Once Upon A Summer: A Contemporary Romance Anthology 💕 Book Tour & Gift Card Giveaway 💕 (Contemporary Romance)

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Beaches, boyfriends and danger…summer is certainly hot! Grab a hold tight as these eight authors wow you with stories from sweet to sizzling! After all, every day can have some summer fun!

Breaking Girl Code by Brooke Moss
Aubrey is having the perfect evening out, with the perfect guy, on a perfect summer night. The problem is… Preston’s not her date. His real date is her B.F.F., and she’s passed out in the backseat.

Wishing on Water by Liz Ashlee
After watching everyone’s else’s lives hit huge milestones, all Hope wants is to escape to her boring, unchanging, single life. So, where’s the one logical place to escape to? A retirement home.

Art with a Pulse by Clara Winter
Artist Alice finds herself rescuing a seal on the sands of Laguna Beach with screenwriter Elijah. Can Alice put her past behind her and give Elijah the chance he deserves?

A Natural Passion by Tammy Mannersly
How will marine biologist, Dylan O'Day, solve the illegal poaching problem threatening the ecosystem he loves and protects when the gorgeous, new intern, Kyra Shine, is occupying his every thought?

You Had Me at Aloha by Sarah Vance Tompkins
Social media guru Vivienne Parker's dream trip to Hawaii turns into a nightmare when her roommate in the luxurious surf shack is the hot Olympic athlete who just got her fired.

More Than Puppy Love by Kitsy Clare
Fireworks spark when Arianna, a city girl with an elite pet portrait business is in a wreck and asks Dave a country auto mechanic for help, but can these two beagle owners from different worlds see eye to eye?

Stealing Haven by Mark Love
Sand, sun, romance and a mystery to solve. Sounds like a perfect vacation for Jamie.

Harmony in the Key of Murder by Melissa Kay Clarke
Summer in the South can mean a different type of heat when a newly appointed investigator and a mechanical genius cross paths leading to murder and love.

from More than Puppy Love

“Could you ever see yourself living in a rural area? Fitting in?” Dave's eyes are still fixed on me as he sips his daiquiri.
“I don’t know. It’s beautiful with all of the trees, nature. Bart sure likes it. But…”
“But what?”
“I’m not sure I’d be able to sustain a pet portrait business in the country. You heard Gail. She was wary of the prices I’d charge without even hearing what they were. Would enough people be able to afford my photos? If they had extra cash wouldn’t they prefer to spend hard-earned dollars on family photos, and not pet photos?”
“Hard to make a blanket statement.”
I pause to drink my daiquiri and to check out Dave’s reaction. He’s handsome inside and out with his dark curls framing his kind face and his patient way of just letting the words sink in before he says a definitive yes or no. “What about you?” I ask him. “Could you see yourself living in Philadelphia? In any big city?” Now it’s my turn to study him. It’s not an inquisition, but it seems inevitable if we are going to admit we like each other, and visualize being a couple.
He shrugs. “I like to visit big cities—Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia. I’ve had good times in Philly—seeing Independence Hall, hiking in Fairmount Park. Lunch in Reading Terminal Market at the Amish booth was cool, too. I love their shoe-fly pie, sweet and sour cabbage and freshly made sausages.”
“Mm, yeah, eating lunch at Reading Terminal Market is a blast.”
“But my auto body business is up here.” He looks down at his drink and rubs his forehead. “I’m not sure I’d be able to afford the commercial rents in a place like Philly.”
“There’s always the suburbs.”
“True. Honestly though, I’d love to get out of the car biz and fully into dog breeding.”
“Like me and teaching. I love it, but I love photography even more. It’s time to follow my passion. You too.”
Dave looks up and nods. “I want to do it all, but I also want to be realistic. Kennel equipment isn’t cheap. Dogs need tons of space, to run, to board, to breed.”
With the word breed, he flushes and I feel my neck heat up. I take this moment to pour us one more round.
“Nothing’s impossible,” he says after he’s gotten his drink refreshed and taken another gulp.
“Yeah. Never say never.”
He puts his big hand back on mine. It’s warmer than before, and I really like having it there. “By the way, your car is all done,” he says, giving my hand an extra pat.
“Great! When should I come get it?”
“At some point tomorrow? I’ll let you know.”
“Okay, sounds good.”
He slides his hand further up, to my wrist and then along my arm. And then he leans even closer and brushes my hair back.
And then he kisses me.

