Blog Tour: Witness Protection Widow by Debra Webb...Review & Excerpt

Today I’m spotlighting...

Witness Protection Widow by Debra Webb, a February 2020 Harlequin Intrigue release.

Keep reading for more including an excerpt and my review of the book!

Can the witness protection program keep her identity secret?

After Allison James finally escapes her marriage to a monster, she becomes the star witness in the case against her deceased husband’s powerful crime family. Now it’s up to US Marshal Jaxson Stevens, Ali’s ex-boyfriend, to keep the WITSEC widow safe. But as the danger escalates and sparks fly, will Jax be able to help Ali escape her ruthless in-laws?

About the author Debra Webb: 

DEBRA WEBB is the award winning, USA Today bestselling author of more than 150 novels, including reader favorites the Faces of Evil, the Colby Agency, and the Shades of Death series. With more than four million books sold in numerous languages and countries, Debra's love of storytelling goes back to her childhood on a farm in Alabama. Visit Debra at www.DebraWebb.com

EXCERPT:

She shivered. The fire had gone out. She kept on her jacket while she added logs to the fireplace and kindling to get it started. Within a couple of minutes, the fire was going. She’d had a fireplace as a kid, so relearning her way around this one hadn’t been so bad. She went back to the kitchen and turned on the kettle for tea.

Bob growled low in his throat and stared toward the front door.

She froze. Her phone was in her hip pocket. Her gun was still in her waistband at the small of her back. This was something else Marshal Holloway had insisted upon. He’d taught her how to use a handgun. They’d held many target practices right behind this cabin.

A creak beyond the front door warned that someone was on the porch. She eased across the room and went to the special peephole that had been installed. There was one on each side of the cabin, allowing for views all the way around. A man stood on the porch. He was the typical local cowboy. Jeans and boots. Hat in his hands. Big truck in the drive. Just like Marshal Holloway.

But she did not know this man.

“Alice Stewart, if you’re in there, it’s okay for you to open the door. I’m Sheriff Colt Tanner. Branch sent me.”

Her heart thudding, she held perfectly still. Branch would never send someone to her without letting her know first. If for some reason he couldn’t tell her in advance, they had a protocol for these situations.

She reached back, fingers curled about the butt of her weapon. Bob moved stealthily toward the door.

“I know you’re concerned about opening the door to a stranger, but you need to trust me. Branch has been in an accident, and he’s in the hospital undergoing surgery right now. No matter that his injuries were serious, he refused to go into surgery until he spoke to me and I assured him I would look after you, ma’am.”

Worry joined the mixture of fear and dread churning inside her. She hoped Branch wasn’t hurt too badly. He had a wife and a daughter.

She opened her mouth to ask about his condition, but then she snapped it shut. The man at her door had not said the code word.

Look for Witness Protection Widow by Debra Webb this month wherever Harlequin Intrigue books are sold!

Title: Witness Protection Widow

Author: Debra Webb

Format: Netgalley ARC

Witness Protection Widow is an entertaining reunion romance filled with suspense.

Allison James is determined to see her evil, murdered husband’s criminal family go down by testifying at trial about their involvement in organized crime. Until that can happen, she’s been placed in witness protection. But shortly before the trial, a car accident injures the U.S. Marshal who has been guarding her requiring her to get a replacement...enter U.S. Marshal Jaxson Stevens, Ali’s ex from when they were younger.

Ali is the last person Jax thought he’d ever see again, especially after she married into the Armone crime family. He is also surprised to find feelings he thought were long gone might still be lingering. As he works to do his job and keep Ali alive to testify, the two grow closer, but relationships can be tough when someone is trying to kill you.

I love reunion romance stories and this is a good one with two likable characters that you want to see find a happy ending together. Although, Ali seems just a tad naive at the beginning in regards to her husband’s criminal activity, I admire her backbone and determination to do what’s right and keep those she cares about safe. And I loved Jax’s protective streak, as well. I also liked the many secondary characters and what they added to the story. Besides the chemistry between the main characters and the fascinating secondary characters, there is also plenty of action and intrigue with an interesting plot making it an entertaining, fast-paced romantic suspense. 

Debra Webb did a great job at making the plot and characters seem believable. This was not my first book by Webb, and it won’t be my last.

*I received a free digital copy through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.*

Release Tour and Book Spotlight: Must Love Coffee by Leigh Lennon

I am very happy to be part of the Release Tour for MUST LOVE COFFEE BY LEIGH LENNON!

Check out my Spotlight on Must Love Coffee below and look for my review soon!

The first book in the highly anticipated 425 Madison series is now live! Read MUST LOVE COFFEE by Leigh Lennon today.

