Harper's Wish by Krista Ames - Review and Giveaway

Not only do I get to participate in the blog tour for Harper's Wish, but I also got to review it! Keep reading below to find out what I thought of this holiday novella. And don't forget to enter the giveaway at the end!

Christmas is supposed to be a joyous time of year, but for Harper Donaldson it’s just another day. Orphaned at an early age, she doesn’t have a single good memory of Christmas.

But, when a Santa’s Mailbox mysteriously appears in the lobby of the post office where she works as postmistress, Harper wonders what it could hurt to send her own letter to Santa.

Could he bring her the family she’d always wanted?

You can add Harper's Wish to your Goodreads List and it's

Available NOW at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Smashwords, All Romance eBooks, and Roane Publishing

I've even got an EXCERPT for you!

“Hey there. 

I just wanted to make sure you had everything you needed.”

“Holy crap! You scared me.” She stepped back with a hand over her heart and tried to catch her breath.

Fin came inside in all his shirtless cowboy glory and closed the door behind him. “Dang, I’m sorry. I seem to have a habit of doing that.” Warm palms wrapped around her bare arms.

 His touch took away the chill, but created a whole different set of emotions instead. 

She inhaled the scent of his aftershave and glanced up at him, noticing the ends of his hair, the color of burnished oak, were still damp. A vivid mental picture of him naked in the shower had her heart racing again.

Fin’s eyes darkened and, grew hungry, as if she were his next meal. Her gaze traveled to his lips, lush and begging to be kissed. The magnetic energy crackled between them, and her body swayed toward Fin’s bare chest. Her palms burned hot at the contact with his flesh. His lips crushed hers, setting her nerve endings on fire.

She returned his kiss with eagerness. Fin’s hands roamed over her back, then lower while she moved her fingers over his muscles with a feather-light touch and into his hair. Harper couldn’t fight the attraction a second longer. She sighed as his fingers fisted into the t-shirt she wore, edging it higher to reveal her smooth stomach.

“I’m sorry for being so forward, but I’ve wanted to do this since the moment I saw you.”

She expelled a soft moan of pleasure to encourage him.

Fin had the material around her shoulders when a knock sounded at the door—just before it started to push open.

“Hey, are you two oka—”

~~ REVIEW ~~

As you know, I'm a big fan of stories about potential lovers being snowed in together. It's a fabulous premise, if I do say so myself. So, when I got the chance to review Harper's Wish, I jumped at it. This story is wonderfully sweet with a dash of a spicy heroine and a hero with just a bit of salty cowboy to him. Throw in a little Christmas magic and you've got the perfect novella to heat up a cold winter's night.

I really liked Harper and her no-nonsense attitude. She's doing her best to build a life for herself in the aftermath of a rather heartbreaking childhood. As for Fin, he's adorable and committed to his family (his brother and nieces to be exact) which is a killer combination, in my opinion.

Fans of Contemporary Romance with a guaranteed spectacularly happy ending will adore this novella.

About Krista Ames:

Born and raised in Northern Indiana, Krista now resides in Northern Lower Michigan.  She is married to a very supportive man who allows her to follow her true passion of writing and never complains when she is pirated away on her computer for hours.  He is excellent at bouncing ideas around with and even helps the occasional writers block.  He’s also a terrific “in house” editor.  Krista is also a mother of 4 ornery children who keep her plenty busy.  With an addition of 2 beautiful chocolate lab sisters and a playful kitty, there is never a dull or spare moment in her household.

Krista has always loved to read and would often sit up for hours into the night not able to put down a book until she was finished.  She still reads when she can but her main focus is creating her own stories to share with the world.

She loves to communicate with her readers so please feel free to drop her a line anytime.

Visit Krista Ames on her Website ,  Blog,  Facebook ,  Twitter  and  Goodreads 

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Announcement: Old Flame (Hearts Aflame Files) Coming Soon!

Hello my lovelies!

I am here with another fabulous announcement. Are you ready? I'm ready.

My Contemporary New Adult novella Old Flame, the first book in the Hearts Aflame Files, is coming on January 15th!

The cover reveal is next week, so keep your eyes peeled. It's cute and quirky, just like the book! And if you'd like to sign up to be part of the blog tour the link is here.

It's been a busy time of year, and I hope that you all are happy, healthy, and having fun.


Old Flame (Hearts Aflame Files) 


They say if you love someone set them free. So why can’t Hannah let go? 


Hannah Sullivan has spent the past three months stalking her ex-boyfriend, lurking in the bushes and hiding behind fake social media personas, convinced she can eventually rekindle the love they once shared. But when she meets Marc, who is everything James never wanted to be and more, she begins to wonder if she’s got it all wrong. 

Hannah must come to terms with her own demons before she can decipher between her delusional mission the man of her dreams.

It's happening! It's really happening!

