#COOKING WITH CLORIS--GUEST AUTHOR VICKI BATMAN BAKES UP TOMATO SOUP FRUITCAKE

Photo credit

Award-winning, bestselling author Vicki Batman has written numerous romantic comedies and two humorous romantic mysteries. She describes herself as an avid Jazzerciser, handbag lover, Mahjong player, Yoga practitioner, movie fan, book devourer, chocaholic, and Best Mom ever. Most days begin with her hands set to the keyboard and thinking, "What if?" Learn more about her and her stories at her website/blog. 

Vicki's Grandmother

I Confess: My Love for Fruitcake

When I grew up, our family baked and crafted special things at Christmas time. Mom and her best friend spent hours and hours making oodles of divinity, and yes, it was divine. My sisters and I wrapped gifts for Wrap-a-thon. My grandmother baked her special holiday dessert: Tomato Cake.

The interesting ingredient in the cake is tomato soup. Sounds…strange, but you know what? If you didn't know soup was an ingredient, you'd love it too. I’m serious. You can’t taste tomato anything.

Tomato cake’s texture is dense, like regular fruitcake, and could be labeled a “fruitcake” when fruit is included. If you research online, you will see a bundt cake version. Grandmother mixed in raisins, walnuts, and chopped dates. And once, she got all radical and threw in chopped canned pears. She always baked hers in a loaf pan, yet, she didn’t frost it. Today’s version is topped with a decadent pineapple cream cheese frosting.

Our family believed Tomato Cake to be a wartime recipe. (Link to the original)

Before you get all weirdly freaked out about tomato soup in a cake, know this: I was a finicky eater; however, I loved this dessert. In fact, I adore fruitcake. There are many varieties of fruitcakes; some aren’t made with the candied fruit or alcohol we've come to associate with the treat.

Care to be daring and try a variation on Grandmother's holiday cake?

Tomato Cake

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/3 cups sugar

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons ground allspice

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Campbell's® Condensed Tomato Soup

1/2 cup vegetable shortening

2 eggs

1/4 cup water

Heat the oven to 350°F.  Grease a 13x9-inch baking pan.

Stir the flour, sugar, baking powder, allspice, baking soda, cinnamon and cloves in a large bowl.  Add the soup, shortening, eggs and water.  Beat with an electric mixer on low speed just until blended. Increase the speed to high and beat for 4 minutes. 

Pour the batter into the pan. Bake for 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for 20 minutes. 

Frost with:

Pineapple Cream Cheese Frosting:

½ C crushed pineapple with juice

2 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened 

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened 

2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract 

2 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar

Beat the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla extract in a medium bowl with an electric mixer on medium-high speed for 2 minutes or until the mixture is smooth and creamy. 

Beat in the confectioners' sugar. 

Add the pineapple and juice, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the frosting is the desired consistency. 

So why all this chatter about fruitcake? I wrote a hilarious short story entitled "The Great Fruitcake Bake-off” which is included in the Whispers of Winter holiday anthology:

The Great Fruitcake Bake-off

When five-time champion Samantha Greene teams up with her new neighbor, Dixon Roberts, for The Great Fruitcake Bake-off, they discover baking a prize-winning entry is complicated, bad guys are plotting to take the crown, and first prize isn't just about a ribbon.

Other authors in the Whispers of Winter anthology are: Nicole Morgan, Stephanie Morris, Caitlyn Lynch, Maya Bailey, Krista Ames, Sharon Coady, Donna R. Mercer, Jan Springer, Carma Haley Shoemaker, Livia Quinn, Amber Skyze, Rebecca Fairfax, Jane Blythe, Suzanne Jenkins, Stacy Eaton, Rene Webb, Marie Mason, Joann Baker & Patricia Mason, Karen Cino

Buy Link 

BOOK CLUB FRIDAY--GUEST AUTHOR AMIE DENMAN

Y

You've heard of Christmas in July? Today we're featuring a little bit of Christmas in August to offset the heat wave gripping most of the country. Romance author Amie Denman is the helpless victim of a lifetime of curiosity. She's been known to chase fire trucks on her bicycle just to see what's going on. She believes that everything is fun: especially roller coasters, wedding cake, and falling in love. Learn more about Amie and her books at her website.