Only on Amazon + Read for FREE on Kindle Unlimited

Amazon ➝ https://rebrand.ly/MLC_425Madison

Goodreads ➝ http://bit.ly/425Mad1MLC

Gwen
I was stripped of all my own desires and wants when I was married to my ex-husband. I now carry a list with me—a list that will help me choose a man that will put me first in life. Then the storm cloud of an entitled millionaire appears in my life and knocks me off my axis. This man sends so many mixed signals, my body either quakes with anger or passion when I’m around him.

I'm his son's teacher and his tenant, but I find myself wanting more.

Leo
My life is run with precision with little regard for others until a woman in crazy clothes challenges me to be a better father. She’s one of the few people that puts me in my place and maybe for this very reason—I want her more than I can articulate. With her failed marriage and list of requests she needs from her next partner, I know she’s my future. My life is less than perfect, and with it—baggage that follows me everywhere. Does she want my kind of crazy in her life?

I'm her landlord and an a**hole, but  I find myself wanting more.

Where to begin? For starters, you must love coffee...

After all, 425 Madison Avenue is the perfect place to fall in love.

*Each story is completely standalone.

Gwen:

Leo stands with so much force it pushes his chair over, bumping the table and knocking some of Teague’s test results to the floor.

“Mason, this teacher is clearly incompetent and I want her replaced—no, fuck that—I want her fired.”

I don’t give Mason much time to reply. I stand just as fast and, though he has a good six inches on me,  I’m in his face.

“Okay, Mr. Eastman, you want me fired so badly, answer me this. How much time do you spend with Teague each day on his homework? I’ve sent home small readers with questions to be answered each day, even if you have to write the responses for him. I’ve never gotten a completed form in return.” As I speak, the harsh teacher tone takes over and demands his attention. I don’t miss how his hands curl into fists when I continue. “I’ve sent him home with a phonetical set of flash cards and a completion sheet. After ten times, he gets a reward. I have yet to receive that back. The same goes for number recognition. So, you tell me I’m not doing my job. But, since turnabout is fair play, how are you doing on your end? It takes a village, Mr. Eastman. Let me know when you move in and we can talk.”

Leo:

How is it that a man who has access to countless hot women wakes on the morning of his kid’s playdate like it’s fucking Christmas? And with a jolly ripe boner at the thought of his son’s teacher. Yeah, this guy here. I’m not ashamed of it but is it appropriate to ask this woman out while we are essentially chaperoning our daughters? See, I haven’t always been a manwhore. With Dez, I was the most committed father and husband—I only had eyes for her. And maybe these new feelings make it obvious I’m ready to start over again.

With the first glance at my phone, I’m accosted with a shit-ton of texts from Donna. She invited me over last night but I’d told her I was taking my kids to the movies. This crazy, bleached-blonde tried to invite herself with us to see Venom. She had no idea it was a Marvel movie, in addition to being oblivious to the fact that I’d never let her get within arm’s reach of my kids. A good fuck she’s been but that’s all she ever could be. And now, after imagining the teacher as a person I want more than sex with, I’m on the offensive with today’s playdate. But don’t fucking get me wrong—I sure as fuck want to fill her up—but I want more than that. I can’t fucking believe that I, Leo Eastman, am admitting to this.  

Shit, shit, shit. But it’s true.

Leigh Lennon is a mother, veteran and a wife of a cancer survivor. Originally with a degree in education, she started writing as an outlet that has led to a deep passion. She lugs her computer with her as she crafts her next story. One could say she loves pretty nails, big earrings, and spiky hair. She can be found drinking coffee or wine, depending on the time of the day.

Website ➝ http://bit.ly/2UxaxnT

Facebook ➝ https://bit.ly/2DXBg48

Goodreads ➝ https://bit.ly/2zxFsce
Amazon ➝ https://amzn.to/2qXQ1yH
BookBub ➝ https://bit.ly/2oZJPp2

About the 425 Madison Series

Welcome to 425 Madison Ave the perfect place to fall in love. Nine delicious romances set in fast-paced & sexy NYC just waiting for you to read

The series features stories from some of your favorite romance authors: Leigh Lennon, MK Moore, Allie York, Aubree Valentine, Kay Gordon, Lauren Helms, Sylvia Kane, Katy Ames, and C. Lesbirel

Join these authors as they come together, each with a standalone romance for you to enjoy

Featuring some of readers' favorite tropes: second-chance romance, best friends sibling romance to a good ol' enemies to lovers romance. We've got you covered with a sports romance, a fake relationship and even an ugly duckling or two. Don't forget a brother's best friend and falling for your soul mate. Maybe a little love triangle as well. Each tale offers you something new, something different. After all, 425 Madison Avenue is the perfect place to fall in love

For more information, visit the series website ➝ www.425madisonseries.com

Follow the series on Facebook ➝ https://www.facebook.com/425MadisonSeries

Books two and three in the series are coming soon! Add them to your Goodreads shelf today! 

