Romance Novel Giveaways - Freebies and Giveaways of All Things Romance Romance Novel Giveaways: Perfect Fit by Lynda Simmons ♥ Book Tour & GIVEAWAY ♥ (Contemporary Romance)

Friday, April 17, 2015

Perfect Fit by Lynda Simmons ♥ Book Tour & GIVEAWAY ♥ (Contemporary Romance)

Fast-paced, funny and incurably romantic

Rachel Banks has never believed in magic or moonlight, but if she’d thought that putting a piece of wedding cake under her pillow would conjure up a nightmare in the form of blue-eyed charmer Mark Robison, she’d have stuffed that cake into her mouth instead! Mark is only in Madeira Beach for some much needed R&R and his new neighbour is not the kind of woman made for vacation memories. But there’s something about the incurable romantic that just keeps drawing him back.

Jennifer Crusie. Susan Elizabeth Phillips. Lynda Simmons? Oh, yeah!
Chapter Ten

“She’ll be alright,” Khaled said, moving past me to the lawn. Weaving between other victims, finding a spot and laying Melissa down.
She moaned and opened her eyes. “Khaled,” she said, her voice weak, raspy.
“Melissa, sweetheart,” I said.
She turned her head slowly. “Mom. Are you alright?”
“Yes, yes. It’s you I’m worried about.”
“We were thrown forward by the explosion,” Khaled said, working his fingers down her arm to her hand. “You landed hard against a pillar.” He felt around her ribs. “But nothing seems to be broken.”
I pushed his hands away. “How the hell do you know?”
“He knows because he’s a doctor,” Melissa said.
I stared at her. “You never told me.”
“Would it have made a difference?” he asked.
For the first time in years, I had nothing to say.
He touched Melissa’s cheek. “Close your eyes and rest. You were lucky but I need to help those who weren’t.”
She nodded and he rose. Moved on to a man lying nearby. “I’m a doctor,” he said to the woman leaning over him. “Let me look at his arm.”
I followed and knelt beside him. “You have to help me find Aisha.”
“Who?” he asked.
“Aisha, the daughter of that family you know at AK Framing and Shoe Repair.”
“They don’t have a daughter named Aisha,” he said, gently manipulating the man’s bloody arm.
“I was there today,” I insisted. “I met her. I saw her brother Hassan and his wife Zara too.”
“I don’t know who you met,” Khaled said, “but the whole Awad family is in the Dominican for the daughter’s wedding. Besides, even if they were in town, I doubt they’d be here.”
“Why not?”
“Because the Awads aren’t Muslim. They’re Christian and they suffered horribly in Iraq. Family members murdered, raped, tortured. They came here to get away from all of that. And I can’t imagine they would ever put their hard-earned money into the hands of the very people who persecuted them.” He leaned close to speak to the man. “Your arm is broken. You need to lie still until the EMT’s get to you.”
I got to my feet as he walked away. Realized my phone was still in my hand. Remembered Aisha had called Finn earlier. His number was there, second from the top. I pressed CALL and went to look for her. I didn’t know what to believe. I only knew I needed answers.
Finn picked up on the third ring. “Big things going on around you, I hear.”
“Yes,” I said, tiptoeing around bodies, searching faces. “There was an explosion.”
“Two,” he said. “Should have been a third, but something went wrong.”
I froze, looked back at the church. “What are you talking about?”
“A plot to blow up a once-sacred spot that has been defiled by greed.”
“I don’t understand.”
“That’s why I’m sending you a link.” My phone pinged. “Open it,” he said.
The link was a video from a local news station. “Two explosions ripped through the New Dominion Banquet hall moments ago,” the anchorwoman said. “No report on casualties yet, but we received this video from the group claiming responsibility.”
Another screen. A shot of the front of the church perhaps fifteen minutes ago. A woman in a niqab and chador at the gate.
I put a hand to my chest, told myself to breathe when a voice, Finn’s voice, spoke from behind the camera. “Destruction is about to be visited upon this place,” he said. “An act of defiance in the name of Christians everywhere. We are the Phineus Priesthood, God’s Warriors. Bringing back Eden, one step at a time.”
The camera zoomed in on the woman in the niqab. She lifted a phone, dialed a number and the first explosion went off inside the church. The woman turned. A second explosion hit and she ripped off the niqab, pushed back the chador. “Our good friend examining her handiwork,” Finn’s voice said.
Back to the anchorwoman. “Emergency crews are on the scene now,” she said. “Police are on the lookout for the woman on the screen. Anyone having information—”
“You’re a star,” Finn said to me. “Can’t wait to see what happens next.”
“Why are you doing this?” I whispered, backing away from the church, tugging at the chador. “What do you want?”
“To screw with you, Mrs. Sandhurst, as you’ve been screwing with God’s plans for years. Always beating the drum for homosexuals, birth control, abortion. Using your position with a national newspaper to spread your vile doctrine day in and day out. Of course, the desecration of the church with a fund-raiser for the enemies of our faith had to be stopped so the bomb was a given. But having you along for the ride? That was the icing on the cake.”
“But Aisha—”
“A devoted member of the Priesthood. As are the man and woman who pretended to be Zara and Hassan.” He laughed. “You were so eager to buy what we were selling, so sure you knew right from wrong. It was almost too easy.”
I put a hand on the fence, struggling under the weight of his words. “You set me up.”
“The Awads think we’re filming a movie in their shop. It’s amazing what money can buy, including some amazing electronics. It’s also true that nothing is private anymore. Not emails, not text messages. Not even the words you type on a keyboard.” He paused. “And now if you look to your left, you’ll see the police have discovered you.”
I turned my head. Saw a police line coming toward me, guns drawn. Off to the right, a dark-haired girl in shorts and a t-shirt giving me the finger.
“Aisha,” I whispered and Finn laughed again.
“I think we’ll call this Rebecca’s Big Mistake – A Cautionary Tale.”
The police advanced. “You can’t do this,” I said. “I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Babble on, Mrs. Sandhurst,” Finn said. “God knows exactly where you’ll be sleeping tonight.”
Perhaps, I thought as I dropped the phone, got down on my knees and put my hands behind my head. But as Nathan would have said, it would make a great column tomorrow.