Well, my friends, it's been quite some times hasn't it? I'm excited to share some good news!  Melted Tears, the sequel to Frozen Heart, has been contracted with Inkspell Publishing! It will be released this August and will be available at all major ebook retailers. Yes, it's still erotic romance, but hold on to your seat and your heart because Beckett and Cressie will set out on the most dangerous adventure of their lives.

I will have more details to come soon. Keep your eyes open for teasers, the cover reveal, and sneak peaks!



Two lovers face off against a government determined to keep them apart. It’s only brave if it’s hard.    

After a decade of being alone in the wilderness, Cressenda is still adjusting to life with the man of her dreams. When Beckett hatches a plan to break her parents out of The Affinity prison work camps, Cressenda must make the biggest sacrifice of her life; trading her freedom for her parents’. Cressenda’s fortitude is tested at every turn, from surviving the conditions of West Fallen work camp to believing in Beckett’s dedication to their plan and their love, even when it looks like all hope is lost. With the help of a unlikely ally, Cressenda learns to stop fighting against her fears and embrace the power of fighting for her dreams.

Will trusting Beckett to take down The Affinity be the ultimate show of faith or a fatal mistake? 





XOXO,
Annabelle

FROZEN HEART RELEASE DAY!

It's here! It's finally here! My debut novella Frozen Heart is available today!

You can get it on Amazon, B&N, Inkspell Publishing, All Romance Ebooks and various other online retailers.

I've been lucky enough to have an amazing publicity team in Bewitching Book Tours and have been having a blast on my blog tour. I've had the opportunity to guest post on many amazing blogs as well as be interviewed by some fantastic book bloggers. The fun isn't over! There are still more interviews, more guest blogs, more reviews, and chances to win a FREE COPY of Frozen Heart!

Don't miss the Facebook Chat with me on the Vitacost Facebook page where we'll be talking about our favorite sexy book and movie characters and giving away 2 ebooks and 1 print copy of Frozen Heart.

Thank you to everyone who has been by my side on this exciting journey. I hope that this is the beginning of an amazing new path in my life.

Love, hugs and kisses to all. I leave you with some Maroon 5 fantastic-ness in celebration.

Hello, my friends. It's been forever, I know. I'm posting a big old
THANK YOU
to everyone who came out to see me at the Thousand Oaks Library Author Fair on May 20th. As promised, I am awarding a free copy of Frozen Heart to one winner who stopped by to chat and entered to win. Using Random.org, I have selected a winner!

The list as entered:

And the list with a winner chosen:





























Congratulations to Sandra S. ! I'll be emailing you the details.

The event itself was rather quiet but a wonderful experience overall. I met several other local authors, including Amazon Best Seller Kyle Fitzharris, and had a lovely time chatting with both long time lovers of books and unpublished authors looking to break into the publishing world. In all, I would liken this event to having a soft opening of a restaurant. Not too many people and just enough to begin to build some word of mouth.

I'll be back again soon, my friends. I miss waxing poetic about my life and my writing. In the mean time, I hope you've found some great books and talented authors with the monthly installment of Author Spotlight.

XOXO

Frozen Heart COVER REVEAL

It's TIME! I'm so very excited to present to you the cover of Frozen Heart! 

A decade surviving on her own. Three days with the enemy. Can love conquer all?

Cressenda knows how to survive. With her sled dogs as her only companions, she’s spent the past ten years hiding in the snow covered wilderness from the oppressive regime of the Affinity. When a routine trip to civilization takes a turn for the worst, Cressenda is forced to take refuge with the enemy or lose her life to the frozen countryside.

But Beckett, a Guard of the Affinity, is more than a man in uniform. His desperate need to help Cressenda escape both- the blizzard and the Affinity- makes her feelings for him all the more troubling. Will Beckett be true to his word and set Cressenda free? Will her heart let her leave after all they’ve shared?

As of today, it is also available for pre-order at Inkspell, Amazon, B&N, and AllRomance. The official release is August 7. 

Below is a list of all the bloggers who are hosting my cover reveal and helping spread the word about Frozen Heart. If you would be so kind as to drop by one or two and leave a comment, I would greatly appreciate it. 

http://authorvanessaleigh.blogspot.com/

http://thedaydreamer3.blogspot.com/

http://syikana-librarybookshelf.blogspot.com/

http://kindreddreamheart.blogspot.com/

http://readergirlsblog.com

http://iheartreading.net

http://seeingnight.blogspot.com

http://readingitall.blogspot.com

http://melissaselecticbookshelf.blogspot.com

http://heathercim.wordpress.com

http://sweetsouthernhome.wordpress.com

http://unputdownablebookies.blogspot.com/

http://megantalksbooks.blogspot.com

http://kindlecatchingfire.blogspot.com/

http://cecereadandwrite.blogspot.com/

http://bexbooknook.wordpress.com/

http://mothergamerwriter.com

http://mamaknowsbooks.blogspot.com

http://authoraubrie.blogspot.com

There's no crying in baseball...or writing.

