Tuesday, 29 March 2016

#Release!!!! Dark N' Stormy By Angela Stevens Release Date: March 29, 2016


Dark ‘N’Stormy is available for pre order now, and its release date is MARCH 29th

Dark ’N’ Stormy

Twenty-three-year-old Finn enjoys playing the field, but when a one night stand turns into something more, Finn is ready to jump on the relationship bandwagon. Thirty-three-year-old Julia Royston is everything Finn desires—blonde, sexy, and naughty in bed. But this love thing isn’t as plain sailing as he’s seen advertised. While Finn puts his past behind him, Julia’s rears its ugly head and Finn’s carefree life turns dark and stormy.






Excerpt 1:

A knock on the door disturbed Finn in mid-sweep. An attractive woman in her mid-thirties with long blonde hair and stark blue eyes sauntered in wearing skyhigh heels. She was overdressed for the rink in her smart pencil skirt and blouse, and he wondered who her kid was. He hadn’t seen her around before—he would have remembered her, for sure.

“Can I help you?” Finn put down his broom and went to speak to her.

His eyes roamed over her slim figure. She noticed him looking and ogled him back. Touché mademoiselle.

“I came to watch a friend’s kid play a game, but I got delayed.” She stared at the empty rink. “Did I miss it?” She had an air of confidence about her.

“Well, that depends. What level do they play? We have two rinks, Midgets finished thirty minutes ago, but Squirts are still playing on the Olympic rink.”

“Midgets?”

He laughed. “The oldest group, high schoolers. The squirts are nine and ten.”

She shrugged her shoulders “Kid’s about this big.” She stuck her hand out showing the height. “Will that be the younger ones?”

Finn nodded.

“Down there?” She pointed back through the double doors.

“Yeah. They’re about ten minutes left on the clock. If you’re quick, you’ll catch them.”

“Thanks. I don’t know why I said I’d come, I can’t bear the little monster, but I owed his mom a favor.” She held out her hand.

Finn shook it. “You’re welcome.”

She held the handshake longer than he expected and kept her eyes locked on his.

Finn leaned against the doorjamb and watched her walk away. Her hips pulled against the fabric of her tailored skirt, adding to the tantalizing sexy sway of her ass as she strode back across the rink. Boy, that’s one red-hot mama.


Excerpt 2:

Another lightning flash lit up the dark street, its sudden brightness highlighting a car parked near the side of the road. Impatient motorists honked and yelled as they tried to pass. Out on the sidewalk, a bedraggled woman wrestled with a wheel jack. As Finn moved closer, she kicked the tire in a temper and threw down a wrench. She was wetter than he was.

He stopped beside her and yelled over the thunder. “Flat?”

She wiped the water from her face and nodded.

“Give it here.”

He scooped up the wrench from the ground and she handed him the jack. Finn set to work. He had the car up in no time, but the wrench wouldn’t budge. The two of them leaned on it, their slick bodies pressed together as they tried to force the nuts to move. With a sudden give, they fell against the car.

“Damn it.” Finn helped her up off the sidewalk.

He heaved off the tire and rolled the spare from the trunk. Hoisting it into position, he tightened the nuts. “I’ll dump this in your trunk.”

“Thanks so much.” Her voice got lost in the traffic.

“No problem.” He wiped his hands down his pants and smiled at her. “Oh, I know you, don’t I?”

She must have had the same ah-ha moment because she smiled, “You’re the guy from the rink?”

“Yeah, Finn. Finley Martin.” He reached out his hand.

She pointed to her car. “Please, let me take you home. You’re drenched.”

“It’s okay, I don’t live far.”

She put her hand on his arm. “I insist.” The warmth of her fingers tingled across his skin. Goosebumps spread outward from her touch. As another brilliant flash lit up the night sky, she gestured at the car again. “I won’t take no for an answer.”

Her rain-soaked blouse was almost transparent, her lacy underwear on full show. The tight skirt stuck to her shapely thighs. He couldn’t help staring at her attractive and wet body. Oh, what the hell, she’s fit and he was soaked.

