Down, Up, Down, Up

Down: I did not get the choir directing job I wanted. I was offered the job directing the Children’s Choir. Admittedly, I have a lot more experience teaching children (see Masked Hearts), but it’s not the hours and money I wanted.

Up: I played pinball with my dad followed by coffee with my cousin! My dad was in town briefly and I managed to have lunch with him twice. There is a new old-style arcade here and we had a fun afternoon beating each other at pinball. Then my cousin who lives in Italy is visiting her parents in Santa Fe and came to Albuquerque for a few hours. I had a great time catching up with her, and I’m looking forward to seeing her again while she’s in Santa Fe.

Down: Business is down for writing. I really pushed myself during the spring and feel like it had an inverse effect on readership. I don’t understand what happened. It’s depressing. So I’m stepping back from the blog and publishing. I’m going to focus my energy on the next Holiday Cafe short story and the next Holiday Cafe novel. I apologize if you are one of the few people who read and enjoyed Shifting Into Love. It will reemerge after the Holiday Cafe books are done.

Up: Nails for a Billionaire is free today everywhere but Amazon. If you need some nail ideas for the weekend, look no further than my book!

NailsBillionaire

I hope you’re having a great summer!

 

Winners!

Thanks to everyone who entered my giveaway! I hope you’ve been enjoying reading Shifting Into Love First Gear throughout the giveaway. I know I’ve thrown some readers for a loop by switching to a fantasy type genre since my other stories are contemporary. If you’re unsure about Shifting Into Love still, send me an email to evelynaster@aol.com and I’ll send an Amazon Kindle copy to the first 5 people. No strings attached. No reviews expected. I just want you to give the story a try.

Also, for all of you new to my site, The Beautician and the Billionaire Episode 1: The Deal is ALWAYS free at all vendors. Today at All Romance, The Beautician and the Billionaire Episode 1-4 is still free until 11:59 CDT.

Be sure to follow me to keep up to date on new releases and giveaways! Not to mention coffee and nails 🙂

And now the winners of $10 Amazon Gift Cards are:

Juana E.

Michelle W.

Deborah C.

https://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/5cd1a1f17/?

I’ve already emailed the gift cards so please LMK when you get them!

xoxoxx,

Evelyn (evelynaster@aol.com)

Shifting Into Love First Gear Last Post

Good morning! This is the last day to enter my Giveaway! https://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/5cd1a1f17/? I’ll announce the winners tomorrow.

The Free Friday book is The Beautician and the Billionaire Episode 1-4

Today is also the last day for a post from Shifting Into Love First Gear. Please buy the book! Second Gear is due at the end of July.

bikerblog

Jones had no time to ready the brakes or calm his pounding heart when he hit the between place, as he called it. The frequency of the waves was fast and high pitched. Alea’s soul pulsed through him in a frenzy. He tried to calm her, but blackness opened up and shot him out onto a long highway. Continue reading →

Free Friday!

Today’s FREE book is The Beautician and the Billionaire Episodes 1-4!

BBE1-4

Charisse withdrew her shaking hand, making a fist in the hopes he wouldn’t see it. She’d been prepared for his cold business mask—the one she was sure he used when taking over companies. Instead he’d arrived with sincerity and honesty. She’d almost leaned in and kissed him when he told her why he’d been such a rat bastard after the shampoo yesterday.

She should’ve kept her restraint instead of practically offering to undress him. Jeez Louise, she was getting in way over her head.
He watched her as he slowly slid his tie out from beneath his collar and undid the top buttons of his shirt. To keep herself from undoing the rest, she turned away and pulled out a towel from a shelf behind the sink.

Steady girl. You’re not ready for a relationship, especially with a tycoon like Conor Grishin.

But the words in her mind echoed hollowly throughout her head as she concentrated more on the way his body eased into the chair. Fantastic butt and broad shoulders just as she liked them. She tucked the towel around his collar and pressed on his shoulders to indicate he should lean back. She didn’t speak for fear her voice would shake like her hands.