"I write because if I don't...my head will explode, and ruin the drapes." ♥

Brooke Moss writes complex, character-driven stories about kismet, reunited lovers, first love, and the kind of romance that we should all have the chance at finding. She prefers her stories laced with some humor just for fun, and enough drama to keep her readers flipping the pages, and begging for more!

When Brooke isn't spinning tales, she spends her time drawing/cartooning, reading, watching movies then comparing them to books, and, of course, wrangling five kids, mugging on her hubby she lovingly refers to as her "nerd", and attempting to conquer the Mount Everest of laundry that is the bane of her existence.

Liz Ashlee is a romance novelist who recently graduated from Northern Kentucky University her B.A. in English and B.S. in Library Informatics. She has been published in Loch Norse Magazine and The Pentangle, and has won the Miller Award for Outstanding Fiction Writing. She currently lives in Independence, Kentucky, with her family and dog-daughter, Hero

Clara Winter is the writing name of Amy Rugg.
Amy Rugg grew up reading Anne of Green Gables, The Secret Garden, and Alice in Wonderland, while watching Buck Rogers, Star Trek, and Doctor Who. Writing her own stories naturally ensued. She is a wife, mother, and former school counselor, with a Master’s Degree in Counseling. Amy is from Colorado Springs, Co and currently resides in Mission Viejo, Ca.

Tammy Mannersly is an Australian author based in Brisbane, Queensland. She loves writing romance, has a fondness for animals, is crazy about movies and enjoys a great Happily Ever After. Her passion for writing started from a very young age and led her to complete a Bachelor Degree in Creative Industries majoring in Creative Writing at Queensland University of Technology.

Sarah Vance-Tompkins was born in a small town in northern Michigan. She spent every summer exploring the sugar sand beaches near Sleeping Bear National Park. She left her heart behind when she moved to Los Angeles to attend the University of Southern California. She received an MFA in Film Production and went on to work in feature film development in Hollywood. She has worked as a reporter for a weekly entertainment trade publication, and been paid to write obituaries, press releases, the directions for use on personal lubricant bottles, and breathless descriptions of engagement rings for an online jewelry store. She lives in a small town north of Los Angeles with her husband and three cats.

Kitsy Clare hails from Philadelphia and lives in New York. A romantic at heart, she loves to write about the sexy intrigue of the city, and particularly of the art world. She knows it well, having shown her paintings here before turning to writing. Model Position, her new adult novella is about artist Sienna and her friends. Living in a Bookworld says: “Beautifully written! We get to learn things about art & painting, which is refreshing. A colorful story from a promising new adult author.” The next in her Art of Love series, Private Internship launches in September with Inkspell.

Kitsy loves to travel, draw, read romance, speculative fiction and teach writing workshops. She also writes YA as Catherine Stine. Her futuristic thriller, Ruby’s Fire was a YA finalist in the Next Generation Indie book awards. Fireseed One, its companion novel, was a finalist in YA and Sci-Fi in the USA News International Book Awards, and an Indie Reader notable. Her YA horror, Dorianna, launches fall 2014 with Evernight Teen. She’s a member of SFWA, RWA and SCBWI.

Mark Love
I am a Michigan native, who up until recently lived in the Metro Detroit area, where crime and corruption always seem to be at the top of everyone's news. So there's always the chance to find something that can trigger a story idea and enough interesting characters to jump start your imagination.

While I have worked in many industries and career paths over the years, one of my passions has always been writing. I was even able to parlay that passion for a while, working as a freelance reporter for a couple of newspapers in the Detroit area. Writing features and hard news helped me hone my talents. But while newspaper work was interesting and paid a few bills, it was a far cry from the fiction writing that I enjoy the most.

I've always been drawn to mysteries and thrillers, the kind of stories that have a fast pace, that keep you moving and keep you guessing as to what's going to take place next. Mix those in with some elements of crime, perhaps a glimpse of the seedier side and you've got me. So it's always been one of my goals to write stories like that.

Melissa Kay Clarke was born in Tupelo, Mississippi and raised in Houlka, a small rural town forty-five minutes southwest down the famous Natchez Trace. She found a love of reading very early and quickly devoured everything she could. Told repeatedly that she had a wonderful imagination, she turned to scribbling her musings and wrote her first novel while in college. It was never published and has since vanished. The death of a close friend who aspired to become an author reawakened her own desire resulting in penning her first book, Shattered Dreams, published in 2013.

Melissa now resides in Meridian, Mississippi with her supportive family – husband, Robert and daughter Rebecca, two cats, and two dogs. When she isn't writing, she spends way too much time with her online friends and feeding her ravenous appetite for the written word.