He climbed into the passenger side, and she ran around to the driver’s door. She flicked on the heater, setting it on high to deal with the condensation. She pulled down the sun visor and peered into the vanity mirror. Wiping the wet strands from her face, she laughed. “I look like a drowned cat!” She flicked the visor back into place. “You said your name was Finn?”

He nodded, averting his eyes from her see-through blouse.

“I’m Julia Royston.”

Finn’s teeth chattered. “I appreciate the lift, Julia.”

She signaled right and turned. “I live a few streets away. Let me get you some dry clothes before you freeze.”

Finn lived less than a mile away, but he kept that information to himself.

His eyes roved over Ms. Royston again. This could be interesting. “That’s very nice of you, ma’am.”

A few minutes later, she turned into a quiet dead-end street and pulled up outside a smart townhouse. “This is it.” She shouted over the pounding rain. “Give me a second to open the door.”

She scrambled out the car and raced up the path. Finn followed her; a few more drops of rain wouldn’t make any difference. She struggled with the key in the lock, and he put his hand over hers to help turn it. The door swung open and they fell into the hallway, dripping gallons of water over the shining hardwood floor. Julia slammed the door closed behind them and leaned against it laughing.

Her long blond hair hung in limp rattails. The tailored blouse no longer offered any useful coverage. She reached for the buttons and peeled it off her shoulders. As she dropped it to the floor, she shucked her skirt too. “You better take yours off. You’ll catch your death.”

Finn needed no second invitation. He tugged off his tee and threw it onto the wet pile of clothes on the rubber mat. While he dropped his shorts, Julia flicked off her heels and peeled down her pantyhose.

Unable to believe his luck, Finn faced the almost naked woman. Her underwear was as translucent as her blouse had been. The sound of the storm disappeared. He swallowed hard. Man, his day had turned around. Julia threaded her fingers through his and led him upstairs.

 click here 

 for the first 3 free chapters




Behind the Cocktail Series

I began writing the Cocktail Series on a whim, after never having written anything more than a grocery list in my life. I excitedly rattled off 140k words over about a three-month period and then sat back and thought, what the hell shall I do with it now? Quite by accident, I was reading a book and in the acknowledgements in the back, the author mentioned wattpad. So I investigated and then I spent a month plucking up the courage to put my very raw manuscript up there. I also spent several weeks constructing the worst cover imaginable in the totally inadequate program of Powerpoint! Yes, well, the least said about that the better, especially as I moonlight at making covers for people now- in photoshop now, not powerpoint lol. I can feel my cheeks reddening at the thought of it.

Despite the horrendous packaging, I was over joyed when my first reader left me an awesome comment, a few days later I was amazed that more than ten people were reading my book. That was it. I was hooked. One year later more than 170k people had read Lemon Drops And Love and as I was in the middle of writing book two. I decided to put that on hold and give Lemon Drops a thorough edit and see if I could publish it.

Since those days I have written just about one book a year for this series- in between, I write a fantasy series. From the start, I wanted the series to be a good old-fashioned Happy Ever After romance, however, I also wanted it to be so much more than that.

I love reading books that emotionally ring me out, and I love hot and sexy books. Gripping realistic characters are a must, and I wanted my women to reflect the real world- sometimes they have times when they are insecure and appear weak, but they also have a huge strength within them that they can draw upon. As my checklist for must haves in my series grew, the one thing I wanted to do was to include a real, not so pretty social problem in my tales.

  So that is what I did. Sometimes people find they can’t read my books because of the subjects matter- domestic abuse, infant mortality, grief, peer pressure, domestic violence against men- they are not the easiest subjects for some to read about, but that is ok. It was a choice I made, because my characters had pasts that weren’t always pleasant, or perfect. Pasts that may have sent them spiraling downward. But, all of my characters find a way through, and all of them find their happy ever after.

One other thing I felt compelled to do was to allow several of my characters to speak. In each book you will hear from several points of view. Yes, even from those that you may not wish to hear from. In Lemon Drops And Love, giving Carl Frasier his own voice was a bit of a gamble. For some people it paid off- he is the villain they love to hate, and while his thoughts are disturbing I felt allowing his character to speak was something that had to happen. For others, getting inside Carl’s head is too much. For those people, I apologize but there are evil people out there that do despicable things and they impact the rest of our lives, and unfortunately they like to make themselves heard.