But he understood and leaned back with his eyes closed. She drew her hands away slowly as he’d done when he touched her arm early. Turning on the water, she sprayed it over her hands until it was hotter than she’d had it get yesterday. She guessed by the way he drank his coffee fast while it was scalding, he wouldn’t want the water lukewarm.

The water cascaded over his head. “Is that too hot?”

“Not at all,” he said. His voice already sounded drowsy. He must not take much down time. She combed her fingers through his hair and raised the bottom of his head up to make sure the back got wet too. When she began massaging the shampoo into his head, she relaxed the muscles in her arms and allowed her connection to him to guide her fingertips.

He exhaled a long breath. His face appeared serene. The Mozart music made her recall her fantasy of walking through the gardens of Versailles. But France was so far away. They should start with dinner. No, he’d just asked her to shampoo his hair, not go on a date.
Her gaze trailed down his chest, broad like his shoulders, over his slim torso and right to a large bulge in his pants.

Her hands froze for just one moment. Then she drew back and turned the water on. So maybe dinner was an option. Or maybe he was hoping to get down and dirty at the sink. She stifled a nervous giggle. He was probably just hoping she hadn’t noticed. But how could she not? He was huge.

It was good to be a woman. Her panties had been wet since he’d touched her arm at the couch, but she wasn’t advertising it.

After she finished rinsing his hair, she took out a fresh towel and dried his hair, sneaking peeks at his lap—still bold and big. Her face burned with embarrassment or desire, she wasn’t sure which. She dropped the towel into the sink and styled his hair with her fingertips. She should just tell him she could style his hair at her chair. And ignore what was going on in his pants.
He still had his eyes closed and appeared at peace. He hadn’t fallen asleep again had he?

She stepped to his side and put her hand on his shoulder. “Conor?”
He gave a sigh, but didn’t open his eyes and didn’t say anything. She tugged at the towel around his neck. He finally lifted his head up and opened his eyes.

“I thought you’d fallen asleep again,” she said with a smile as she removed the towel around his neck and also dropped it into the sink.

His hand caught hers and his other hand wrapped around her waist. A second later, she was sitting on his lap with her legs hanging over the armrest of his chair. Her whole body tingled. She blocked off her rational mind telling her she wasn’t ready for any sort of intimacy and allowed the emotions and lust to flow freely.

He searched her face and gazed at her lips before pressing his own gently against hers.

Be sure to buy Episodes 5-9 to go with it!

bbe5-9small

 

Shifting Into Love First Gear: Meeting c

Chase had shaken Lana. She rolled his name through her mind making sure that was the right name. Yeah, Chase. The drink had made him happy like it was supposed to, so everything was right. This freaking night. She reached out to Harrigan. Hope. Hope? What hope? No answer.

Fine. She had one more table that needed drinks, and then she was shooting pool. With Chase. And then they’d go upstairs, and she’d get lost in the physical. No more tugs at her soul. No more anomalies. No more motorcycles. She didn’t even know why she still thought about the biker, but she was done.

Lana took to the pool table with a wink and a smile at Chase. He welcomed her by beating his opponent and racking the balls.

“You know how to charm a woman,” she said, grinning at him from the opposite side of the table.

“Why do you always play her?” asked one of his friends. “You know you’re gonna lose.”

“He’s hoping maybe this time he’ll get lucky,” chimed another friend.

“This time he might,” said Lana, leaning across the table for the break, hoping she’d unbuttoned her blouse enough to show a little cleavage.

He blushed. He freaking blushed like he went to church every Sunday and had never been with a woman before. His sweetness sparked a fire in Lana. She took a moment to refocus her attention to the cue ball. She couldn’t actually get attached to him. She’d be gone in the morning if not sooner.

She drew the cue back, shot it forward and broke the balls apart with a crack. At that moment a motorcycle roared into the parking lot. Her thoughts fragmented into tiny shards. A rift ran down her spine.

Harrigan broke from her.

Too dizzy to stand up on her own, she pulled herself up with her cue and clutched the edge of the table. Harrigan couldn’t leave her. Their souls were intermingled. She couldn’t conceive of living without him. As the shock of the moment faded, she realized Harrigan was still with her. He’d separated but only partially.

Chase whistled, seemingly oblivious to her state of confusion. But the whistle stilled her dizziness.

