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New Adult, Romance, Coming of Age

Date Published: September 26, 2016

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There is trouble in Valdosta, Georgia. And a whole lot of it.

Abram, a methodical 23 year-old, previously homeless, hopeless romantic, has a fierce devotion to his rendezvous with love, which is seemingly not on his schedule of life. Jec, an unassuming 19 year-old feminist and natural optimist, entertains her current relationship and search for a forever kind of love that is threatened by both, what her co-workers see in Abram that she refuses to believe, as well as what she does not see: Abram’s last seventeen minutes in jail before they met.

Everything around her tells her that her obsession with dragging out what Abram offers in their courtship will end in turmoil, but something about him keeps her coming back for more, leading her to a series of exchanged love letters that do not quite make sense, at least to everyone else. Just what makes sense for her is something hidden in her past, which nobody else may ever discover as far as she is concerned. Her stubborn focus leaves no room for distractions from the masses, and she does not want to hear it.

On the other hand, Abram has a secret he is adamant about keeping that way. He enrolls into college and moves into the apartments that Jec is employed by with his refund check to get off of the streets, catching a glance from the beautiful receptionist that would present an opportunity he had not seen before. Little did he know, his transition from his tent in the forest would be one from jail to his first room in almost two years. The jail cell talk without any cameras around to record make his last seventeen minutes in the pen with a sketchy bunkmate a do or die conversation that may explain why he became homeless, why he wrote the love letters in the first place, and if both were random at all.

Briefly mild erotica at maximum. Few brief sexual innuendos.

Excerpt

Chapter 9

The same day in August, 2015

I think, for the price of a pizza, the experience of the novel is priceless.

A literary ecstasy, this was not a book I wanted to lend. I had to have it.

My co-worker interjects my thoughts, “Is that lighter fluid? What is he burning out there in our fire pit? I’m telling you Jec, that dude killed somebody. You haven’t seen him around as long as I have. The way he’s always scrunching his face, looking like a stone cold killer with all that stinking thinking. Some people struggle with who they really are. And when it goes foul, you know they don’t always catch these people.”

He picks up and holds out the book I am reading titled Wait For You, and says, “Some novels you have to read twice to really see all the beauty in the nuances, but these plots don’t always end beautifully Jec. You should start reading more of them.”

I take a bite out of an apple and stop scratching my thumb across a squiggled smear on my permanent marker to look out the window as I reply to my front desk co-receptionist, “Bobby, you’re being ridiculous. It just looked like he pulled some papers from a box and threw them into the pit. Hey, where’d he go?”

Bobby answers quickly, “No really, have you seen him using his hands on the street? He’s probably practicing some lethal judo that nobody knows right now. Hi-yah!—”

Ding-Ding.

At the sound of the front door bell I tried to smother my giggle in professionalism, but I no longer found it necessary to suppress as the blurry silhouette of the person entering the front door became clear and my laughter came to a sudden halt.

It is the guy from the fire pit of whom Bobby was just joking about that is now approaching the front desk where I sit, and my heart rate begins to decrease as I feel the baritone boomp-boomp in my chest getting slower. But I cannot not look away, for he looks as if he got ran over by a train this morning from this closer view and I am not sure what is about to happen next.

I think, have we not already asked what of vanity is so serious? Or is our ultra-modern scientific understanding unresponsive to the inward call of good will? Does it need a new face?

But there is something underneath the wreckage that is dark, and handsome. I’ve got a secret thing for bad boys, and this one looks like just the right amount of danger.

I inhale a deep slow breath of air just before he begins to speak.

“May I ask for the keys of the apartment I am renting please? Here is my check. My name is Abram Wedger and I am two weeks late from my move-in date.”

I let out a long slow breath.

He is gazing directly into my eyes and for a brief moment I felt I knew.