The Nutcracker Ballet: sparkling costumes and snowflakes

One of the many things that says “Christmas” to me is The Nutcracker Ballet. When I was a little girl, my parents would take my three sisters and me to Playhouse Square in Cleveland to see the ballet in December. Dressed in holiday taffeta and velvet, it was beyond special for the four of us. I loved the music and the dancing, but my favorite things were the costumes.

From my seat, I would try to count how many layers of tulle and net each ballerina’s skirt held. The very best costumes in the show, in my opinion, were during the Sugar Plum Fairy’s dance and the Waltz of the Flowers. When the snowflakes fell on stage and the ballerinas swirled in layers of white, it was heavenly.

I’ve always felt this way about costumes. My dolls had envious wardrobes I made myself. I’ve sewn costumes for local musical theater in my spare time for over twenty years. When I see a show, I see costumes. A few years ago, I went with two of my sisters to see Wicked at the Gershwin Theater in New York City. It was one of the most spectacular shows I’ve seen, of course, and wow, the costumes. Glinda’s gowns were gorgeous, as they should be. But I admired the black gown worn by Elphaba. No woman can be a villain in layers and layers of black fabric. Although my seat was some distance from the stage, I know I saw sparkling beads on that black gown and I could practically hear it swish against the stage floor.

Because of my love affair with costumes, I was excited to work with Dana Mentink and Roz Denny Fox to create three love stories set during a production of a holiday classic, The Nutcracker Ballet. My main character, Jenny Roberts, is new in Christmas Town, and she pours her lonely heart into creating and re-creating shimmering costumes for the local production of the ballet. When she meets a quiet carpenter building the sets, she finds another reason to love the holidays. We hope you’ll love A Heartwarming Christmas.

A Heartwarming Holiday

This holiday season, warm your heart with 15 connected sweet, clean & wholesome holiday romances set in Christmas Town from 15 Harlequin Heartwarming authors who are USA Today, national bestselling, and award-winning authors.

There are five connected books in A Heartwarming Holiday. That means each set of three novellas shares characters and storylines! This collection of PG-rated holiday romances are all set in Christmas Town, Maine, a location introduced in the 2014 Harlequin Heartwarming release Christmas, Actually. A Heartwarming Holiday will bring you laughter, tears, and happily-ever-afters.

Book 1: Once Upon a Holiday by Anna Adams, Anna J Stewart & Melinda Curtis

Book 2: Holiday Heroes by Leigh Riker, Tara Randel & Cari Lynn Webb

Book 3: 24 North Pole Lane by Carol Ross, Amy Vastine & Cheryl Harper

Book 4: Magic Moments by Tara Taylor Quinn, Shirley Hailstock & Liz Flaherty

Book 5: Nutcracker Sweethearts by Dana Mentink, Roz Denny Fox, & Amie Denman

Buy Link 

Also available, the previous holiday anthology: A Heartwarming Christmas. 

BOOK CLUB FRIDAY--GUEST AUTHOR MELISSA KEIR

Melissa Keir has always wanted to be an author when she wasn’t hoping for a career as a race car driver. Along with being an author, Melissa is a wife and mother, an elementary school teacher, a movie reviewer, and the owner of a publishing company. Her home blends two families and is a lot like the Brady Bunch, without Alice. Learn more about Melissa at her website and blog.

Have Laptop Will Travel…

Laptops are my favorite writing tool. If I were to put a sticker on my laptop from each of the many destination sites it has been, the poor thing would be covered. I love that I can take my laptop and write anywhere. My favorite place to write (and where I’m writing tonight) is my bed. The king-sized bed has room enough for me to layback and type while my two doggies curl up at my feet. They are always around when I’m writing and keep me company. Even hubby likes to curl up with a book in bed while I write.