Dark ‘N’ Stormy came about when a reader messaged me to say how much she loved Ice Cold Mint Juleps (Book 2). In our back and forth conversation, she commented on Finn, Ash Cooper’s housemate. While she loved his characterization, she made an off hand remark about ‘knowing his sort’ and thinking he was too much of a ‘player’ to be trusted. I told her the next book in the series was to be Finn’s story and she said, “Huh, you sure that’s wise? I’m not sure I could ever fall in love with that guy.” Well that was a challenge I set out to win.

At that point, I had no idea what Finn’s book was going to be about. I just knew Jen had to love Finn by the end of it. Now it’s finished, I think Finn is my most favorite character to date. He has certainly gone through the greatest transition, and I hope when you all read it, you will agree with me.

Cocktail Series Blurbs

The Cocktail Series (Steamy Contemporary Romance)
The Cocktail Series books are full-length, standalone novels revolving around a collection of gritty characters. The men are hot hockey stick wielding guys and the women…are not what they seem.
Weaving contemporary HEA romances around sometimes harrowing tales, Angela Stevens’ characters are raw and sensual. They speak as they fuck, hard and sometimes dirty, and they wear their hearts on their sleeves. But when any of the Hockey Punk guys fall for a girl, sparks are guaranteed to fly.
The Cocktail Series is best read with a cocktail or two, a bar of your favorite chocolate, and your preferred brand of tissues. Be warned, all the stories in the series are written for an adult audience. Contents contain hot sex and an emotional journey. There are chapters that will make you seethe and those that will make you cry, and others that will make you hot and flustered. But most of all, each story contains a heart-felt tale of love, friendship, and a way of beating the odds.

Champagne Moments (Prequel)
Jonny Brooks transfers colleges and lands himself a place on the hockey team. When he joins his teammates at a local bar to celebrate, he also loses his heart to a shy country girl. But Roxy Holland is just out of a bad relationship and dating handsome hockey players is not on her agenda.
Champagne Moments is a short companion novella to the hot and steamy Cocktail Series. Taking place before Lemon Drops And Love, the novella goes back in time, giving the reader a glimpse of Maya, Jude, Jonny, Roxy, and Rick in their college days. The Novella can be read in any order.

Lemon Drops And Love (1)
Jude Holland is a man with a problem. His heart belongs to his best friend, but his best friend belongs to someone else. Maya Jenkins has a bigger problem. Her boyfriend’s jealousy and temper is controlling her life. When she plucks up courage to leave Carl, she reaches out to Jude. 
Four years younger, her best friend has always made her feel safe. Maya has hidden her true feelings for Jude for seven years and coming out of an abusive relationship is not an appropriate time to reveal them—or is it?
 After rescuing her from Carl’s clutches, Jude is shocked by how much Carl has destroyed Maya’s strong spirit.  No longer the carefree, self-assured woman he once knew, Jude vows to help her pick up the pieces of her life. However, Jude didn’t bank on Carl’s unwillingness to let go.

Ice Cold Mint Juleps (2)
Ash Cooper is loyal to the core but when that loyalty is tested by his boss and his dead friend’s girlfriend, Ash’s reasonable nature is tested to the limit. But all is not what it seems, and when Ash’s genuine misunderstanding is followed by a downright ridiculous jumping to conclusion, a confrontation comes in the form of one-hell-of-a hockey fight.
Sent off the ice in disgrace, London Sinclair is damned if she is putting up with Ash Cooper being such a jerk any longer. When their confrontation spills into the locker room, Ash’s reaction to her ultimatum is neither what she expected nor what she can allow herself to have.

Dark ’N’ Stormy (3)
Twenty-three-year-old Finn enjoys playing the field, but when a one night stand turns into something more, Finn is ready to jump on the relationship bandwagon. Thirty-three-year-old Julia Royston is everything Finn desires—blonde, sexy, and naughty in bed. But this love thing isn’t as plain sailing as he’s seen advertised. While Finn puts his past behind him, Julia’s rears its ugly head and Finn’s carefree life turns dark and stormy.



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