21 Days of Love – Coming in February!
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“Love knows no bounds, has no limits, and accepts no barriers.
The love of a Savior so merciful and kind, and to all of your lover’s faults it makes you blind.
The love for a newborn child, so gentle and sweet.
The love between a man and woman so passionate, so full of heat.
Love pulls the strings of your heart, and love will never be tamed.
When it captures you in its embrace, no one can be blamed.
Crossing the barrier from enemy to friend…Love knows no bounds.”
~ Chelle Ramsey
21 Days of Love celebrates intimate, passionate love, to gracious, merciful love. From that sweet first love to that passionate burning love, your heart will be on fire. Join 21 authors in February for a lovely celebration at: www.chelleramsey.com/beautifully-inspired-blog.
** FYI – I’ll be in the spotlight on Thursday, February 4th! **
Join me for a chance to win a free copy of The Aris Effect! 🙂
#SampleSunday | An Excerpt From The Aris Effect
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Aris pushed her pencil across the paper, bringing to life the vision in her mind earlier that morning. She would have sketched it sooner, but Luke happened and she got distracted. Most of her idea was still in her head though, and she was able to get it out as she worked quietly on the sofa in Troy’s apartment. Nate sat across from her on the carpeted floor as he toyed with a few ideas of his own while Troy wasted time delivering the latest installment of his soapbox series, “Dating Is Bullshit And I Hate It.”
Nate managed a perfunctory nod of support at the appropriate intervals but, after a while, Aris felt Troy’s eyes traveling over to her in anticipation of some kind of response to his self-important tirade.
“Hol’up…” Aris stopped sketching and peeked under a sofa cushion expectantly before patting the pockets of her jeans several times and finally shrugging her shoulders indifferently. “Damn, man. Fresh out of fucks. Check back later though. I usually re-up after dusk.”
“Your empathy knows no bounds, baby doll.” Frustrated, Troy stopped pacing and collapsed on the opposite end of the sofa. “I can always count on you.”
With a snort of amusement, Nate shook his head. “She’s like a dude that way.”
“Whatever,” Aris replied, picking up her tablet to search for images. Looking at the results, she squealed in excitement and scooted closer to Troy. “Check it out,” she said to him, shoving the tablet in his face.
He barely glanced. “Derivative.”
“Isn’t everything?” She rolled her eyes and frowned. “Stop being yourself and really look at it.”
Troy grabbed the tablet from her hands and studied the screen closely. After a few beats, he passed it back to her with a slight nod. “Yeah, I can see why you’re feelin’ it but I had something else in mind.”
Nate looked up in question. “Let me see.”
The trio spent the next hour debating the overall direction of the project along with use of color and prosthetics to achieve their creation. After several rounds of arguments and Aris bullying them with her incessant opinions and inclinations, they were finally able to reach consensus.
Aris threw her hands up, wiggling in celebration.
Troy grabbed one of her arms and pulled her into a bear hug. “Anybody ever told you how much of a pain in the ass you really are, baby doll?”
“Once or twice.” Aris looked up at him and smiled brightly. “But I’m always right though.”
Nate laughed. “You are seriously overestimating your superpowers, buddy.”
“Correction,” Troy added. “A super pain in the ass.”
“Screw y’all.” She wiggled again. “I’m worth it.”
Being in love?
REALLY loving someone??
Two totally different things…
Aris Collier is a masterful artist but, when it comes to the art of love, she couldn’t be further from her comfort zone…
For Luke and Aris, it’s all fun and games until their work and general differences get in the way. Soon, Aris is falling from cloud nine into the reality of a live-in life with Luke where she’s failing forward almost every day. On the flip side, Aris is thriving in her new career. It’s much easier to navigate and a lot less complicated…especially the synergy she finds with Troy Murphy, her partner-in-art whose mere presence begins to undermine her life with Luke.
As Aris struggles to maintain a practical balance, she learns that loving Luke Donovan is effortless…but maneuvering the nuances of a real relationship? Not so much. It’s a simple truth that she quickly discovers the hard way, forcing Aris to either confront the contradictions within herself or continue to take unnecessary gambles that just may end up costing her the love of her life…
Pre-Order Your Copy Today @ Amazon.com
#GivingMeLife
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“My friends, never allow yourself to be defined by other people’s opinions of you. They can’t walk your walk for you. Most of them wouldn’t know how.” ~ Malcolm Jamal-Warner
#NovelTracks | Flaws & All
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“I neglect you when I’m working
When I need attention I tend to nag
I’m a host of imperfection
And you see past all that”
THE ARIS EFFECT – COMING JANUARY 28!
