Sneak Peek Sunday - Lisa Bilbrey

Forbidden Awakenings

Book One in the Awakenings Series 

By Lisa Bilbrey

  Summary:

Elle Reid and Sadie Williams are best friends, turned lovers. Always considering themselves to be friends with benefits, they opt to let loose and celebrate after landing a high-profile project with the best architecture firm in San Francisco.

Callum Davis and Derek Flores have been the best friends since they met freshman year. While they've admitted their attraction to each other, neither have the courage to act on their feelings, both fearful of losing their friendship. At least, not until they meet Elle and Sadie at Club Venom.

Elle, Sadie, Callum, and Derek embark on a life-changing journey that defies what society tells them is normal. But when you find yourselves in love with multiple partners, how do you choose? And what will happen when their families find out about their unconventional relationship? Is their forbidden awakening worth unraveling the secrets they've been keeping?

 Excerpt:

“It’s okay to be scared. Hell so am I.”

“You are?” she asked, and Sadie nodded. “What are you afraid of?”

Sadie brought her hand up to Elle’s cheek. “Of losing you again.”

“You never lost me in the first place,” she whispered, leaning in and pressing her lips against Sadie’s.

“Jesus Christ, we can never leave them alone.” At the sound of Derek’s husky voice, they pulled apart, smiling as they turned to the men standing in the entry way of the living room. “Seriously. If you wait until we leave the room to start kissing, we’ll never get to watch.”

“Is watching all you want to do?” Sadie asked, standing up and walking over to him. She placed her hand on his chest, let it slide down to the front of his pants, and gripped his noticeable bulge. “Seems like you want to do more than just watch.”

“Oh, baby, you have no idea what I want to do to you,” he groaned, just before he kissed her.

“Oy, not yet!” Callum laughed, pulling them apart. “Food first, sex second.”

“Assuming there is sex later.” Elle smirked as she stood up. The wounded expressions on Derek and Callum’s faces had her chortling. “Wow, you two are so cute when you’re bubble has been busted.”

“I didn’t mean to just assume that we’d be having sex,” Callum said, sounding flustered.

Elle walked over to him, placed her hand on his chest, and leaned up on her toes so that her lips were just outside of his ear. “Never said there wouldn’t be any, either,” Elle cooed, causing him take a deep breath. “But I’m starving. So no food, no sex.”

“Then we’d better eat,” he moaned, almost dragging her into the dining room with Derek and Sadie following.

Obsessive, compulsive, slightly crazed, but enough about her personality. First and foremost, Lisa Bilbrey is a mom to three and a wife to one. She loves to write, and spends the majority of everyday writing. It's who she is, and what she's meant to be doing. Words are her life, the air she breathes, and the nutrients of her soul. Finding a love in the written word, Lisa Bilbrey started writing as a way to express herself and let her voice be heard. From the first word she wrote, she'd found her heart and soul.

Always willing to learn, she's spends much of her time trying to improve as a storyteller.

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Tempting Tuesdays ~ Sour Cream Apple Pie

It's November. That means the holidays are upon us and people will be baking up a storm. For the next month, I'll be highlighting everyone's favorite pies with a twist. First on deck is Sour Cream Apple Pie which has been adapted from Taste and Tell.

Ingredients

9 inch pie crust

Pie filling

2 tbsp all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup sour cream
3 cups peeled and sliced apples

Crumb topping

2/3 cup all purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
4 tbsp butter

Pre-bake your pie crust according to your own recipe. Usually about 8-10 minutes with pie shelf or foil wrapped around the edges.

Stir together 2 tbsp flour, salt, sugar, and nutmeg in one bowl.

I another bowl, mix egg, vanilla, and sour cream.

Add egg mixture to dry ingredients and mix well. Stir in apple slices then spoon into pre-baked pie crust.

Bake pie at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees and bake for another 30 minutes.

Combine 2/3 cup flour, 2/3 cup sugar, and 2 tsp cinnamon then cut in butter until a crumbly.

Spoon crumb topping over pie and return to oven at 400 degrees for another 10 minutes.

Cool on rack and enjoy!

Saturday Snapshots: 11-8-14

Saturday Snapshots is a picture prompt brought to you by Author to Author, meant to inspire the creative genius within you.

Maybe you'll be moved to write flash fiction for it, perhaps it will kick start an old idea for a novel, or it may inspire a new short story. Whatever it does, we hope you'll enjoy these images around the web.

If inspiration does hit, we hope you'll post a snippet in the comments.

Today's image: Woman/Rain

Photo credit: 

http://webneel.com/daily/sites/default/files/images/daily/01-2013/1-fashion-photography-by-tomaas.jpg

Tempting Tuesdays ~ Soft Baked Cinnamon Roll Pretzels

In honor of the release of Frequent Flyers Anthology, with a story by fellow A2A member, TM Franklin, I decided to add a little flair to a flight food staple. You always get that little bag of pretzels or nuts on your flight, whether it's 45 minutes or 15 hours. I found this delicious recipe at one of my favorite blogs for moms, Lil' Luna.

