Redeemed by a Rebel: New excerpt, top 10 list and $100 Giveaway!

Check Cynthia Woolf's new book:

Redeemed by a Rebel 

(Book 1 in "Destiny in Deadwood Series")

Release Date: January 30, 2014                  

Genre: historical western (set in 1876 Deadwood, Dakota Territory.)                                             

Formats to buy: Kindle and Paperback 

Blurb

Jake Anderson killed a man defending his fiancée from a brutal attack, but lost her and his freedom in the process.  Now he's on the run, hunted by one of her murderers and tormented by the need for vengeance.

Becky Finnegan will do anything to escape her drunken father's fists, including slave away at their mine.  Her only hope is to strike gold and make a new life for herself somewhere far, far away from Deadwood.  But then Jake arrives and does the unthinkable...forces her to feel, to hope...and to love.

Jake would give his life to protect Becky, but all he can offer her is a broken heart, a criminal's life, and a past haunted by failure.  How can he save her when he's already lost himself?  When the devil catches up to him, will he destroy everything, or can the beautiful rebel redeem Jake's lost soul?

PURCHASE:

AMAZON

Excerpt:

April 1876

St. Louis, Missouri

The iron pressed against Jake Anderson’s back was almost as cold as the rain pouring out of the night sky.

“Knock on the door,” demanded his brother Zach, his voice angry and on edge.

Jake did as he was told and pounded on the front door, hard enough to be heard over the din of the rain.

“What the hell?” said his eldest brother, Liam, when he opened the door. “Jake? Zach? What are you two doing here? It’s the middle of the night.”

Zach growled from behind Jake. “Are you going to let us in or make us stand in this rain all night?”

“Come in. Zach, put that gun away.”

“Can’t until the kid here,” he poked Jake in the back with the gun, “is inside and we’ve talked to you.”

Jake walked into the foyer of the house his oldest brother owned in St. Louis. Steamer trunks and carpet bags lined the hallway down to the parlor.

“Sorry to do this to you, Liam. I know you’re leaving tomorrow,” said Zach, laying his hat on one of the trunks.

Jake threw his hat on the trunk next to Zach’s.

“Yes. At first light. Now, tell me what’s going on and why you brought Jake here at gun point,” said Liam.

“Only way I could get him to come.”

“And?” Liam said, exasperated. “Don’t make me beat the story out of you word by word, little brother. Just tell me the problem.”

Liam pointed at the two chairs in front of the fire, then went to the fireplace and stoked the banked coals to life. He added a piece of wood to the tiny flames before he turned once again to face them. “Jake. You first,” he said in a tone that brooked no argument.

“I killed an army captain,” Jake said, refusing to sit. He couldn’t sit. Couldn’t be still. He wanted to scream at the injustice, shout at God for his betrayal.

“Why’d you do a damn fool thing like that?”

Jake shrugged. “I didn’t have a choice.”

“There’s always a choice,” countered Liam.

Zach put away his gun. “No, there’s not,” said Zach. “There was reason for it, but he did kill the man. I use the word ‘man’ loosely.”

“Damn it, Jake. They’ll hunt you down and hang you for this.”  Liam had been a colonel with seventeen years service, Jake knew he was familiar with military justice.

“The son of a bitch deserved to die. And as soon as I can, I’m going to kill the other bastard, too.”

“He’s mine,” snarled Zach. 

“Who?” asked Liam.

“The colonel.”

“Jesus!  You two had better tell me what’s going on. Start at the beginning.”

The Author

Cynthia Woolf was born in Denver, Colorado and raised in the mountains west of Golden. She spent  her early years running wild around the mountain side with her friends.

Their closest neighbor was one quarter of a mile away, so her little brother was her playmate and her best friend. That fierce friendship lasted until his death in 2006.
Cynthia was and is an avid reader. Her mother was a librarian and brought new books home each week. This is where young Cynthia first got the storytelling bug. She wrote her first story at the age of ten. A romance about a little boy she liked at the time.

She worked her way through college and went to work full time straight after graduation and there was little time to write. Then in 1990 she and two friends started a round robin writing a story about pirates. She found that she missed the writing and kept on with other stories. In 1992 she joined Colorado Romance Writers and Romance Writers of America. Unfortunately, the loss of her job demanded she not renew her memberships and her writing stagnated for many years.

