Get Hooked: Reel in a Great Book—Surviving the Trap #MFRWHook

Welcome to Book Hooks, the weekly smorgasbord sampler hosted by the MFRW Authors Blog.

Readers: get hooked and reel in some great books. Authors are sharing short excerpts from their work. Please enjoy and consider picking up the full book by clicking on the buy link.

Today I'll be sharing a glimpse of Surviving the Trap, book one of the Top Dog Pilots series coming this summer. J

Series Tagline: Two top pilots, Max Cutter and Maggie Harper, like to mix a little personal with their professional life.

Book Tagline: A week of hell pushes Maggie into taking risking her friendship with Max by sleeping with him.

~*~

Groggily, Max glanced at the clock wondering why Maggie didn't just look for herself. "Twenty-two minutes." Yawning, he sat up, blinking and trying to focus. "Why?" Something seemed off with her, but he couldn't pin it down, so damned tired his brain rebelled against anything taxing.

Maggie grabbed his arm, tugging him out of his seat. "Come on." She led him out of the ready room, not giving him time to ask questions. Questions she wouldn't answer anyway if she didn't want to. "Come with me." Not letting go, she made her way down the corridor and across a passageway.

Max tried to play catch-up. By the second day of madness, he'd learned real, honest rest would not be an option and trained his body to go on half-alert when not in the cockpit, sort of like being on standby. He figured it the only way he could catch some sleep. Maggie had effectively interrupted his schedule of a catnap and bracing shower followed by hauling ass back to the hangar deck to run pre-flight checks. The routine played like a mantra in his head. Nap, shower, checks.

So, right. Running a little behind here. Max didn't know what Maggie wanted, but she seemed determined to drag him as far away from the ready room as possible. "Maggie, where are we going?" And how the hell did she even have the energy to walk right now. She almost crackled with vigor.

Maggie slowed down, but didn't let go of his arm. "Cutter, just shut up and come with me." Without another word, she rounded the next corner to duck through an open hatch, quickly pulling Max in behind her.

He stumbled a bit, barely clearing the raised threshold before she dogged the hatch. They were in an empty causeway. One used if a fire broke out on the ship. It was supposed to remain empty unless the fire signal had been activated. Clearly, the lack of sleep had Maggie unhinged.

Reaching to undo the hatch, he muttered. "You know we can't be here, Mags." Next thing he knew, Maggie had him backed up against the bulkhead, her lips sucking on his neck sending him into a state of shocked arousal. "What the hell?" He shook his head, wondering if he'd maybe fallen asleep somewhere back on the flight deck. "Mags?"

~*~

(Cover art subject to change)

~*~

Blurb: One week of extreme training, two top guns, and a healthy dose of unresolved sexual tension equals two pilots pushed to their limits, looking for a way to get through the hellish experience and possibly into each other's arms.

~*~

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Get Hooked: Reel in a Great Book—Midwinter Crises #MFRWHook

Welcome to Book Hooks, the weekly smorgasbord sampler hosted by the MFRW Authors Blog.

Readers: get hooked and reel in some great books. Authors are sharing short excerpts from their work. Please enjoy and consider picking up the full book by clicking on the buy link.

Today I'll be sharing a glimpse of Midwinter Crises, book one of Capital City Seasons from Ellipses Press, Ltd.

Tagline: When a madman wants to blow up the city during the Midwinter holiday, it's just another day on the job for Ben and Jess.

~*~

Capital City.

Where no one knew anyone's name… especially during the Midwinter holidays.

Everyone went about their self-prescribed traditions—too busy to care about anything more than spending money and finding the next 'perfect' item so it could be crossed off a way too long list.

But somehow, not even the sheer volume of credits exchanged from Discovery Day to Midwinter's Eve managed to quell the number of embittered and downtrodden who picked this time of year to go off the deep end or make a stand for their cause.

And someone had to deal with them… diffuse the situation, garner a peaceful outcome. If not, things could get very ugly.

The 'someone' people called? Ben Murphy. A top negotiator, his proven ability and track record made him the go-to person when wanting to avoid bloodshed.

Because why would anyone want that to go along with their holiday cheer?

A lone man held the city hostage, his metaphorical fist ready to destroy the main power grid. A person might wonder how he'd managed to position himself to do it. That would, no doubt, be addressed in the slew of after action reports turned in once the crisis had been averted. Heads would roll. Jobs would be lost. And none of those issues mattered now that the guy had taken control of the central power facility.

What did matter?

Resolution.

Hopefully quick, painless, and peaceful. No one wanted to watch the city grind to a screeching halt during the most profitable quarter of the year. Not that Murph cared much about that aspect, especially when the joy of the season usually got lost in the shuffle of the crowds.