Ingredients

For Cinnamon Pretzel Dough

2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp. sugar
3/4 cup warm water
1 tsp. dry active yeast
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 egg lightly beaten for egg wash

For Cinnamon Sugar Topping

1 tbsp. melted butter
2 tbsp. sugar combined with 1 tsp. cinnamon

For Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar
1 tbsp. melted butter
2-3 tbsp. milk
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract

Pre heat oven to 425 degrees.

Line baking sheet with Silpat mat or parchment paper.

In a bowl of a stand mixer with paddle attachment, add warm water. Add yeast and let dissolve for 2-3 minutes. Add sugar and vanilla then mix for 15 seconds. With mixing speed on low, add salt and cinnamon, then flour 1/2 cup at a time. When all the flour is incorporated, switch attachment to dough hook to kneed for 4 minutes or kneed by hand for 4 minutes.

Separate dough into 6 equal portions or as close to equal as you can get.

Roll each portion out into a rope shape, about 18 inches long. For each piece, bring the ends together to form a circle. Twists end around each other once and bring down to the bottom of the circle. Press ends into dough so they will stick. Place onto prepared baking sheets and use a pastry brush to brush egg wash onto each pretzel. Bake for 12-18 minutes.

Let pretzels sit for 2-3 minutes to cool. Use a pastry brush on melted butter. Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar mixture over pretzels

For glaze, mix all ingredients together until completely combined. Drizzle over pretzels with a spoon or place in a pastry bag and pipe glaze on.

Now they are ready to eat. They smell wonderful and taste delicious. Enjoy!

Sneak Peek Sunday - Sandi Layne

The final book of the Éire's Viking Trilogy will be out in the spring!

Éire's Devil King

Summary:
An ambitious man, Tuirgeis Erlingrson has nurtured the desire to carve a place of leadership on Éire. Having connections with his adopted brother, Cowan, and Agnarr, his former countryman, Tuirgeis feels he has the support he needs to make his claims strong.
Agnarr and Aislinn—though she is heavy with child—sail with Cowan and Charis to join Tuirgeis as he battles one final summer to seek the High Kingship. Charis finds that her Otherworldly gifts are needed by a man she considers her enemy.
In addition, Tuirgeis wants to establish his father-line. He has one son; he wants another to be born of Éire. Will the woman he desires accept him?
Tuirgeis knows his time is limited; the Danes are coming in greater numbers than before. If he wants to be the High King, he’s going to have to prove that he is more than a Viking.

Excerpt:
Though still leery of bodies of water, Charis never forgot that they bore life and that was precious to her. The water crept gently up the slope with careful fingers, as if knowing she was hesitant to approach such a large amount of it. When there was a stiff wind the waves furled whitely, rows upon rows of them; just then, however, there was peace and calm.
She stared out over the lough, about to bend down to dig the roots from the rushes there, when a stirring within her kept her upright. There, to the northwest, something moved above the water. A small flock of grebes were nearby, their stuttering caws high pitched and active before they splashed out of the water. Scowling at them, she focused again on the distant object and, with a sudden start, she realized she knew exactly what it was.
“Cowan . . .” Her whisper traveled no farther than her own ear. They shouldn’t be coming this way. The Northmen came by sea, not through a lake. Of course, there would be tributaries, but surely . . . “Ide? We have to go. Right now. Back to the rath.”
The younger woman ran to her, her feet slipping on the muddy grass near the water. “What is it, Charis?”
Pointing, Charis didn’t have to say a word. Ide knew. “Northmen. From the Danes? King, King Horik?” The names were familiar now, after seasons of stories and preparations. All color drained from her face, leaving freckles to stand in sharp relief.
“I don’t know,” Charis said, backing away while keeping an eye on the longship that was growing closer every few moments. “But the men must ready themselves. As I must.” She wondered, as they hurried back to the safety of the village, if the one safety tunnel was yet deep enough to hide all the children of Tuaim Rithe.

Praise for the Éire's Viking Trilogy:

Compelling, three-dimensional characters who are interesting, imperfect, and very intriguing make the story pop and grab the reader’s interest as they each journey through their own adversities towards their ultimate destinies. – Great Historicals

…a wonderfully written story of war, love, loss and dealing with emotions and learning forgiveness. – Fire & Ice

Prepare for the invasion and read the rest of the trilogy:

Find Éire's Captive Moon from any of these retailers here.
  Find Éire's Viking here and read the first chapter of this romance here.

Saturday Snapshots:11-1-14

Saturday Snapshots is a picture prompt brought to you by Author to Author, meant to inspire the creative genius within you.

Maybe you'll be moved to write flash fiction for it, perhaps it will kick start an old idea for a novel, or it may inspire a new short story. Whatever it does, we hope you'll enjoy these images around the web.

If inspiration does hit, we hope you'll post a snippet in the comments.

Today's image: Daisies

Photo credit: 

http://www.writingforward.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/creative-writing-prompts-6.jpg