In 2001, she saw an ad in the paper for a writers conference being put on by CRW and decided she'd attend. One of her favorite authors, Catherine Coulter, was the keynote speaker. Cynthia was lucky enough to have a seat at Ms. Coulter's table at the luncheon and after talking with her, decided she needed to get back to her writing. She rejoined both CRW and RWA that day and hasn't looked back.
Cynthia credits her wonderfully supportive husband Jim and the great friends she's made at CRW for saving her sanity and allowing her to explore her creativity.



Find more about her at: 

WEBSITE

FACEBOOK

TWITTER

GOODREADS

Top 10 List by Cynthia Woolf:

My Ten Favorite Cowboys

John Wayne in every western he ever did but especially from McClintock with Maureen O’Hara

Dean Martin from The Sons of Katie Elder

Colt Thunder from Savage Thunder by Johanna Lindsey

Angel from Angel by Johanna Lindsey

Lucas Ross from Prince Charming by Julie Garwood

Caleb Black from Only His by Elizabeth Lowell

James Drury from The Virginian

Wolfe Lonetree from Only Mine by Elizabeth Lowell

Tom Selleck in Quigley Down Under

Brad Pitt in Legends of the Fall

TOUR GIVEAWAY

Be part of this international giveaway and enter to win a $100 Amazon GC

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Follow the tour:

Keep an eye on every stop.

Don't miss the interviews, guest posts, top 10 lists, amazing reviews and the super giveaway with a $100 Amazon GC prize.

February 17: Bunny's Review: Review

February 18: Black Lion Blog: Top 10 List 

February 19: A Writer's Life: Guest Post

February 20: Mochas, Mysteries and More: Guest Post

February 21: Laurie's Thoughts and Reviews: Top 10 List

                      Lindsey Gray ~ Author and Reviewer: Review

February 22: Books à la Mode: Guest Post

February 23: Little Black Notebook: Interview

February 24: My Devotional Thoughts: Top 10 List

February 26: Deal Sharing Aunt: Review

February 27: I know that Book: Review

February 28: That Girl Reads: Review

Redeemed by a Rebel blast and giveaway

Check Cynthia Woolf's new book:

Redeemed by a Rebel 

(Book 1 in "Destiny in Deadwood Series")

Release Date: January 30, 2014                  

Genre: historical western (set in 1876 Deadwood, Dakota Territory.)                                             

Formats to buy: Kindle and Paperback 

Blurb

Jake Anderson killed a man defending his fiancée from a brutal attack, but lost her and his freedom in the process.  Now he's on the run, hunted by one of her murderers and tormented by the need for vengeance.

Becky Finnegan will do anything to escape her drunken father's fists, including slave away at their mine.  Her only hope is to strike gold and make a new life for herself somewhere far, far away from Deadwood.  But then Jake arrives and does the unthinkable...forces her to feel, to hope...and to love.

Jake would give his life to protect Becky, but all he can offer her is a broken heart, a criminal's life, and a past haunted by failure.  How can he save her when he's already lost himself?  When the devil catches up to him, will he destroy everything, or can the beautiful rebel redeem Jake's lost soul?

PURCHASE:

AMAZON

Excerpt:

PROLOGUE

February 1876

The man was dead. Deader than a doornail in a rotted-out door. Lily Sutter was not going to like this. She supposed she should call her the Widow Sutter now.

Becky looked at John Sutter’s body, splayed across the rocks like the annual  sacrifice to some unknown god. She should probably try and wrangle his body onto the back of her mule, but didn’t really think she could manage the task alone. She heaved a sigh. Time to check and see if Billy was home or if she would have to collect him from The Gem. She hadn’t given him enough gold for the Bella Union.

She’d lied to him once again, only given him part of their gold. If she gave him all the gold, like he wanted, nothing would be left to buy food or the pans and other equipment she needed to work their claim. And then there’d be no gold for him to go drown his sorrows. Sorrows that were her fault, according to him, for having killed her Ma getting born. And then he’d beat her and she wouldn’t be able to work so there’d be no gold and the cycle would start again. Better to lie to him.

Resigned, she grabbed the mule’s bridle. Buster snorted at the small jerk she gave the gear as she started walking downstream along the narrow path that followed the creek. She’d made this path, going back and forth to their claim on a daily basis. After collecting Billy from the Gem, after he’d spent another night of drowning his sorrows. Better there than at their campsite where he’d just complain and then beat her for the hell of it.