My laptop has allowed me to write on my honeymoon in Vegas, in the camper near the Michigan city of Cheboygan, where I enjoyed watching the ducks on the water and to my own living room couch. The only necessity is that I have Internet. So sometimes, I’m hanging out in a parking lot of the nearest library while I read and answer emails or post information on my blog. When I don’t have Internet…watch out! My darling hubby will tell you, I’m not the nicest person then!

Recently, I decided to stop teaching full time so that I would have more time for writing and the other work I do (publishing, radio movie reviews). I was finding that the downside of “have laptop will travel” is that I was grading papers during a family dinner at a restaurant, typing away during Hors d'oeuvres at my in-laws’ house and using every minute of my lunch to post and comment on blogs. There wasn’t time for my family or even myself.

Thankfully, I’ve found a way to balance my time on the computer.

Do you also use your phone or computer all the time? How do you step away from your computer to allow for time with family and friends?

Cowboys Forever

Six Women—Six Cowboys Forever

Six Cowboy Love Stories by the best-selling authors who brought you Cowboy Up 1&2

Claiming a Cowboy’s Heart by Melissa Keir

Even broken souls deserve a second chance at love…

Elementary Teacher, Michelle Alt’s faced untold trials in her life, yet she continues to do what’s right to make things better for the next generation.

Cowboy Veterinarian, Preston Hall has lost everything in order to follow his dreams and return to his grandfather’s small town practice.

These two broken souls recognize each other’s pain and come together to heal, but fear and misunderstandings send their blossoming relationship into a tailspin. Will they be able to put aside their pain to find the love of a lifetime?

Watch the book trailer. 

Marry Me Again, Cowboy by Allison Merritt

An unlikely match made in Texas...

Greer Daily is happy running the ranch she inherited from her father until a resort opens up next door and unruly guests terrorize her livestock and destroy her fences. After she confronts two of them and the situation gets sticky, she finds herself venting her fury on sexy resort owner Guy Carter. But the smooth-talking cowboy isn't getting out of this mess easily. She wants reparations for her trouble.

Guy's first initial meeting with Greer could've gone better, but he hopes to placate her fiery temper by making amends for the fences. When a judge calls them out for being irresponsible and self-absorbed, then orders them to marry, Guy's whole world is upended. Their choices: Six months of marriage or a month of jail time. How bad can a few months with the queen of the cattle range be? Heaven if he can get her to bend, hell if she maintains her starchier than pressed jeans attitude.

Just as something deeper than friendship blossoms between them, Guy's personal assistant throws a wrench into the marriage of inconvenience. If Greer and Guy can't overcome that particular pothole, they have more to lose than their freedom--a lifetime of love.

Cowboy Apocalypse by Leslie Garcia

Can a former Marine and a Hollywood diva facing apocalyptic changes in their lives salvage new beginnings together?

When Stone Winters joined the Marines, he always meant to come home. A woman’s impossible dream kept him away so long that he doesn’t think there’s anything left—especially not when he meets Price Adams, a film star with another impossible dream. He just doesn’t think he’s up for that again.

Price Adams traded in a childhood on her grandparents’ ranch for Hollywood glitz in spite of being a teenage mother. Torn between the stardom she won and full-time custody of her daughter, she accepts one last role—in Cowboy Apocalypse, an inane movie about zombies being filmed on ranches around deep south Texas. Burned by men more times than she can remember, Price doesn’t want a man in her life—especially not one who looks down on her career and the courage she needs to let it all go.

Rock-n-Roll Cowboy by Autumn Piper

Never judge a rock band by its cover song.

A cowboy leading a rock band? Logan gets an earful from his dad every time he leaves the house to perform. His rock persona destroys his ranching cred with the old-timers, and sticking to the cowboy life instead of running off to Hollywood cost him his girlfriend. Yet, he dreams of success in both worlds, and he’s determined to find a way.