In fact, the holiday cheer being piped through the sound system of his private transport grated on Murph's last nerve. He tuned it out and focused on the view from the window, looking out over the expanse of Capital City. As of now, everything remained bright, shiny and lit up… and Murph loved the sight.

He should… he'd grown up with it. He might not have seen much of it lately—his self-imposed exile from the city and Jessa Muldoon prevented it—but he would always appreciate the sight.

For better or worse, Ben Murphy was home.

~*~

~*~

Blurb: Mixing the holidays with a guy who wants to blow up the city is just another day on the job for Ben Murphy and Jessa Muldoon.

Capital City teems with tourists, shoppers, and anyone else who can cram their way into the limits for the Midwinter celebration. The entire holiday will go to hell in a hand basket if Ben can't negotiate a peaceful resolution with the man holding the city hostage. If he fails, sharpshooter Jess will step in and take the guy out.

Not exactly the post-breakup reunion scenario Ben has in mind for seeing Jess… but he'll take it. He let work split them up once, now it has a chance to bring them together. Ben will take the opportunity and run with it.

~*~

~*~

Available: Amazon

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Get Hooked: Reel in a Great Book—Boyfriend's Brother #MFRWHook

Welcome to Book Hooks, the weekly smorgasbord sampler hosted by the MFRW Authors Blog.

Readers: get hooked and reel in some great books. Authors are sharing short excerpts from their work. Please enjoy and consider picking up the full book by clicking on the buy link.

Today I'll be sharing a glimpse of Boyfriend's Brother, my brand new release from Silver Publishing.

Tagline: Chloe Timmons and Jason McIvey are at a crossroad. The only thing in their way is Jason's brother.

~*~

Chloe ducked and looked up in Jason's direction. "Little help here?" She stood back up, and Max's fist connected with her jaw, her head smacking back against the wall.

Stars burst behind her eyelids, but she shook it off. Jason sucked in a breath and winced.

He kept his tone light. "Thought you'd never ask."

He stepped into the fray, grabbing one of the guys and spinning him around to meet his fist. The guy went down, but Jason got grabbed by the arm and Max got a solid punch in, splitting Jason's lip in the process. Jason landed his own jab and knocked Max backward to land on a pool table. Max didn't get back up, and Jason's face showed more than a little satisfaction with laying the guy out.

He made his way over to Chloe, and with their backs together, they slowly made their way out of the bar. Only two of Max's friends made an attempt to follow, but the crowd more or less swallowed them up when Jason and Chloe stumbled out the door.

Once outside, Chloe leaned up against the exterior, slowly sliding down until she crouched close to the sidewalk. Still seeing stars, she figured she hit her head harder than she thought. Looking over toward Jason, two of him hovered in her line of sight, but she attributed that to the alcohol. She let out a chuckle that ended on a groan.

Jason sucked in the cool night air, then turned to check on her. Her cheek burned, and she'd lay odds she'd have a big purple bruise along her cheekbone. Bet that would look really lovely tomorrow.

He used his thumb to wipe the blood off his lip. "Well, that was fun."

~*~

Blurb: Chloe Timmons and Jason McIvey are each at a crossroads.

On what may be her last weekend as 'just a girlfriend', Chloe quells her restlessness by hitting the town and runs into her boyfriend's brother, Jason, a fellow pilot in the area for an air show. A barroom brawl brings them together.

Chloe thinks her boyfriend Marc may propose, and she's not sure she's ready for marriage. Jason McIvey has to decide if he's staying in the military or going civilian. When Chloe and Jason spend the night together, it doesn't make either decision easier.

Buy Link: Available at Silver Publishing

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Get Hooked: Reel in a Great Book Shyler: Finding Home – a Furlough 99 Novella #MFRWHook

Welcome to Book Hooks, the weekly smorgasbord sampler hosted by the MFRW Authors Blog.

Readers: get hooked and reel in some great books. Authors are sharing short excerpts from their work. Please enjoy and consider picking up the full book by clicking on the buy link.

Today I'll be sharing a glimpse of Shyler: Finding Home—a Furlough 99 Novella, from Ellipses Press, Ltd. Furlough 99 is a space station, the last stop before uncharted space, situated in the ass end of the universe.

Inspector Shyler Lumen and entrepreneur Marshton Gray don't have much in common. A manhunt for a brilliantly mad chemist brings them together and sparks fly. Shyler and Marsh can fight the wave of change… or grab hold and go along for the ride.