Side Note: This is SO how I picture Aris would behave in real life… lol
#NovelTracks | Close To You
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“She had an attitude I can’t explain
You never know if you’re in flame
Tying me up with elastic words
I’m on a countdown ’til I get hurt”
THE ARIS EFFECT – COMING JANUARY 28!
Pre-Order Your Copy Today on Amazon.com
Just Thinking . . .
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“All of y’all out here jumping, hopping, skipping, diving, falling in love and shit — falling in love ain’t shit. Somebody talk to me please about how to stay there.” ~ Savon Garrison “Love Jones (1997)
This line pretty much sums up my direction for The Aris Effect. I love how real this movie quote is, and I tried my best to explore that with Aris and Luke. Throughout the better part of Dawn of Aris, they were ridiculously in love with each other, sure…but staying there?? Yikes.
But wait, before I get into that…
I published Dawn of Aris in March 2015 as a standalone novel. When I wrote the last word, I personally felt satisfied with the ending for Aris and Luke. To me, it felt complete.
Then, a few readers hit me up with excitement, unanswered questions and a request for a follow up.
It’s a good problem to have, really. I never know if people will truly connect with the characters I write, truly feel the story as a whole. So while I got the first part right and I was beyond thrilled with the reception that Aris and Luke were receiving, I also felt equally frustrated by readers’ requests for a sequel. I was literally like…more? More what?
It didn’t take long before I began to feel like I got punked. Sure, there were possibilities but could I come up with a satisfying story? I didn’t want to force it, and I wanted it to be a worthy effort. Aris and Luke deserved the “more” that readers were asking for this time around…but WHAT?
The answer took a while. In May, it was coming to me in pieces. Initial ideas and scenes. I was hesitant about what I was seeing in my mind, thinking nope. Ain’t gonna work. WTH? That’s terrible. No. Hell no. Try again.
Time was getting by. I had to get out of my head and actually write something. It was crap at first, like always, but soon the gems began to emerge as they always do, and I stopped focusing so much on the “more” readers were asking for and really thought about the characters and the story. Then, I realized that there was something missing for me too, something that hadn’t happened yet that I actually wanted…and that became the “more” I decided to write about.
As a reader and not a writer of this story I love, I needed Aris and Luke to really choose each other.
In Dawn of Aris, that never happened.
Luke and Aris coming together was entirely incidental. A cosmic happenstance, perhaps. So…random.
Yes, they fell in love in the cutest of ways (in my opinion…lol) and it was great…but by no means was it finished.
Knowing that, I finally felt ready to get to work and decided that, if Dawn of Aris is all about how Aris and Luke fell in love and got together, then I wanted The Aris Effect to be about them staying that way. I wanted to illustrate the aftermath of such an incidental coupling, and I needed them to do more than feel love, I needed them to live it, day in and day out—the good, the bad and the ugly. Because I think that’s when love is most real…when you show up, day after day, even when you don’t want to, even when you can’t stand each other and when it seems easier to leave than to stick around.
So that’s the book, basically. My attempt at capturing the transition from being in love to really loving another person…because they really are two totally different things.
Anyway. I’ve rambled long enough.
Just felt like sharing a little bit of how The Aris Effect came to be…and when it drops January 28, I hope you are as satisfied with the ending as I was when I wrote the final word.
The Aris Effect – Coming January 28!
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Being in love?
REALLY loving someone??
Two totally different things…
Aris Collier is a masterful artist but, when it comes to the art of love, she couldn’t be further from her comfort zone…
For Luke and Aris, it’s all fun and games until their work and general differences get in the way. Soon, Aris is falling from cloud nine into the reality of a live-in life with Luke where she’s failing forward almost every day. On the flip side, Aris is thriving in her new career. It’s much easier to navigate and a lot less complicated…especially the synergy she finds with Troy Murphy, her partner-in-art whose mere presence begins to undermine her life with Luke.
As Aris struggles to maintain a practical balance, she learns that loving Luke Donovan is effortless…but maneuvering the nuances of a real relationship? Not so much. It’s a simple truth that she quickly discovers the hard way, forcing Aris to either confront the contradictions within herself or continue to take unnecessary gambles that just may end up costing her the love of her life…
THE ARIS EFFECT – A NEW NOVEL FROM RAE LAMAR….COMING JANUARY 28!