Melody agrees to run a publicity campaign for a local rock band, fully immune to the sexy lead singer’s magnetism—she had childhood experience with a rocker’s absences. Still, Logan is charming, and vulnerable. And persistent…

Logan can tell Melody’s PR plan is his passport to popularity. He has to keep his hands off her, or he just might blow his one shot at making it big.

A Cowboy's Princess by Sara Walter Ellwood

Oil and water don't mix...neither does Texas oil royalty and an ex-Navy SEAL turned rodeo cowboy until danger forces them together.

All retired Navy SEAL turned rodeo cowboy Justin Tanner wants is to get to his next rodeo when a vision in a pair of tight fitting jeans walks up to him and hands him his deepest desire on a silver platter—the deed to his father’s ranch, land her grandfather had swindled him out of.

Lacey Mackenzie is true Texas oil royalty, but when her grandfather dies and leaves her the keys to the kingdom, she finds herself with more enemies than friends and only Justin’s name as the one who can protect her, but can he after she discovers only the oil under his promised ranch can save her company. When her enemies attack, he’s duty bound to save her, but can he give her the one thing she wants after a hot night of passion—his heart?

Ride, Cowboy, Ride by D’Ann Lindun

Can they find freedom together?

A locked up heart.

After imprisoned in a federal penitentiary for ten years over a woman's betrayal, the last thing Lyle Landry is looking for is love.  A quick tumble?  Sure.  A cold beer?  Absolutely.  And then he's on to the rodeo circuit to reclaim his title.

Broke, busted and blue.

After her ex-husband leaves her high, dry and dead broke, another man isn’t high on Sarah Reed’s list. Especially a sexy ex-con who makes it perfectly clear he’s not interested in more than a one night stand. But his determination to make something out of himself impresses her more than she wants to admit, and she falls hard for the cowboy.

Buy Links:

paperback 
ebook 

WEDDING DRESS HISTORY WITH GUEST AUTHOR AILEEN HARDWOOD

The Wedding of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert

Aileen Harkwood is a Readers’ Crown finalist who lives in the Southern Rockies. The Last Wedding at Drayhome is the prequel to two concurrent series of fantasy romances, Spell Touched and Wedding Spell, due out in September. Learn more about her and her books at her website. 

Queen Victoria

And the Bride Wore Brown?

Many assume the traditional wedding dress for a bride in the western world has always been white, but that’s because few of us alive today were born early enough to remember differently. Can you imagine a bride in red? Were you a young girl from a wealthy European family during the 19th century, you might have daydreamed about wearing a scarlet gown draped in fur to your nuptials. Historically brides have worn a variety of colors, gray, black, yellow, and yes, brown.

Many assume today’s wedding dresses are white because that is the only color one connects with purity, when in fact blue was originally the color to communicate that virtue and was a popular choice for wedding gowns through the 1800s.

So how did white weddings become the thing? We have Queen Victoria to thank for that. When she wed her beloved Prince Albert 175 years ago, she broke with the royal tradition of wearing a heavy brocade gown embroidered with silver thread and selected one of creamy white satin, trimmed in flounces of Honiton lace. Her goal was to support her country’s cottage lace industry, primarily housed in Honiton and Beer in Devon. Instead of a tiara, she chose a wreath of orange blossoms, a symbol of fertility. Her slippers were of white satin and her veil constructed of additional Honiton lace.

Queen Victoria's Wedding Slippers

Victoria also forever altered the cultural bias toward blue as a symbolic color for purity when a decade following her wedding Godey’s Lady’s Book championed the royal’s choice, “…white is the most fitting hue, whatever may be the material. It is an emblem of the purity and innocence of girlhood, and the unsullied heart she now yields to the chosen one.”

While the ton might have been impressed by the Queen’s daring in selecting a color that until that time was often associated with mourning, (yes, white was the color of death!), it wasn’t until the end of the 19th century that white became de rigueur across the pond. Here in the U.S. other colors weren’t pushed out until WWII, a century after Victoria’s 1840 wedding to Prince Albert.

