest Missouri to pursue a career in freelance photography. Once she attends a rodeo, hoping for some action shots, and meets Calhoun, their attraction grows.

Here’s the blurb: When Vivian Blackburn, recently returned to Southwest Missouri after her grandmother suffered a health setback, sets out to shoot pictures at a rodeo, she’s not looking for a cowboy but when she meets bull rider Calhoun Kelly, she’s found one. They have an instant attraction and rapport, so much that she follows him on the rodeo circuit. When they can, they head back to Missouri to visit her grandmother. They’re compatible in every way but one – he has a strong Christian faith and she lost hers after her parents died. Still, they stay together through his bull riding lumps and bumps on the rodeo circuit. When Vivian experiences strange dreams that seem to warn Calhoun of upcoming danger, she doesn’t know what to think and when the messages spread through his family, everyone is concerned. Calhoun decides to hang up his spurs at the end of the season but before he does, he and Vivian are married. They decide they’ll settle at her grandmother’s old farmhouse but not until he rides his last rodeo. When he’s critically injured, his life hangs in the balance. Will Vivian find her faith and pray or be widowed? It’s a close call but time will tell.

Here’s a taste of how they met:

Vivian never noticed the cowboy until he stepped up beside her and spoke.

“I’d order something else if I were you.” His voice resonated voice deep and quiet with some twang. “Those chili dogs bark back.”

Vivian raised her head to him.. He stood at least six feet tall, with a lean body. His curly hair gleamed black as a moonless midnight beneath his cowboy hat and touched his shirt collar. Since he wore jeans, a burgundy paisley Western shirt, well-worn boots with spurs, leather chaps, and a protective vest, Vivian figured he planned to complete. “What do you mean, they bark back?”

He put his right hand over the center of his abdomen. “They’re likely to bring on a bellyache. I didn’t figure a pretty lady like you wanted that.”

“I don’t,” Vivian stated. His dark brown eyes met hers, deep and candid. Beneath the scruff, he turned out to be handsome. “What would you recommend?”

He laughed. “I don’t eat before I ride rough stock. I won’t eat until after the rodeo and probably somewhere in town. If I was going to eat here, I’d probably go for a funnel cake or maybe a turkey leg. I’m Calhoun Kelly, by the way.”

Readers and reviews seem to like the novel. The most recent 5-star review from NN Light’s Book Heaven says, in part, “The Cowboy’s Last Chance is a heartfelt Christian western romance. It’s a romance filled with emotional tension. The descriptive narration is detailed so every scene is vividly portrayed. The ins and outs of the rodeo circuit are peppered throughout the story. The plot moves at a good pace. The faith undercurrent is well-done and realistic. It’s the characters, though, that make The Cowboy’s Last Chance worth reading.” 

The title is available in both eBook and paperback formats.  In addition to these links, it can be found at Target, Walmart, Apple, Books A Million, Kobo and more.

The Cowboy’s Last Chance

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-cowboys-last-chance-lee-ann-sontheimer-murphy/1146105247

https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/the-cowboys-last-chance_lee-ann-sontheimer-murphy/53633296/

https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Cowboy_s_Last_Chance/H3Hc0AEACAAJ

https://allauthor.com/book/90806/the-cowboys-last-chance/

The Cowboy’s Last Chance

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-cowboys-last-chance-lee-ann-sontheimer-murphy/1146105247