“Nice break,” he said.

She stared at the table. Miraculously, she’d sunk two balls. Glad he hadn’t noticed her sway, she gripped the cue harder and leaned down again. Outside, a motorcycle engine pulsed its sound into the bar in time with the country music. It entered her spine in the space the bar had left. A vision of the black-visored rider slid through her mind. No. It couldn’t be the same man.

Lana straightened her back without taking a shot. The bar was her home; her better half; her only love. She had no use for motorcycle riders.

“Everything okay?” asked Chase at her side.

The sound of the engine stopped. Hopefully it’d vanished like before. And there was no way it was the same motorcyclist. She’d seen him in the middle of the city. From a glimpse through a window it appeared she was now in the middle of nowhere.

“Yeah, sorry. I’ll need to get back to work soon.”

She leaned down to take her shot and try to woo Harrigan to complete her again—she knew the bar enjoyed it when her opponent never even got a turn. But right as the cue slid between her fingers, the door swung open. In stepped a man with mussed brown hair and a scratched leather jacket. His stubble was shaggy; he probably hadn’t shaved for a few days. His umber eyes scanned the room like he was looking for someone. His gaze met hers, and her cue grazed over the white ball with a sound that made Chase cringe. But her ears were too filled with her own heartbeat to notice.

Shifting Into Love First Gear: Meeting b

Good afternoon! Only two days left for the drawing! Please follow my blog and enter at: https://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/5cd1a1f17/? You also get one free entry a day.

I have a review at All Romance! Thank you! I have a few more gift certificates left for a copy of Shifting Into Love from All Romance in exchange for an honest review on thier site. Please email me at evelynaster@aol.com if you’d like one.

And now on with the story…

Chase had watched Lana patiently as she served her customers. The sway of her hips was hypnotizing, and her jeans hugged long, muscular legs. Despite being distracted by her body, he realized after about the third table that she never took anyone’s order. And the customers never argued with what they got. Continue reading →

Free Shifting Into Love First Gear!

Hey! It seems really hard to get reviews at All Romance, so I’d like to sweeten the prospect a bit. For the first five people who email me, I’ll send you a gift card from All Romance for Shifting Into Love First Gear in exchange for an honest review on the All Romance site.

Here are the instructions:

  1. Email me at evelynaster@aol.com asking for a gift card for Shifting Into Love from All Romance.
  2. I’ll email you the gift card soon if you’re one of the first five people. When you get the gift card you’ll have to register for an account on All Romance so that you can download the book and write a review.
  3. Download the book: pdf, Kindle or epub (Nook). Read. Enjoy.
  4. Go back to the page for Shifting Into Love First Gear and leave a review.

That’s it! If this is the first time you’ve heard about Shifting Into Love, it’s a romance with fantasy elements. Think of the movie L.A Story–it has a talking road sign, but it’s still a romance. Here’s the synopsis:

SILFGsmall

Lana lives in a bar that shifts from town to town with a magic she never questions. It never goes to the same place twice; she never sees the same man twice. When she notices Chase, a muscular cowboy with sea blue eyes, she’s more than ready for a tumble in the upstairs room…until Jones walks in.

Jones shifts through the world on a Triumph motorcycle that might take him to the east coast and seconds later take him to the west coast. He cruises by a bar in New York city and spies a woman through the window who flips his heart. When the bar disappears, his bike carries him to the heartland and the same bar from New York City. Inside he meets Lana, the woman he must be fated for. But she seems to have her eye on someone else…

Shifting Into Love First Gear: Meeting

I hope everyone had a great weekend and is safely back at work! Please remember to follow my blog and enter the giveaway for a $10 Amazon gift card. Also, please buy Shifting Into Love. I’ll by posting it through Friday on the blog. It’s selling very well at All Romance, but hasn’t picked up traction else where. Here are some links:

SILFGsmall

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01HPP4UBC

All Romance: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-shiftingintolovefirstgear-2063480-340.html

Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/shifting-into-love-first-gear-evelyn-aster/1124048657?ean=2940153104386

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/shifting-into-love-first-gear/id1129396950?mt=11

Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/shifting-into-love-first-gear

Enjoy!