Why? Simple economics. White is difficult to keep clean and until modern laundering technologies came along, not to mention the burgeoning prosperity of the mid-20^th century, only the wealthiest women could afford to fork over a significant wad of cash for a dress easily ruined by the first wine spill. Instead, wedding dresses were more often a bride’s “best dress,” one she was expected to wear again, gussied up for the day with a bit of lace or a flower or two.

And the bride wore brown. 

MAGICAL WEDDINGS: 15 Enchanting Romances

If you love contemporary wedding romance, enjoy a touch of the paranormal--witches, psychic pets, ghosts--or if your favorite beach read is romantic comedy, historical or military romance, don't miss this engaging boxed set of all stand-alone stories (no cliffhangers) which includes 14 new releases written expressly for this set. Whether real or only in the hearts of the bride and groom, the magic of weddings is undeniable. And irresistible! As these 15 enchanting happily-ever-afters by bestselling and award-winning authors prove. From sweet to spicy, the romances bundled into this set cross time and unite hearts, cast spells of laughter, battle wedding jitters and fight back tears, while weaving love’s hopeful magic throughout 1400 pages.

Buy Link

The story I’ve contributed to Magical Weddings is:

The Last Wedding at Drayhome (Breens Mist Witches)

Never underestimate the power of a witch and warlock in love who have nothing left to lose…

Every witch and warlock in Breens Mist, Oregon has one main talent that guides their destiny. Colleen McColly’s gift is to be caretaker and voice for Drayhome, a magical estate with a mind of its own. Sent under the guise of helping to prepare for a wedding, warlock Terry “Ax” Paxton has orders to evict Colleen, and end Drayhome’s century-plus-reign as the heart and soul of Breens Mist. It’s a duty against which Ax rebels, not just because it’s wrong, but because he and Colleen have a connection of their own, raw, passionate and too many years denied.

#CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA--BOTTLE CAP JEWELRY WITH GUEST AUTHOR CONDA V. DOUGLAS

Conda V. Douglas had a childhood filled with authors, artists and goats in the kitchen, buffalo bones in the living room and rocks in the bathtub. Now she fills her life with writing, cooking and jewelry making. She writes the Starke Dead cozy mystery series for adults and the Mall Fairies series for tweens. To learn more about Conda and her books visit her blog. 

How to Make Bottle Cap Jewelry and Magnets

Bottle cap jewelry and magnets can be wonderful as gifts for all sorts of occasions. A baby shower? Give a bottle cap pin with the photo of the new mom as a baby! Maybe pins for all the attendees! How about making a bunch of Christmas bottle cap ornaments? Give out bottle cap magnets for a Halloween treat! Do six magnets with lovely, perhaps even personal, sayings printed on fun paper and place in a nice little metal box for a fun gift. Or bottle cap magnets for an easy project for your child's class? The limit is your imagination.

Materials

bottle caps (available at craft stores or collect your own)

1” circle epoxy stickers (made for bottle cap pendants and available in craft stores) or varnish

1” circle punch

super glue

1/4" pin backs, earring backs and/or magnets

images (available in craft stores specifically for bottle caps or use magazines, greeting cards, stickers, wallpaper, etc.)

beads, buttons, charms, glitter glue, etc. (optional)

1. Using the circle punch, cut out desired image.

2. Glue the image into the bottle cap taking care to smooth out any wrinkles. Note: Don’t use too much glue and don’t saturate the paper, but make sure the glue covers the entire back of the image. Allow to dry.

3. Place a 1" circle epoxy sticker on top of the image or coat the image with clear varnish. Allow varnish to dry.

 

4. If desired, glue object such as miniature charms or beads within bottle cap or add glitter glue around the inner perimeter of the bottle cap.

5. Attach pin back, earring backs, or magnet to back of bottle cap.

The Mall Fairies 3-Book Bundle

The Mall Fairies: Exile

Teenage fairy Swoop risks everything to protect her best friend from being exiled from their shopping mall home.