She and her father, Billy, originally came from the coal mines of West Virginia. But that was so long ago and there’d been many, many stops along the way. Every time she hoped this might be the place, the one they could put down roots. But it never was. Billy leached the good will from the townsfolk until there was none left and they had to move on. She’d gotten lucky with her education. One of the ladies she worked for took pity on her and taught her to read, write and talk so she was able to get better jobs as time went on.

As for Billy, the fresh air was good for him, made him feel better but him feeling better was a two-edged sword. He felt better so, rather than working the claim, he took their gold and spent it on booze and whores at the Gem in Deadwood. He was smart enough to know he got more booze and whores for his money at the Gem than the Bella Union where they were classier but much more expensive. He was at the Gem so often she had to go and collect him about three nights a week. He’d get so drunk he couldn’t find his way out of the saloon much less back to their claim.

She’d get Dan Dority to load Billy on the mule and then, when they got back to camp, she’d untie him and let him slip to the ground. She used to try holding him up, to slow his fall, but too many times, she’d ended up trapped beneath him until she could shove his heavy body off her. And him, totally ignorant of the whole situation, blissfully sleeping off the effects of his alcohol fueled stupor. 

There’d been just as many times she left him at the Gem and let them deal with his sorry ass. Now since she needed to tell someone about Sutter, she figured she’d go ahead and get Billy, too.

Becky got on the mule and headed back to Deadwood. She went to the Gem but rather than collecting her father, she told Dan about Sutter.

“I’ll see his body gets taken care of.  In the meantime you get your father and get out. I keep telling you, this ain’t no place for a girl like you to be seen.”

“Oh, I don’t know, Dan,” said Al Swearengen, owner of the Gem and procurer of flesh. “We could give her a job that’s a lot easier than working that claim.” 

 He leaned on the hand rail of the second floor walkway looking dapper in his black three piece pinstriped suit. He wore no tie and his shirt was open at the collar. Becky craned her neck to look upward at him. “Not today, Mr. Swearengen, but I’ll be sure and keep your offer in mind.”

Swearengen laughed. A great rumble from deep in his chest. “You do that. Dan, help load Billy on to her mule.”  He turned away and went back into his office. “See you tomorrow, Becky.” he called over his shoulder.

She nodded, then looked at the fancy women lounging around the room in varying states of undress and silently agreed with Dan. She should get out. She didn’t understand how they could do what they did. She’d rather work day and night in the creek than let a man touch her in that way.

The Author

Cynthia Woolf was born in Denver, Colorado and raised in the mountains west of Golden. She spent  her early years running wild around the mountain side with her friends.

Their closest neighbor was one quarter of a mile away, so her little brother was her playmate and her best friend. That fierce friendship lasted until his death in 2006.
Cynthia was and is an avid reader. Her mother was a librarian and brought new books home each week. This is where young Cynthia first got the storytelling bug. She wrote her first story at the age of ten. A romance about a little boy she liked at the time.

She worked her way through college and went to work full time straight after graduation and there was little time to write. Then in 1990 she and two friends started a round robin writing a story about pirates. She found that she missed the writing and kept on with other stories. In 1992 she joined Colorado Romance Writers and Romance Writers of America. Unfortunately, the loss of her job demanded she not renew her memberships and her writing stagnated for many years.

In 2001, she saw an ad in the paper for a writers conference being put on by CRW and decided she'd attend. One of her favorite authors, Catherine Coulter, was the keynote speaker. Cynthia was lucky enough to have a seat at Ms. Coulter's table at the luncheon and after talking with her, decided she needed to get back to her writing. She rejoined both CRW and RWA that day and hasn't looked back.
Cynthia credits her wonderfully supportive husband Jim and the great friends she's made at CRW for saving her sanity and allowing her to explore her creativity.



Find more about her at: 

WEBSITE

FACEBOOK

TWITTER

GOODREADS

BLAST GIVEAWAY

Be part of this international giveaway and enter to win a $25 Amazon GC

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Keep an eye on Cynthia's upcoming tour for REDEEMED BY A REBEL, starting on February 17th.

Don't miss the interviews, guest posts, top 10 lists, amazing reviews and the super giveaway with a $100 Amazon GC prize.

End of the Year Giveaway!

Hi everyone!

I know this is a little late lol but I still wanted to do it.

It's a tiny way to thank you for being amazing this year that was personally really hard for me, but you made it great, always posting on time and just being part of it.

You are the best team of bloggers ever!!!

As I still owed you the last 2 tours giveaways, I decided to put 3 prizes for this one and also, if you weren't part of those tours, you have the possibility to sign up for the upcoming ones.