Lana sighed as she glanced around. The pool bar was her home setting—the place she could most be herself. She walked to the bar in the back with a mirror running behind it. The tight jeans rubbed comfort into her long legs, giving her hips a bit of a sway. She needed a shot of whiskey before she got back to work; she needed it to take away the lingering unease from the moment before. She grabbed a bottle of her best whiskey and a shot glass from under the bar. The liquid fired down her throat. Continue reading →

The Real Neat Blogger Award

Happy Fourth! To celebrate, my latest release Shifting Into Love is only $0.50 at All Romance. I feel it’s this close to being a best seller there. Please go buy it! Remember, I’m NOT posting the whole story on my blog.

Also, be sure to follow me and enter my giveaway!

I received the Real Neat Blogger Award! It’s my first blog award ever, so I’m very happy.

The Rules:

    • Thank and link the blogger that nominated you.
    • Answer the 7 questions that the nomination has provided you.
    • Create 7 questions for your nominees.
    • Nominate 7 other bloggers.
    • Bend said rules

Thank you to Susan Voss at Dab of Darkness for nominating me! I’m a private person so answering these questions was hard. I hope you enjoy them.

If you could be an extra on a period piece (Outlander, Spartacus, etc.) what would it be and what would you be doing? I’d like to be on The Black Adder series as a maid who had some sort of running gag throughout all of the time periods the series covers. I’m not picky about the running gag…a one liner, tripping or some other physical comedy ant an important moment, and then I disappear 🙂

What makes you cringe? When I’m reading a book and the same word is typed wrong over and over. I’m currently reading a popular indie author and she refuses to capitalize Scotch when referring to Scotch whiskey.

What’s the most interesting gross fact you know? I try to avoid gross stuff so my fact is pretty boring: Flies frequently vomit when they land.

It’s time for you to host the book club. Who do you invite (living, dead, fictional, real)? And what 3 books will you be discussing? Living: My editor, my publicist and Holly Jennings. Dead: Dauphne du Maurier, Margaret Mitchell, Arthur C. Clarke. Three books: Arena by Holly Jennings, Twilight by Stephanie Meyers and Masked Hearts by me. I know Holly Jennings through the internet and think it would be really cool to discuss Arena with her. Having Arthur C. Clarke there would be interesting to hear his thoughts not only on her book, but also on where the genre of science fiction is going. Daphne du Maurier is one of my favorite authors. I would love to have a discussion with her about style. It would be really interesting to listen to du Maurier and Mitchell talk about Twilight —what’s derivative of their own works, what’s interesting, what do they like about, the plotting and what doesn’t work at all. And then how could I resist hearing opinions about my own book 🙂

If you had to choose someone to rescue you from the jaws of certain death would it be a superhero, supernatural creature, or a space alien? It would be a dragon who could shape shift into a person. I’m quite fond of dragons 🙂

If you could, what book/movie/TV series would you like to experience for the first time all over again and why? I wish I could read again without my writer filter being on. When I read now, I’m looking for style, plotting, character growth, etc. I get easily annoyed with authors I think aren’t working hard enough on their craft. I wish I could just sit back and let it go.

If everyone came with warning labels, what would yours say? “I’m not upset; I’m just thinking about a story.” I must frown when I’m in deep thought because I often get asked “Are you okay?” when I’m trying to plot out a story. I also stare off into space which is not as socially acceptable as staring at a computer screen or piece of paper so I think it’s disconcerting.

My nominations: Holly Jennings, Stacey is Sassy, Romance Novels for the Beach, Inspector Gorgeous, All Romance Reads, Lynn Thayler, Love Serially.

My questions:

What coffee/espresso drink best describes you?

If you were getting ready for a hot date and ran out of time, would you focus more on hair or nails?

Who’s your favorite book boyfriend?

Who’s your favorite hero type: billionaire, cop, cowboy, dragon, elf…etc?

What book do you love that everyone hates or what book do you hate that everyone loves?

Are you excited about the Gilmore Girls reunion or are you more like “Gilmore who?”

Share your favorite recipe.

Thanks again Susan for the shout out!