Book Dive #4 cont... BLUEST HEART + Blog Tour Dates

Here's a never-before-seen peek into Bluest Heart:

She drove without any idea where to go. That subtle scent of his filled her Jeep, making her dizzy. If she’d had a lick of sense, she could roll down the window and let the muggy air staunch it out.

She took a long drag and held the scent in her lungs. Warmth crawled up her torso. God, she wanted him.

Gravel spit under her tires as she jerked the wheel and turned into the rodeo arena parking lot.

"Whoa!" he yelled, gripping the roll bar over his head as the Jeep veered into the grass toward the picnic area. "Where the hell are you going?"

She braked hard under a tree and ground the shift into park. Unbuckling her seatbelt, she wrested it aside and crawled over the console into his lap, mouth seeking his. Her kiss swallowed his sound of surprise. She couldn’t think. Until the burn he’d lit inside her died out, she just had to kiss him.

It only spread. She deepened the kiss, urgently stroking his tongue with hers. His taste was rare, lovely. Who needed whiskey when you could have Casey Ridge? Her hands snuck under his shirt, stroking the hard muscles over his abdomen. She thrilled in his shiver as her nails trailed teasingly over his chest.

He didn’t fight her. Arms winding around her, he pulled her tight against him. His mouth moved under hers, challenging, daring. She shifted, her boots knocking against the confines of the dash until she straddled him and ground her hips into his. His head dropped back against the headrest on a groan. Managing to push his shirt up over his stomach, she fumbled with the snap of his jeans.

"Whoa," he said again, this time breathlessly, turning his mouth away from hers. "Whoa, wait a minute."

"Shut up and kiss me," she hissed, arching into him again. "Touch me." "Not here, Jos," he said, gripping her wrists. "I won’t do it here."

She jerked out of his hands and pushed her hair from her face, frustrated. "Why the hell not?"

"I’m not going to do it here in the car," he ex-plained. "That’s no way to treat a lady."

"I’m no lady," she retorted.

His eyes softened and his hand lifted to touch her face. "Yeah, you are. You just don’t want people to know it."

"Oh, but you do," she said sourly.

"I know you," he assured her. He said it the same way he’d spoken earlier. Her heart cried out for that softness, that promise of tender love and care.

Unable to stand how weak it made her feel, she licked her lips, tasting him there. He wasn’t going to get away from her this time. She’d cry if he did, and she never cried. Hand trailing down between them, she gripped the insistent bulge under the fly of his jeans. "So where do you take all your ladies, Casey?"

He blew out a breath, a groan stirring deep in his throat. "I’m driving."

BLUEST HEART (c) Amber Leigh Williams

Purchase Bluest Heart and the first book in the Ridge family saga, Blackest Heart, at The Wild Rose Press. Get the Blues now for just $3.75. Get to know the Ridges from the beginning with 1st Place More Than Magic Novella Blackest Heart for only $3.00 (also on sale now in paperback)! Scroll down for more from both and stay tuned tomorrow for a dive into Book III, Bet It On My Heart!

The Bet It On My Heart vid will air here at Cozy on March 2, followed by release day on March 3. Here are some tour dates:

March 3 - The Wild Rose Press Blog

March 3 - Coffee House Author Blog

March 4 - Virtual Romance Blog

March 10 - Paty Jager Blog

March 11 - Rachel Brimble Blog

March 18 - Southern Sizzlers Blog

Book Dive #1 cont... DENIED ORIGIN

Welcome to Day 2 of Denied Origin's book dive! Location was so important to the crafting of this story. To help dive further into DO, here's the book trailer and an exlusive excerpt!



Denied Origin takes the characters across the globe in a matter of days, starting in Brazil then fleeing to the coast of Greece. From there, they go to Rome, Egypt and more! Mark and Valentina are shuffled from location to location. Why not include really exciting places like Copacabana Beach, Vatican City, and the Taj Mahal? The research was fascinating!
One of my goals was to add a tidbit of trivia about every location embedded in the text. This way, I hope readers learn more about each location, too. Also each locale had a mood of its own that added a flavor to the story. Meshed together, all the different cultures made DO a story not quite like any other. The only location that doesn't acutally exist is the final destination, which is one of the story's secrets. Not even the characters know until the last minute where or what it is. They learn as the reader does.
This was the one book that I did fly by the seat of my pants while plotting. All I knew was each location and the characters. And I didn't do research ahead of time. As the characters traveled, so did I through my research to make the travelling all that more realistic:
As the train pulled into the station, Valentina stirred. It was midmorning and the sun was out, bright and full. She squinted out the window at Agra. “Are we getting off?”
Mark nodded distractedly as he rose to get their luggage. He threw the duffel over his shoulder before helping her to her feet. He tucked an arm around her shoulders. “Don’t leave my side,” he whispered as they wandered into the station.
He kept his eyes sharp. A sniper could be perched just out of view, a knife could be held just out of sight, a suicide bomber could be waiting to jump forth. His eyes passed over every face, studied them, judged them. He checked over his shoulder many times to make sure no one was following them. “We’ll go straight there.”
“Good,” she muttered. He knew she was also watching the crowd nervously. “The sooner we leave this place the better.”
He didn’t relax, but slowly began to take in the sights as they walked quickly through the city streets. They walked through a large bazaar where the smell of spices was so strong he could almost feel them filtering through his lungs as he breathed deep to admit them. There
weren’t many cars. There was the occasional elephant, more than a few horse-drawn carts, and various bicyclists.