DECEPTION by Shakir Rashaan
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Today, Author Shakir Rashaan is stopping by to give us a little taste from the next installment in his Kink P.I. Series! 🙂
Check out the excerpt below and be sure to pre-order DECEPTION @ Shakir’s Blog by midnight tonight to receive your autographed copy before the official January 12 release… Happy Reading!
BOOK BLURB:
Go deeper into the fetish community of Atlanta originally brought to you in Shakir Rashaan’s Obsession—the first book in the Kink, P. I. series—as Detective Dominic Law navigates the grit of the streets to solve crimes that have crossed over the line of outrageously erotic…
“What the eyes see, and the ears hear, the mind believes…”
Dominic Law is a modern-day Renaissance man, with a plethora of techniques and skills at his disposal. His first couple of cases as a private investigator taught him that everything…and everyone…is not what it seems. His latest cases are no less complicated. One involves a murdered submissive, leading his firm to weed out the real killer from among five jilted lovers—and dominants—with an ax to grind. But will someone unexpectedly plunge the case deeper into confusion? The other investigation brings to surface an issue that is at the center of debate in the fetish community: consent.
Deception takes you back to the streets and dungeons of Atlanta’s fetish community, twisting the cases to their final conclusions and guiding you through the minds of the principal players of Kink, P.I.
EXCERPT:
If this pace kept up, she would surely pass out.
Hearing the tiger-like growling as her body endured the savage fucking that she begged to continue, her eyes widened with delight as she felt the right hand of her lover begin to close around her throat. Her climax would be imminent, and there would be nothing that she could do to stop it once it arrived.
Not that she would stop it, of course, unless she was commanded to do so until her lover reached the pinnacle first.
She gasped as her eyes rolled in the back of her head, feeling the pressure of the back of her head against the headrest. Her lover didn’t miss a beat the entire time, which saddened her in a way; there would never be a repeat performance.
She wanted to delay the end, but her lover’s grip around her throat made that nearly impossible. She wondered, even in her highly aroused state and while still getting her brains fucked out, how many women had that hand choked out before she happily succumbed to its expertly tight grip.
The fact that that grip was adorned in a leather-clad glove only pushed her deeper into the abyss.
She’d experienced breath play before during sex, and with the one she was with now, she had no doubt that she would not be in harm’s way because she’d done it before with blissful results.
Seeing such a beautiful face before blacking out wasn’t so bad, she figured. She could always float in the fantasies that she would have while she was under.
She never even flinched when she began to see stars and felt that she was slipping into the darkness. She knew she would only be there for a few moments, only to be brought back into the light.
As she stared one last time at her lover before she closed her eyes to travel to that blissful space between pain and pleasure, she took comfort in knowing that it would be the first thing she saw the moment she returned from the abyss.
There was only one problem…
She never returned.
ABOUT SHAKIR RASHAAN:
Shakir Rashaan is the author of the bestselling Nubian Underworld series as well as the Kink, P.I. series (Obsession, Deception, and Reckoning) and several anthology credits, including Zane Presents Z-Rated: Chocolate Flava 3. Rashaan is also developing other projects under the pen name P.K. Rashaan. He currently resides in suburban Atlanta with his wife and two children. You can see more of Rashaan at ShakirRashaan.com
CONTACT INFO:
*NOTE: Please be advised of NSFW content on Twitter & IG*
WEBSITE/BLOG: www.ShakirRashaan.com
FACEBOOK PROFILE: https://www.facebook.com/shakir.rashaan
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/shakirrashaan
INSTAGRAM: http://instagram.com/shakirrashaan
PURCHASE BOOKS:
SIMON & SCHUSTER / STREBOR BOOKS
Book 2 – Deception | Available For Pre-Order (January 12 Release Date)
Book 1 – Obsession | Available Now in e-book and paperback
AMAZON
Book 2 – Deception | Available For Pre-Order (January 12 Release Date)
Book 1 – Obsession | Available Now in e-book and paperback
BARNES & NOBLE
Book 2 – Deception | Available For Pre-Order (January 12 Release Date)
Book 1 – Obsession | Available Now in e-book and paperback
BEJEWELED: A Beautiful Blend by Chelle Ramsey
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Author Chelle Ramsey is back again to celebrate her latest release in The House of BeJeweled Series! 🙂
Check out the excerpt below and purchase your copy today…Happy Reading!
BOOK BLURB:
Olivia believes she can have it all. A successful business and a loving husband. But his ex-wife is not ready to walk away, and continues to threaten any chance he and Olivia might have at happiness. When Olivia discovers she’s being stalked, secrets her mother took to the grave come creeping out.