A Foodie Fairy’s First Foray

Pudge is exhilarated about her first day as a Foodie Fairy, until, one after another, food-filled disasters descend.

The Mall Fairies: War

Fairies, pixies and humans together! Will following their dreams lead to war?

Buy Link

The Mall Fairies Sweet Tooth Cookbook

Swoop here, one of the main characters from the tween fantasy series, The Mall Fairies, with a little bit about this cookbook. The fairies and pixies of The Mall Fairies series inspired our author, Conda, to write this series of Mall Fairy short stories, each with a (real) recipe from the story. So, here's the cookbook chock-a-block full of fairies' tales and fun, easy and most of all sweet recipes! Chocolate molasses cake, banana bread, sugar cookies, pumpkin pie and more delightful desserts await you here. 

Free Today

BOOK CLUB FRIDAY--TO LOVE A SPY BOXED SET

Marie Higgins is a bestselling, multi-published author of Christian and sweet romance novels who writes about refined bad-boy heroes who make your heart melt and the feisty heroines who somehow manage to love them regardless of their faults.  Learn more about her and her books at her website.

Got to love a spy!!

What does it take to be a spy? How about a historical spy? Those of us who love a good spy story, always think of the spy being a man, especially in history. During my research while writing my latest release, Secrets and Lies, I learned quite a bit about women spies. My story is a Victorian romance, and takes place in New York City after the Civil War in 1870. Did you know there were many women spies during the Civil War? They needed to help their soldiers in some way in hopes of ending the war. Women could get away with being a spy, mainly because the men would never suspect a woman of being in espionage.

Secrets and Lies is about Nicole Bastian who works as a Secret Agent for President Ulysses S Grant.

On secret assignment from President Grant, Nicole Bastian is tasked with investigating a string of train robberies in which government money was stolen. The stakes are high and she is utterly devastated when she uncovers information that indicates the man of her dreams, Ashton Lee, one of the wealthy owners of Conrail, is the number one suspect. Desperate to remain cool and impartial, Nicole strives to keep her suspicions quiet until she learns what Ashton is keeping from her. At the same time, she’s determined to keep her own secrets from Ashton, hoping he never finds out.

Ashton Lee is immediately attracted to the woman he’d met at the masked ball. Unfortunately, there’s something not right about her, and he can’t put his finger on why he thinks this way. She’s mysterious, beautiful, but very secretive. Dare he allow her to soften his heart? And more importantly, will she understand why he keeps secrets from her?

Check out the book trailer.

Secrets and Lies boxed set BuyLink

Secrets and Lies is also in a boxed set with five other bestselling authors, titled To Love a Spy. All the authors have written historical romance stories dealing with spies.

To Love a Spy

A collection of wickedly suspenseful and wildly charming historical romances with bold heroes and dauntless heroines who must use unconventional methods to deliver justice—and hopefully find a love that proves a perfect fit for their hearts. The collection includes:

The Lieutenant’s Promise by Aileen Fish, USA Today and National bestselling author.

Caught in the path of an impending battle between approaching Federal and rebel troops, headstrong Em Gilmore clashes with handsome Lt. Lucas over keeping her family safe. 

Secrets and Lies by Marie Higgins, National bestselling author.

Love for the man of her dreams wasn't the only thing she was trying to hide. 

Blood for Ink by LL Muir, National bestselling author.

Northwick is determined to uncover the identity of The Scarlet Plumiere, a gossip writer who has exposed his friend to the ridicule of the ton. But if he unmasks her, she's as good as dead... 

Anna and the Conductor by Bess McBride, National bestselling author. Amid the ravages of the American Civil War, abolitionist Anna Douglas and a mysterious Underground Railroad conductor risk their freedom and lives to carry others to safety. Can their newfound love survive the chaos and destruction of war? 

Love, Lies, Traitors, and Spies by Melissa Lynn Blue, National bestselling author.

The last year has harbored little more than horror and loss for Juliet Jackson, but when her fiancé, Cole Turner, shows up one night claiming to have information that will end the war she is faced with a rare opportunity to take control of her own destiny. The only problem is that Cole is serving as a Union army spy, and Juliet is a staunch Virginian... 