(which would be awesome too since I'm a little stuck with one of them lol)

Anyway, here is the rafflecopter, good luck to everyone!

It is international and there will be 3 winners!

 

ONLY FOR BLACK LION'S HOSTS!!!

If you are not a host yet and you want to be part of the giveaway, just sign up for any of the upcoming tours :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I wish you the best for 2014 and I hope you get everything you want!

Rhomy.

Cover Reveal: Inferno of Love by Allie Boniface

Inferno of Love (Hometown Heroes #2) by Allie Boniface

Quick Facts                                        

                                         
Expected release Date: January 2014                  

Genre: Contemporary Romance                                              

Formats to buy: Kindle and Paperback 

BOOK SYNOPSIS

What happens when your soul mate returns after twelve long years – and has no idea who you are?

Aubrey Anderson is a pediatric occupational therapist who’s spent the last twelve years rebuilding her life after a car accident killed her boyfriend and crushed her legs. A series of strokes on the way to the hospital left her with no memory of either the accident or the weeks leading up to it, so when she starts having nightmares she can’t explain, she decides to return to the scene to see if she can piece together her past.

Finn Cavallo is Lindsey Point's resident playboy, owner of a popular bar, and hero of the Cove Fire, when he pulled seven people from a burning building twelve years earlier. But his flirtatious personality hides the heart of a man who lost his soul mate the night of the fire. When Aubrey walks into his bar with no memory of who he is or what they had, he’s stunned – and it takes everything he has not to tell her about the summer they spent falling in love.

It's only a matter of time before bar conversation turns to passion on the beach and more. But when a series of events raises suspicion that Finn himself might have started the Cove Fire, Aubrey is forced to do whatever she can to discover the truth about both their pasts, including going back to the spot where it all began...

and here is the beautiful cover:

Excerpt:



Aubrey stared at her glass of wine. "God, I just – I wish I could remember something."

            Finn fell again just like that, watching her catch her bottom lip in her teeth as she mulled over her words. The rhythm of her voice, the way her eyes caught the light…he was nineteen all over again, crushing on another man's girlfriend without a clue of what to do about it.

            Only he wasn't nineteen anymore.

            And Aubrey wasn't here with another man.

            Forget it. He was done thinking. He moved from around the bar without a word, and as he closed the distance between them, she slipped from her stool, moving toward him and landing in his arms like she'd been there all this time. His hand went to the back of her head, cupping it and easing it closer. Her chin lifted, and he caught her mouth with his, loving the way her breath hitched in her throat. She melted into him, the warmth of her curves searing his skin and soaking into the very core of him. His eyes closed.

            He slid his tongue over her bottom lip, taking it slow, waiting for her to step back or break the connection. She didn't. A minute passed, then another. The kiss deepened, and he wasn't sure who pressed first, who wanted more urgently, but it didn't matter. Their tongues met, twisting over and under, delicious and wet and so hot he could barely stand it. Her hands moved from his shoulders to his waist to slide down the back of his jeans and pull him close, closer, until he knew she could feel the way he rose under her touch, wanting her like no other woman he'd ever been with.

            "Oh, Finn…" she said into his mouth, and the words set him on fire. He couldn't wait, couldn't hold back one more second. His palm skimmed down her dress and beneath it, to the swell of her ass and skin so smooth he wanted to taste it. She rose onto her toes, and her mouth crushed his until she pulled her lips away and moved them to his neck and his jaw line and up to his ear, leaving a breathy trail every place she touched.

            "Listen, we  – " know each other. We've done this before. He had to tell her. Didn't he?
            "I don't want to talk."

The Author

Allie Boniface was born and raised in a tiny community in upstate New York, which probably 

explains her fascination with the magic of small town life. She currently teaches high school English in the lower Hudson Valley, where she lives with her husband and two furry felines. She is the author of six contemporary romance novels; Inferno of Love is the second in her Hometown Heroes series. Allie loves chatting with other authors and readers and can be found around the Web (visit her on Facebook or Twitter, and stop by her blog to check out the latest news). She loves attending writers' conferences, giving workshops, swapping stories, and generally talking about romance. Allie loves stories set in small towns and is a firm believer in the power of love and the emotions that connect us all!

Other books by Allie Boniface:

GIVEAWAY:

Win an e-copy of Beacon of Love (Hometown Heroes #1)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Don't miss Allie's tour with Inferno of Love coming up on January!