The baby Nikki and Carlos have been planning is finally on the way. One problem…the paternity is at question, and Carlos is in the dark. To protect her secrets, Nikki’s ready to sever ties to both men that hold the key to her heart. But one half of her heart won’t let go, and the other half is willing to fight until the end. The birth of her child may lead to the death of her marriage.
One test has the power to determine the truth. One test will change their lives forever.
Deception will bring separation, and destiny will mend two broken hearts. And in the end, everyone must work together to create a beautiful blend.
EXCERPT:
“I don’t think it’s anything to worry about, Ivy. He’s just a harmless homeless man. They do travel around, but maybe it isn’t the same person you saw at the Buckhead location,” Raymond assured Olivia over dinner that night.
“I don’t know, Ray. He not only looked like that man, but he sounded like him, as well. There was something about his eyes. I know I’ve seen him before,” she debated.
Raymond speared a chicken breast chunk with his fork and put it in his mouth. He wore a thoughtful expression, and his mind appeared to be a million miles away.
“What is it, Ray?” she asked, setting her fork down on the side of her plate. She removed her napkin from her lap and walked into the kitchen to grab the pitcher of tea from the refrigerator.
Walking back into the dining room, she noticed that her husband was still far off in thought.
“Hey, what’s on your mind?” she asked again, refilling his glass with tea and then her own.
“I’m heading out of town this weekend,” he murmured, and then took a sip of his tea.
“What?” she asked, looking up from her task, inadvertently spilling a few drops.
“I said, I’m heading out of town this weekend,” he repeated, a little firmer and louder than she thought was necessary.
“To Boston?” she asked quietly, wiping her spill with a paper towel.
His trips back to Boston to visit his ex-wife and kids had become more frequent lately. He had visited two weekends prior. She believed the only reason he hadn’t gone last weekend was because he had to speak at a seminar for fire professionals. Each time he returned home, he came back in a bad mood.
“Yeah.”
“Why do you have to keep going up there, Ray?” Olivia whispered. She suddenly had lost her appetite and removed her plate from the table.
As she entered the kitchen she turned to look back at her husband through the breakfast nook. She thought she saw a glimpse of guilt on his face.
“They’re my kids, Ivy. I thought you understood that. How else am I going to see them?” he asked, frustration overtaking his expressions.
“I do understand that, Ray. But I also understand that you haven’t fought for your rights. Why don’t you take her to court? She cannot keep battling you and refusing to allow you time with them unless you return to Boston,” Olivia argued back.
“I told you once before I don’t want to drag her to court. She might’ve been crap as a wife, but first and foremost she’s the mother of my kids. And I will give her the respect she deserves for that, if for nothing else.” He scooted his chair back and grabbed his plate to bring it into the kitchen where she stood. From the looks of his plate, she wasn’t the only one who had lost their appetite.
ABOUT CHELLE RAMSEY:
An original Georgia Peach, Chelle Ramsey is a fiction author, writing stories to encourage, empower, entertain and strengthen readers. Many of her stories are based in her birthplace of Atlanta or her husband’s hometown of Cincinnati, where readers can relate to local hot spots and events. She wants her readers (women and men) to become empowered to rise above adversity, with faith in God, and belief in themselves.
Chelle holds an MBA in Human Resource Management, which she puts to use in her property management role by day, while she writes her fiction novels by night. Her most important roles are those of a wife and mother of three. During her “me time,” she loves listening to music, and becomes enraptured with the enthralling stories of Terry McMillan and Nora Roberts. She especially relishes trying to solve the engaging mysteries of James Patterson and Stuart Woods while eating a bowl of her favorite butter pecan ice cream. Chelle resides in a rural community of Atlanta, GA and enjoys writing, family time, and watching NBA games with her husband.
CONTACT INFO:
BLOG: www.chelleramsey.com/beautifully-inspired-blog
WEBSITE: www.chelleramsey.com
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorChelleRamsey?ref=hl
FACEBOOK_NOVEL:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-House-of-BeJeweled-Novels/385049478363422?ref=hl
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/ChellesBooks
EMAIL: cmichelleramsey@gmail.com
INSTAGRAM: https://instagram.com/chelleramseybooks/
GOODREADS: https://www.goodreads.com/goodreadscom_Chelle
PURCHASE BOOKS:
AMAZON: Chelle Ramsey Books
PAPERBACK: Book 1 – BeJeweled: The Flight of an Angel
Rae Lamar 