“Of course” I tell him, and then proceed to retrieve the keys to his apartment in the file cabinet. As I turn in my chair, I clumsily knock the pen holder onto the floor, scattering a few pens and pencils. I blush, then kneel to the floor, placing a knee on the ground as I pick up the utensils that are nearer to my front foot. I hastily return the pen holder to the counter trying to save face before walking to the back office and realizing one of my earrings fell out of my ear.

What is wrong with me?

When I return, he is still standing in the exact same spot, facing in the exact same direction, as if stoic in time, space, and emotion. I swiftly pick my earring up off the floor, and place it into my ear lobe.

As I go to hand him his key and re-washable cup, I remind him that “the lobby coffee is free”, and he glances at my name tag.

I lazily connect my last sentence with the next, saying “Jec, for short”.

He pauses, then shakes his head and asks “What if I want to call you something different?”

I meet his eyes with a stare of my own, slow to respond, blink, and say “It will be okay Abram.” His face scrunches for a moment and his eyes look as though he is wondering straight through me. My glance falls deeper into the hole of an eye, and I see a marble in the night, the dark side of a full moon, which can be plucked right out of the sky to place a piece of the void heaven filled should I grab it and tuck it into my pocket.

The ascension falling as the walls collapse to drop a cloud in his ear, a long fiber weaves my wonder, wherefore out there did he discover?

And I conceived a thought of a single droplet, enough months from now, falling into a gravitationally absent drip time has lost, and him not.

Before I can tell if he eased his facial expression, he walks off keys in hand without another word.

“See, I told you. Killer” Bobby says flatly, and I just return to checking my emails.

About the Author

Jeremy lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He grew up in the south Atlanta area, where he eventually earned a football scholarship to Duke University. After experiencing enough life to form his own opinions, he enjoys sharing some with friends, reading, watching fantasy thriller and romance films, listening to music, and jogging when he is not writing.

He writes new adult fiction.

Jeremy would love to hear from you. Follow him on Twitter @JTRingfield, friend him on Facebook, or visit his webpage at www.jeremytringfield.com

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All About Hope

10/7/2016

The Best of Families

10/5/2016

Royals Series

10/5/2016

Paranormal Romance

Date Published: March 2015

Daniella Clark has lived blissfully unaware of her heritage, but as her true nature reveals itself, a need rises that she cannot control. Her sexy-as-sin neighbor, Owen, eases her carnal heat and introduces her to a world she never even suspected existed.

But the weretiger prime, Erick, wants her for his own. And he is more than willing to fight his second-in-command for the woman he claimed the moment he laid eyes on her luscious form. He will do anything to protect his people, and their future rests in Daniella’s hands.

Even as Daniella revels in the sensuality of the weretiger males, she fights to maintain her sense of self. But when old enemies arise, the battle for her heart isn’t the only fight they must face. And Daniella will have to decide how much she is willing to risk for the men who want her for their mate.

Claiming Their Royal Mate: The Collection includes all four parts of the sensual, m/f/m series. The story contains steamy scenes with two tiger shifters, a smidgeon of violence, and lots of dirty talk. Happy reading!

About the Author

Tiffany Allee (aka Andie Devaux) writes sensual romance stories. When she’s not writing (or reading!), she can usually be found daydreaming, hiking, or attempting a new recipe. She thinks that life should require happily ever afters. And since she doesn’t make the rules of life, she instead applies this philosophy to the worlds she can control – the ones in her books.

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Wait Until I'm Dead

10/4/2016

Literary Fiction, Women’s Fiction, Family Drama

Date Published: May 2014

Winner. First Prize in Literary Fiction 2015 and Finalist in Cover Design 2015 -- Independent Publishers of New England.

Award-Winning Finalist in Fiction. 2015 USA Best Book Awards

Surviving family horror is one thing.

DJ Brava has the courage. She has the determination. She has friends covering her back. But when unearthing one secret leads to another and another...can she survive the fallout?

Some family members beg her to wait until they're dead. Has one of them gone too far in a misguided effort to protect someone -- or something?