Let Me Love You by MK Moore, Book #2

A Best Friend’s Sibling Romance
Goodreads ➝ https://rebrand.ly/MLC_425Madison

Just Swipe Right by Allie York, Book #3 
A Love Triangle Romance
Goodreads ➝ https://rebrand.ly/JSR_425Madison


This release event is brought to you by Forever Write PR - Forever your source for all your writing needs.

Book Spotlight: Copycat by Hannah Jayne...Excerpt & Giveaway!

Hannah Jayne is one of my go-to authors when I’m in the mood for a good thriller and I am so pleased to be able to tell you about her latest release from Sourcebooks Fire, Copycat!

Title: Copycat

Author: Hannah Jayne

ISBN: 9781492647393

Release Date: July 3, 2018

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

Praise for Copycat:

“A twisty rollercoaster ride that mixes fiction with reality and truth with misconceptions...lovers of mysteries will certainly enjoy this fast-paced page turner.” —Library Media Connection

Summary:

From the author of The Escape, Twisted, and Truly, Madly, Deadly comes a chilling new thriller that asks: what happens if your real life became stranger and deadlier than fiction?

Everyone is dying to read the latest book in the popular Gap Lake mystery series, and Addison is no exception. As the novels biggest fan, she’s thrilled when the infamously reclusive author, R.J. Rosen, contacts her, giving her inside information others would kill for.

Addison’s always dreamed of what it would be like if the books were real…. But then she finds the most popular girl in school dead. Murdered. And realizes that life imitating fiction is more dangerous that she could have imagined. As other terrifying events from the books start happening around her, Addison has to figure out how to write her own ending—and survive the story.

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes&Noble | BooksAMillion | !ndigo | Indiebound

Hannah Jayne decided to be an author in the second grade. She couldn’t spell and had terrible ideas, but she kept at it. Many (many) years—and nearly twenty books—later, she gets to live her dream and mainly does it in her pajamas. She lives with her rock-star husband, baby daughter, and their three overweight cats in the San Francisco Bay area. She is always on the lookout for a juicy mystery, an exciting story, or a great adventure.

Website | Twitter | Facebook

One

There was something inordinately creepy about being at school after dark. The place was deserted—­the benches and picnic tables in the quad looked ominous and foreboding under the flickering yellow lights. Crystal Lanier shivered and pulled her jacket tighter against an imaginary chill. The weather was mild at Gap Lake in September; the days still sunbaked, the nights, like this one, a gentle mix of fading summer and impending fall. But the bare bones of the deserted campus had put a chill in the air, and shot a blast of cold right through Crystal.

“I’m creeping myself out,” she muttered shifting her books from one arm to the other.

A wisp of wind cut through the quad. Crystal was almost sure she heard someone laughing—­a weak, choked giggle, like someone was trying to swallow it down.

“Hello?”

She spun, her long black hair fanning over her shoulders. “Is someone there?” She knew she sounded like every horror movie victim ever, and her heart hammered in her throat as her skin prickled with beads of sweat.

This was Gap Lake, she reminded herself. It was a tiny town where everyone knew everyone else, and nothing bad ever happened. She was thinking that when the shadow approached. When he reached out for her long black hair. She was thinking what a nice, safe place Gap Lake was when he clamped a hand over her mouth. When he strangled her scream and drove the needle straight into her throat.

***

“Addison!”

Addison glanced up and blinked, feeling redness stain her cheeks and ears. She closed the book slowly, looking around at the two dozen sets of eyes staring back at her.

“I’m sorry.”

Mrs. Lea took two steps forward and held out her hand. Addison cleared her throat and shifted in her seat.

“The book, Addison.”

Reluctantly, Addison handed over the dog-­eared book.

“Can I get it back after class, please?” she asked, her voice meek.

***

Maya Garcia hiked her backpack over her shoulders and stepped into the junior hallway. “Okay, how many times has Mrs. Lea taken that thing from you?”

Addison shrugged, falling into step with her best friend. “Let’s see, I’ve read it about fifty-­seven times so…fifty-­six?”

“You are the biggest, nerdiest R. J. Rosen fan ever.”

“Hey, I’m president of his fan club. It’s mainly research.”

Maya shook her head sadly. “It’s borderline obsessive.”

“Who you calling borderline?” Addison flashed a wide grin. “It’s not entirely my fault. Rosen needs to write faster. If he could keep up with the public’s rabid love for the Gap Lake mysteries, I wouldn’t need to constantly reread—­”

“And reread and reread. And write massive amounts of fan fiction.”

Addison rolled her eyes.

“Don’t get me wrong, Adds. I love the books too, but you’re a teenager. You need a more destructive hobby to fit in.”