First, I owe you all an apology. I've been MIA for too long. In my defense, I have had a TON of stuff going on. So many really great things have been happening. Let me fill you in on what's been eating up my time.

I finalized the manuscript of FROZEN HEART and readied myself for the rather intimidating process of querying said manuscript. Querying is no small feat. I know what you're thinking, "Just throw it in an email and send it out!" Ya, not even close. Every house has different requirements. It's paramount that you follow each publisher's requirement perfectly or your submission goes right into the trash folder. The query process takes many hours over many days. And that's just to get it out to the publishers that allow you to have simultaneous submissions at different houses.

I made the typical rookie errors. Misspellings in editor's names. Attaching wrong documents (like the first three chapters instead of a full, or vice versa). And various other ridiculous mistakes. But you know what they say – there's no crying in writing. Or was it baseball? Whatever. You know what I mean.

Instead of letting myself get all mopey (Okay, I was totally mopey, but only for like 5 minutes), I did what any self-preservationist does and kept sending that damn thing! I knew I couldn't give up. Not if I wanted to achieve my goal of being a PUBLISHED author.

And GUESS WHAT? Go on. Guess. I'm waiting.

No, not that. Okay. YOU'RE RIGHT! I TOTALLY GOT A PUBLISHING CONTRACT! I am proud to announce that Frozen Heart will be published by Inkspell Publishing this summer! I am beyond thrilled to be working with a company like Inkspell. They are new to the scene but they are high class straight out of the gate. I look forward to a long and successful relationship with them.  I'll keep you all updated as we get closer to the release date.

And that's not all. There's another big announcement coming mid-March. More fun, more romance, and more writing! I know, I'm telling you, it's been CRAZY around here! I can't wait to take you all on this ride with me. What an adventure this will be!

NaNo won the battle, but I haven't lost the war

I toiled, I typed, I spent countless hours banging my head against my laptop, but in the end, I did NOT write 50,000 words. Not even close. I wrote about 25,000 — half of the goal. I could list all of my excuses here about how I have 3 kids, how Thanks Giving weekend was spent with my family and not my computer and how some nights I just didn't have it in me to write. But I don't want to excuse my supposed failure because to me it was anything but. I WROTE 25,000 WORDS IN 30 DAYS! That is a huge accomplishment in my eyes. Although I would love to say I "won" NaNo, I most certainly didn't come away empty handed. I mean, aside from the bumper stickers I got for donating to the organization. The first draft of my novella, Frozen Heart, is nearly finished! I know, I'm stoked, too. The next two months will be spent revising, editing, polishing and killing my darlings, all to ready my novella for submission. Then I'll move on to writing a query letter which, if it doesn't kill me, will most certainly make me insane.

I also learned so much about myself and my writing process. I learned I absolutely cannot write with all three kids at home. The constant disruptions make me batty...and mean. I learned how to write more fluidly, quickly, and efficiently. I also learned to write freely, without over thinking every sentence as it hits the page. Most importantly, I tested my resolve and learned that I do truly love to write, and that pressure and expectation be damned, I love it even when it's hard and no fun at all.

If you'd like to read an excerpt of Frozen Heart you can find one here, but I'll give you a synopsis below.

In a world where the season never changes, the fate of the human race is in the hands of the family-centric and invasive totalitarian government, The Affinity. Cressenda, an Outlier, risks her life every day in the persuit of liberty and freedom. With a strict regime enforcing stringent laws in the realm of marriage and procreation, the tyranny of the Affinity has forced Cressenda to give up the idea of ever having a family. She has secluded herself in the wilderness, accepting the idea that she will never love. One snowy December day, after a particularly treacherous trip to the Collective, she meets Beckett, a Guard for the Affinity. His interest in her aloof and guarded persona gives Cressenda cause for concern. She must decide if Beckett is worth the risk of exposing herself as an Outlier, or maybe even joining the ranks of the Citizens of the Affinity again.


Now, it's Book Porn Bloggy Time! (I know, I totally forgot about this feature, too!) Although I did not read anything last month, including any and all notices and fliers sent home by my children's school, I can tell you the last book I read before NaNo started. Lover Awakened, book three in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series by JR Ward. My friends, this series is literally book porn. An ancient warrior class of sexy vampires and the women that love them. How can you go wrong? Although the hero of this installment (Zsadist) is not my favorite (which is counter to how most readers feel about him) I absolutely adore this paranormal romance series. JR Ward writes some of the best unresolved sexual tension I have ever, ever read. Some of the characteristics of these vamps, as well as the plots of each book, might make you roll your eyes, but as a good friend of mine explains it, "They're the books you love to hate." We also call them the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Vamps. Take from that what you will. If you're looking for a fun, sexy read, these are the books for you.