~*~

Shyler still had trouble wrapping her head around the stupid series of events that landed her best informant in a fight for his life. A Zoner, the newest lame term for pusher of recreational drugs, thought it would be amusing to release a brand spanking new narco club drug at a rave, just to see what happened. All well and good, but for one thing. The stupid moron didn't realize he'd change the chemical properties when he added the substance to the fog juice in the Underground's five machines. He also didn't know it would prove toxic to ninety-nine percent of the club goers.

The ISP—Inter-Stellar Police—caught up with him on his way off planet. Felt good to have the asshole behind bars, where he couldn't hurt anyone else. And the freak-out of all freak-outs over what had happened made him spill everything he knew about Sheen, so named for the way it gave its users an iridescent glow to their skin. His actual knowledge of the properties of the drug didn't amount to much. But… he gave them a name.

Baj Dogo aka Doctor X.

Dogo hadn't bothered to tell the less intelligent Zoner what would happen if people tried to alter the original compound. Or mix it with something else. Shyler could definitely nail the chemist for negligence, but if she had her way, she'd fry him for accessory to murder.

If he didn't slip the net. As the last bastion of the known universe, Furlough proved a tempting prospect for people who wanted to escape and go off the grid.

Right. Like that would happen.

Dogo would slither away over her cold, lifeless body.

Technically, she shouldn't work the case since she had a very personal connection to one of the victims. Too damned bad. She had buttloads of personal leave she could use however she damn well wanted.

Shyler elbowed her way out of the transport and ran through her mental checklist. First, she had to find out who to cajole, threaten, or bribe to be able to work in relative peace or at least not step on toes. Second, find a place to meet, and third, well, she needed to take care of the first two before worrying about number three. She glanced around, found a porter and flagged him down.

"Can you tell me who runs security—not the official kind—on Furlough and where the best place to meet would be?" As he got closer, Shyler realized 'he' was a droid, very lifelike, but a machine nonetheless. "And um… maybe how I can get a message to them?"

Droids always threw her. She never knew if they had to have commands or if simple conversations were possible. And of course it always varied by model.

The blond machine's eyes blinked several times then looked directly at her. "Oh, they'll find you, sweetie cakes. Trust me."

Shyler couldn't help it, she laughed out loud. And felt much more at ease. An android who talked like a flaming queen? Exactly what she needed to feel more at home.

Her outburst stopped a gentleman on the glide path in his tracks. She flicked her gaze sideways and narrowed her eyes. She'd seen him before but couldn't place where. The answer hovered just out of reach, yet she knew he'd come from Mars, the rock she called home.

He had to be from Queen City, the largest metropolis on the red planet. 4.5 million souls strewn throughout—from the swank, high end condos down to the no rent tent squats—and she ran into one of them way out on Furlough?

Interesting.

Dismissing him, Shyler focused on the droid again. "I'm sorry. They'll find me?"

The porter shocked her again when he rolled his eyes. "Sweetie cakes, you've got enforcement written all over you." He made air quotes to emphasis enforcement.

Shyler chuckled. "I'm not enforcement per se. More like ISP. And I'm not exactly trying to hide it. Don't have the time to waste going covert." The guy from home moved away slowly, maybe too slowly, and it piqued her curiosity.

Tall, dark, and quite gorgeous if one went for the type. And maybe a little too nosy for his own good. She watched until he finally moved out of sight.

The patient droid waited until she made eye contact with it before speaking again. "Hmm…Inter-Stellar Police. You're right, not exactly total enforcement. At least not the kind we used to have around here. You guys at least provide trials for the accused." The droid's face went flat with what appeared to be a bad memory.

Shyler shook off the weird feeling. Droids couldn't have memories, could they?

She got back to business. "Give me a public place that has privacy so I can park it until the security people find me."

"You'll want the Den." At her raised eyebrow, he clarified. "Den of Iniquity…the bar up on Level 4. Ask for Varina, she'll point you to a place you can 'park it'."

"Right. Thanks."

~*~

Tagline: Inspector Shyler Lumen always gets her man—even if she has to go through Marshton Grey to do it.

Blurb: Sparks fly when Inter-Stellar Police Inspector Shyler Lumen meets Mars entrepreneur Marshton Grey. She's after one of his employees who created a lethal club drug. Shyler doesn't want the distraction Marsh provides, but he could hold the key to solving her case.

Or he may end up being her biggest obstacle.

Marsh wants to help Shyler catch his former employee before he can slip the net from Furlough 99. He isn't prepared for the attraction to the tightly wound inspector, but he doesn't fight it. Shyler proves to be a fascinating puzzle Marsh doesn't come across very often.

It's a good thing he's up for the challenge she presents.

Buy Link

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