This book is an entertaining page-turner for anyone who loves a good family drama full of secrets and intrigue. It has the social consciousness of a Picoult, the resonance of Sue Miller, the wit and tongue of Evanovich, the popular appeal of Anna Quindlen, and the female bonding of Thelma and Louise (without the drive off the cliff).

Praise for Wait Until I'm Dead!

“Wait Until I’m Dead! weaves a deeply personal issue with politics, complex family dynamics, and pushes the boundaries of our notions of right and wrong, good and bad. The depth and richness of Dawber’s characters feature some unusual individuals with relationships and points of view that stretch our minds to think in new ways. Using humor, Dawber’s own strong clinical experience, and a deep compassion for people, she provides twists and turns that keep us coming back for more.” Carol A. Plummer, Ph.D., Consultant, trauma therapist, author: Preventing Sexual Abuse.

“As both a long time trauma therapist and avid mystery reader, I highly recommend Wait Until I’m Dead! by Elda Dawber. Elda’s rich descriptions virtually pull the reader into a relationship with the main character. The unfolding of the character’s history is clever, seamlessly woven into the present. A must read!” Geraldine Crisci, MSW, trauma specialist, consultant, trainer; Toronto, Canada.

About the Author

Elda Dawber is a clinical social worker who has been working with abused and neglected children and their families for more than forty years. Her writing is informed by the trauma, grit, and struggle to survive witnessed in hundreds of remarkable children. This is their story, as well as the story of millions of adult survivors who will relate to its frank descriptions of the healing environment good therapy can provide. Elda lives in Rhode Island, surrounded by an amazingly loving and diverse family. It is her hope that this novel will find its way to the people who may need it most.

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I'll Always Be With You

10/3/2016

Women’s Fiction, Drama, Family Saga

Date Published: June 2015

Since the horrific night a drunk driver slammed into their car during his driving lesson, young Teddy has had to live with the memory of seeing his beloved father, Stan, die. Now just sixteen, he carries both sorrow and survivor’s guilt.

Concerned for her grieving son, Mary decides to put as much distance as she can between Teddy and the nightmarish Phoenix intersection that claimed Stan’s life. She moves the family to Stan’s small Indiana hometown, a place of peace in which she hopes they can build new memories. There, Teddy finds inspiration in an old book his great-grandfather carried with him to America, a book Bulgarian fathers have always read to their sons.

Is Stan reaching out to his son from the grave?

Mary also makes an equally life-changing discovery in the small town—Rosetta, Stan’s high school sweetheart. The deeper Mary digs, the more she learns of the forbidden love Stan and Rosetta shared. During the Civil Rights Movement, they dared to reach out for love across racial lines.

Now as their three lives intertwine, Teddy, Mary, and Rosetta must make difficult choices. Will they choose happiness? Or will old pains cause them to live as victims of circumstances?

Beginning in 1912 on Ellis Island and told in three voices over four generations, I’ll Always Be with You is a profound celebration of the power of family.

Praise for I'll Always Be with You:

"A two-tissue tale about life after loss." Kirkus Review

"...a simple but engaging tale of life after loss. It never devolves into pointless melancholy, but simmers like a pot of family recipe chicken soup, goes down wonderfully, and warms from within." Clarion Review

"...a gem of a story that has heart, soul and empathetic insights and is potent in its small moments. This beautifully crafted, touching book offers tender wisdom that will draw a wide audience and could be especially appealing to young adults grappling with insecurities and difficult times." Blue Ink Review

About the Author

Violetta Armour is a first-generation American who cherishes her Bulgarian heritage. A former English teacher and independent bookstore owner in Arizona, she has written for Highlights for Children and Chicken Soup for the Soul.

She writes monthly book reviews for Ahwatukee Foothills News and Tempe Tribune in Arizona. Her debut novel received a Readers' Views Choice Award for Fiction 2016.

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