All the people were tan with exotic eyes and peasant dress though they had a carefree air, a sense of peace and gratification. They’d been walking for some time when they came to a crowded iron bridge.
“Are we close?” She pressed close to Mark’s side as they squeezed into the traffic on the bridge.
He nodded, his eyes darting every which way, searching for the glare of a weapon. “This is the Yamuna River. The Taj is just across the bridge.”
After wriggling their way through the suffocating crowd, they broke out into the sunlight again. As soon as she saw the monument in the distance, she let out a surprised gasp. “Oh, Mark…”

He couldn’t help but grin at her surprise. “It’s even better up close and personal, huh?”
Her gasp melded fluidly into an awestruck sigh. “Oh, it’s gorgeous—more than I imagined.”

“We have to go through the south entrance,” Mark advised, guiding her onward. “Not much further.”
They passed through a red sandstone gate into the spacious gardens. Facing south at the northern tip of the gardens in the very center stood the magnificent temple. Its white marble structure was situated perfectly on a red sandstone platform.
In the morning light, the monument was as white and elegant as a bride. Though light fog had descended into the lower parts of the garden, the Taj speared through it, boasting its feminine majesty to the world.
Scroll down and find out more about Mark and Valentina. Denied Origin is on sale now from The Wild Rose Press in ebook and paperback!
Tomorrow we're diving into historical romance Forever Amore! Don't miss out!

Cowboy Lovin' Day 6: BLUEST HEART Launch!

It's HERE! Day 6 of Cowboy Lovin' and my second western romance launch! Bluest Heart officially releases today from The Wild Rose Press and I'm premiering the book video and giving all you Cowboy Lovin' readers an exclusive peak at the second book in the Wayback Ridge trilogy. For the video, I went with a fun, bluesy kinda theme. It's got a good Wayback feel to it, don't you think? :)





That track will be playing on my iPod all day long. I feel like I've been waiting for this day for a while. To fans of Blackest Heart, this is the story of Stella's brother, Casey, who - as you saw in the video - is "the good guy." And, ladies, Casey brings a lot of sexy back to the beta hero!

The Wayback bachelor is a dying breed, but that doesn't stop Casey Ridge from wanting to settle down. For this cowboy anyone but Josie Brusky would be an easy wrangle. Unfortunately for him, the Blue Bug singer and owner of Josie's Treasures doesn't believe in commitment much less marriage.

Years ago, Josie lost her heart to Casey's charm and dimpled smile. Since then she has done everything she knows to forget him. After all, she’s known as the local harlot and the daughter of the town’s biggest bigot. Casey could have any girl he wanted. Why would he saddle himself with her? In the wake of a shattering past, she refuses to give up her independence.

Casey digs down deep to win her over, but does he have what it takes to win Wayback's bluest heart?

And here for you now is an exclusive excerpt from Bluest Heart:

"Do you think I’m incapable of doing anything by myself?"

"No, Josie. I just offered to give you a hand."

"Stop," she warned. "I don’t want your hand. I don’t want you around period. I tried to tell you yesterday to stay away from me, Casey. What’s going to make that sink in for you?"

He grinned. "Oh, it’s sunk in. I’m just ignoring it. You know what I want."

"How do you expect me to believe you can make a relationship work when you can’t even do your own damn laundry?" she squealed, at wit’s end.

"Trust me."

She was so mad she stomped one foot into the floor. "What is your problem?"

"At the moment? You."

She scoffed. "You have some nerve!"

"No, you’ve got some nerve!" he told her, humor melting quickly into anger. "You looked me right in the eyes and lied to me yesterday. We both know it."

"So why are you stalking me?" she demanded.

"Because I still want you," he blurted. "And I know you still want me. I’m not going to rest until you admit it."

"Then you’ve got a lot of sleepless nights ahead of you."

He started for the door. "We’ll just see about that." He paused, propping the books on his hip and digging into his pocket.

"I forgot. I think this is yours."

Seeing what he tossed in her direction, she leapt over the counter to catch the black lace thong. She ground her teeth together, her cheeks flaring hot again. Desperate to get a last, cutting word in, she whirled toward the door.

It slammed shut at his back. She let out a furious growl. God, he was going to drive her out of her mind!

Bluest Heart (c) Amber Leigh Williams

I'll be posting more excerpts around the web throughout the day. You can catch some of them at my publisher's blog. Also be sure to drop by fellow TWRP author Emma Lai's blog today for more of Bluest Heart! Be the first to get your copy of Bluest Heart at The Wild Rose Press!

Be sure to stop by tomorrow through Saturday because three of my favorite western romance authors are dropping by Cozy to keep the Cowboy Lovin' celebration going! Yay!