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Lynda Simmons is a writer by day, college instructor by night and a late sleeper on weekends. She grew up in Toronto reading Greek mythology, bringing home stray cats and making up stories about bodies in the basement. From an early age, her family knew she would either end up as a writer or the old lady with a hundred cats. As luck would have it, she married a man with allergies so writing it was.

With two daughters to raise, Lynda and her husband moved into a lovely two storey mortgage in Burlington, a small city on the water just outside Toronto. While the girls are grown and gone, Lynda and her husband are still there. And yes, there is a cat - a beautiful, if spoiled, Birman.

When she's not writing or teaching, Lynda gives serious thought to using the treadmill in her basement. Fortunately, she's found that if she waits long enough, something urgent will pop up and save her - like a phone call or an e-mail or a whistling kettle. Or even that cat just looking for a little more attention!
   
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@LyndaMSimmons @GoddessFish http://goo.gl/HVknti pic.twitter.com/290sa8MhUw

25 comments :

  1. The impressive cover is what I like the most from today's post.

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  2. What a great- fun read! I've past it on to several friends. All the best with the book...looks like a hit too!!

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    1. Thanks Debbie! Much appreciated. Here's hoping your friends enjoy it too! Cheers

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  3. Quite the installment for the weekend!

    Trix, vitajex(at)Aol(Dot)com

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    1. Glad you liked it, Trix! Hope you're getting sunshine where you are this weekend. Cheers

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  4. What a great excerpt! Thank you so much for posting the list of other sites so I can continue with this blog tour that I just discovered~ I hate having to research to find other blog stops!

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  5. Thanks Ree Dee. Hope you enjoy the rest of the story! Cheers

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  6. OMG! Very surprising ending. Way to go, Lynda.

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  7. Congratulations on the book release! It sounds very good, I can't wait to read it!

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  8. Cool cover, and I liked the Synopsis too. Thx for the giveaway!

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  9. I loved the amazing cover~absolutely perfect! Thank you for the great post and contest!

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    1. I teach at Sheridan College in Oakville and Ryerson in Toronto. Are either of those helpful? Cheers

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  11. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  12. Great cover and giveaway!

    shahwharton.com

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  13. Perfect Fit sounds awesome. What a great excerpt. It's on my TBR list. Blessings & Thanks to All.

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    1. Thanks Lawrie. The excerpt was from Good Works, a serialized novella written exclusively for the tour. For an excerpt from Perfect Fit, check back in the tour stop tomorrow. Trust me it's good! Cheers

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  14. I like excerpts to sample the writing style and you've got great dialogue.

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  15. Thanks Stacy. Much appreciated! Cheers

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