The Mapmaker's Wife by Kathy L Wheeler, National bestselling author.

A flippant proposal and an attack on her person finds one young woman married to the mapmaker who only needs someone to take control of his ungovernable child. Feelings quickly shift into something less platonic and when the enemy gains vital secrets, her suspicions land her in jail.

To Love a Spy boxed set BuyLink (ONLY 99 CENTS!)

ROMANCE SUPER BUNDLE III: ALWAYS & FOREVER

Romance Super Bundle III: Always & Forever, the follow-up to the USA Today Bestselling Romance SuperBundle II: Second Chances is now available for pre-order.

SKIN (book 1 of Broken but… Mending), Dale Mayer

A journey of exploration...

A journey of healing…

A journey of love…

Two people are forced by circumstances into a therapy class to help them deal with their problems. They are strangers. Forced to be partners. Naturally opposites.

EVIDENCE OF TRUST, Stacey Joy Netzel

Sparks fly when a headstrong wrangler & an alpha park ranger are thrown together while he's searching for evidence to stop a poacher killing animals in RMNP. When the monster turns his sights on Brittany, Joel discovers he'll do whatever it takes to protect her.

CROSS THE LINE, Wendy Ely

Living the 'no strings' attached lifestyle has always worked for Leslie until she arrives in Phoenix and meets Chris Matthews. She doesn't like bad-boys, so why can't she keep her hands off her new neighbor? Can she let him lead her places she's never been before?

TREASURE ON MOON LAKE, Amy Gamet

Tori Henderson has never forgotten her teenage crush, Gabe. When her mother gets engaged to Gabe's father, Tori assumes Gabe will be at the wedding and hatches a plan to get him back. But Gabe also has a half-brother, Jed, with plans of his own to snag Tori himself.

GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY, Donna Marie Rogers

James is furious when his shiftless brother sells half their horse ranch to match a bet. When a golden opportunity falls into Angela's lap, she takes it and sets out to prove she has what it takes to help James run the ranch—and ends up losing her heart to both.

HEARTS IN MOTION, Edie Ramer

Take two cats, a dog, a determined woman and her teenage sister… Add a businessman trying to do the right thing and a six-year-old girl with a damaged heart… And it's hard to tell who is rescuing who...

OUT OF CONTROL, Kate Kelly

One night of passion turned into a crazy, unforgettable month—until Serena McGregor walked away from undercover FBI agent Nick DeMarco. Six months later, her elusive scent still haunting him, Nick risks his career to prove Serena is innocent of a million dollar theft.

LOST IN MANHATTAN, Lois Winston

A terrorist's twisted need for revenge has claimed the lives of Sarah Montgomery's entire family. One more kill will fulfill a promise made long ago. Can a woman who can't remember and a man who can't forget stop the assassin before Sarah becomes the final victim?

ALL FOR A GOOD CAUSE, Barbara Phinney

Comedy, romance and a meddling family: Former beauty queen Janet Jemseg is asked to raise money for charity and 'marry' hunky, annoying Devon Kidder? No way! But it's for a good cause.

LADY ELINOR'S ESCAPE, Linda McLaughlin

Lady Elinor Ashworth longs for adventure, but when she runs away from her abusive aunt, she finds more than she bargained for in Stephen Chaplin, a curious barrister determined to ferret out her secrets. Cinderella meets Mr. Darcy in this sweet Regency romance.

LORD OF DARKNESS, Ava Bradley

The night Victoria Conrad runs away doesn't turn out at all like she planned. After being accosted by two ruffians, she is rescued by the horribly scarred Earl of Carlisle—only to discover she is his prisoner!

This boxed set features romances by eleven NY Times and USA Today bestselling, award-winning authors. And it’s available for only .99 cents! The set will go onside July 6^th, but you can pre-order yours today from these vendors:

Kindle

iTunes

Nook

Kobo