Addison nodded sagely. “I see where you’re coming from. What do you suggest?”

“Drinking, drugs, reckless driving.”

“First of all, to drive recklessly, I’d have to drive, which I will not. And as for the other stuff, what am I? A stereotype?”

Maya narrowed her eyes, crossed her arms in front of her chest. “I feel like you’re not taking me seriously.”

Addison stopped at locker 221 and spun the lock, pulling open the metal door. “I like to read. So what?”

Maya yanked a handful of books out of Addison’s locker before dumping them back in again. “So, you should shelve a few hundred of these books and live in the here and now with the rest of us who have boyfriends who don’t live only on paper.”

“Number one, have you read the first Gap Lake book? Not only is Crystal’s boyfriend, Declan Levy, not a one-­dimensional paper product, he may or may not be responsible for her murder—­I vote not. But if that doesn’t make a rounded character, I don’t know what does.”

“Character,” Maya enunciated. “That’s the magic word. A character is not a real person.”

“And speaking of not real people, who’s this boyfriend of yours you seem to be referring to?”

A fierce blush crept across Maya’s olive cheeks. “I didn’t say that I had a boyfriend. But there are possibilities. Men in the wings. Plans afoot and so forth and…stuff.”

“‘Plans afoot’? ‘So forth and stuff’? Who are you?”

Maya put her hands on her hips. “I’m your best friend, Addie. Remember me? I’m not a mystery novel, but I’m pretty damn fantastic if I say so myself.”

Addie pulled the book back. She gave it a quick kiss, before stashing the book in her backpack.

Maya gaped. “Did you just kiss a book? Seriously?”

“It’s my lifeblood.”

Maya cocked an eyebrow and Addie shrugged.

“Okay, so it’s research.”

“Tell me you still want to be a writer and haven’t decided on serial killing as a career goal.”

“According to my father, the latter pays better.”

“How is the wolf of Wall Street?”

Addie blew out a sigh. “Buying low, selling high, still wishing his disappointing daughter had a penis or a power tie.”

“Well, I know what to get you for Christmas.” Maya stopped dead in her tracks. “Don’t look, but you’re being ogled. Possibly even being fantasized about in weird and uber-­sexual ways.”

Addie immediately crossed her arms in front of her chest. “Now I feel skeevy.”

“I’d pay a thousand bucks if Spencer Cohen was staring at me that way.”

Addie shrugged, trying to play it off like she didn’t care. “You need a life.”

Maya groaned and shook Addie’s arm. “And you need two feet in reality or you’re going to prom with a cardboard cutout.”

“If it’s a cardboard cutout of Declan Levy, sign me up.”

“So you are into serial killers.”

“Declan didn’t do it!”

Maya rolled her eyes. “Declan totally did it. He killed Crystal, then did Andy and Rhodes. It’s textbook. I know because I am the daughter of cops, times two.” She held up two fingers a half inch from Addie’s nose. “He had motive, opportunity—­all those other CSI words.”

“That’s what the author wants you to think. And you totally fell for it! You are so R. J. Rosen’s target audience!”

“And you’re his secret side chick.”

Addie snorted. “I prefer biggest fan.”

“Well, it seems like Spencer Cohen is your biggest fan, and he’s coming over here.”

“Hey, Addie.” Spencer grinned, one of those three-­point grins that hit his dark-brown eyes, chin dimple, and Crest-­white smile.

I’m not in love with Spencer, she told herself. Infatuation. Puppy love, maybe. He’s just so cute…

“Hey, Spencer.”

Maya stepped forward. “Addie was just telling me how much she loves water polo. And dancing.”

Addie blinked. “I was?”

“I play water polo.” Spencer brightened and Addie gritted her teeth. She had been to nearly every one of his matches. True, she was usually up on the last bleacher with her nose in a book, but she watched whenever Spencer was in the pool. He never even noticed her.

“Yeah,” she said with a slow nod. “I’ve seen. I mean I know. I know because I’ve seen you. Not in a weird way, like in a fan way. Not, like, a weird mega fan or anything but, like, a Hornets fan. You know.” Addie fisted her hand and punched at the air. “Go team!”

Maya threaded her arm though Addie’s and gave it a yank. “We have to go.”

“Why did you do that?” Addie hissed once they were out of earshot. “Spencer and I were having a conversation.”

“Have you ever heard the term dead in the water? Because that’s what you were. ‘Go team’?” She shook her head sadly.

“Did I sound that bad?”

“Yes, yes you did.”

Addie sighed. “See? That’s why I should stick to guys on paper.”

“Oh honey,” Maya slid an arm over Addie’s shoulders. “At this point I don’t even think your book boyfriend would talk to you.”

Prize: 2 Copies of Copycat

Runs July 3rd - 31st  (US & Canada only)

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