Funny, forthright, and hopeful, Kissing Strangers is a survival-based how-to guide about looking for love online ... and how to separate the men from the frogs.

Out Now! – Kissing Strangers: How to Online Date Like a Boss by Alethea Spiridon.

Kissing Strangers: How to Online Date Like a Boss

Author: Alethea Spiridon

Genre: Dating

Release Date: January 30, 2018

Length: 40,000 words

So many frogs. So few princes.

Every single (and soon-to-be-single) woman knows the Dating Horror Stories. The guy who charms your panties off before he bolts. The funeral planner with a foot fetish. The Early Ejaculator. Or that filmmaker looking for a soul mate—provided you don't mind he lied about his height, his weight, his wife, and... oh look, a micro-penis. How nice.

The bad news is that these guys exist. The good news? There are ways to find them, avoid them, and concentrate your energies on non-fuckwits. Who, as it turns out, also exist. Hurrah!

From deciphering Man Speak to the sexy perks of 30-year-old men, Catfishing 101, navigating hookup culture, and the safety precautions every woman should take, author Alethea Spiridon taps into her own hilarious—and occasionally heart-crushing—experiences in the dating world. Funny, forthright, and hopeful, Kissing Strangers is a survival-based how-to guide about looking for love online ... and how to separate the men from the frogs.

Dating today isn’t really dating!

It’s hooking up, hanging out, Netflix and chill. 

I asked one of the guys I matched with on Bumble about this idea that nobody dates anymore. Sean, 36, said this: “Well, I think at our age we know what we want and when we find it we move quicker than before.” 

You can probably guess that Sean moved on faster than I could ask a follow-up question. 

Most men look for sex and find love. Truth. 

I’m a romance editor and a die-hard romantic through and through, so this cold, loveless world of dating where most people are in it to sleep with you on the first “date” is soul crushing. Yes, mindless sex is fantastic, but when that is all most guys want…

What the fuck happened to romance?

Do not expect to be courted or dated. Expect to be jerked around, lied to, avoided, ghosted, stood up, breadcrumbed, cancelled on… There are, of course, good men out there, but it will take some digging and meeting, and time and patience. 

That’s where this book comes in. You want sex? I’ll show you how to find it. You want something more? Well, keep reading…

Go in knowing a few things.

Tinder. Bumble. POF. OkCupid.

Ghosting. Breadcrumbing

Netflix and chill.

“Nobody dates anymore!”

“Romance is dead!”

You thought dating would be fun, easy, and you’d walk around in your cute little outfits like the women do on television. Bah! Not so much, girls. It can be fun. It is fun at times. But it’s also work and involves a lot of man decoding and navigating a landscape filled with unknowns, rejection, confusion…not much has changed since your mom dated, really. It’s just packaged differently is all.

Dating comes in new forms now. Well, the ways that we get to men. One in three people meet online today, so you have to be where the men are—on a dating site and dating apps. Swiping and sore digits will be your new norm. 

But that’s just how you initially connect. Nothing matches real-life experience, so you must meet and talk to men, and a lot of men (probably) until you find the one you click with and want to settle with, whatever settling means for you. 

Or maybe you’ll meet him on guy number three. 

And if it’s hookups you want, you’ll get tips on how to make them work for you. Nothing wrong with casual sex!

This guide will give you that heads-up so you don’t get ambushed like I did. You’ll know what the booby traps are and how to charge ahead regardless. Consider this your counterattack in your plan to survive. 

A decisive victory can be yours, but you need to know the rules if you want to beat them (men) at their game. 

Once you’ve decided to try online dating, you need to figure out which sites to go on. Each site has a different vibe and feel to it, and the only way you can effectively gauge that is by going on and figuring out what you like…and don’t. 

My first bit of insight for you is this: Dating is a numbers game. 

It’s as simple as that. Dramatic? Not in the least! Come back after you read this in full, and after you online date a bit, and see if you don’t agree. I want you to have fun kissing strangers, but I want you to go in with a realistic vision too. I want you to know how to online date like a boss. 

Date by the numbers. That’s how men do it! And on this battlefield, there are fewer men for every woman. Like three women for every man. Ugh. Seriously. We’re literally duking it out on the battlefield. But let’s not! Please. We can share (and some of you love doing that, legitimately). That being said, the sad truth is that the odds are not in our favour, it seems. But they can be if…

We date like a man! You might get rejected, but you’ll be rejected from the guys you want a chance with. If you simply wait for guys to reach out to you, you might only hear from the guys you already know you don’t want.

So… get on the sites I list below and get on them all even. Rotate between three and four. Play by those damn numbers, because that’s how men do it and that’s how you’ll increase your chances of getting the guy. 

About Alethea Spiridon

Alethea is a writer and editor (lots of romance books, so many) out of Ontario, Canada. When her marriage fell apart she realized she had to get back out there and figure out how to date again or accept a life of eating from the Dinner For One menu option permanently. The book in your hands (or on your screen) is the result of that research. If it saves one woman (you!) from the landmines out there in the DatingVerse, then she’s done her job. For more bits of dating advice and man mysteries solved, visit her website at www.littleblackhook.com.

Love Found by Rene Webb

Series: A Pinetree Novel

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Release Date: January 26, 2018

Length: 122 pages

Format: Digital

In FINDING SUNSHINE Aaron and Nina over-came Aaron’s dark past to find a future together.

Will their Valentine’s Day go according to plan?

The honeymoon is over…

This is where their happily-ever-after begins...

Excerpt

Holding myself up with one arm, I slide my other hand up along her ribcage until I’m cupping her breast. Her soft skin is chilled from the cold air. I brush my thumb over her already erect nipple and I feel a shiver move through her body.

“Are you cold?” I mutter, against the skin of her neck.

“No,” Nina laughs. “Your beard does things to me.”

“Really?” I continue to kiss and tease her.

Nina’s fingers scratch the back of my neck as she pulls me closer, wrapping her leg around my waist. She writhes in excitement underneath me, and releases her own satisfied moan.

I pull away, unhooking her leg and smile down at my sunshine. Her red puffy lips are pouting, wanting me to continue. There is nothing sexier than seeing my woman looking up at me with desire – knowing that I can and will do anything to give her pleasure.

“These tights have to go,” I tell her kneeling up so I can reach down and begin revealing the rest of her body, that I know lies hidden underneath.

“Leggings,” she reminds me breathlessly, fisting my hair as I lick and suck the skin above her 

hipbones, leaving my mark. If my woman can still correct me, then I have not made her mindless with pleasure, which is my ultimate goal. Nothing gets me harder, faster, than getting my wife hot and wet.

Author Bio

Rene Webb, a former Catholic schoolgirl and child of the ‘80’s, is a recovering Soap Opera addict who grew up watching General Hospital. She became weary with the relentless drama and sought out stories with happy endings that lasted. Now, Rene is an contemporary romance author, where there is always a happily-ever-after!

A graduate of The George Washington University in Washington DC, 05’, with a BA in History. Rene went on to get her Masters in Film Studies, 09’, from Chapman University, Orange CA.

She founded and runs the book blog Lit. 4 Ladies (a joint venture with her sister) and has self-published both a novella and full-length contemporary romance novel.

Authors such as Jane Austen, Kristen Ashley, Cherise Sinclair, Sierra Cartwright, Donna Fletcher, Jennifer Ashley, and Bianca Giovanni have inspired her. They all create strong female characters, swoon-worthy men, and stories that leave their readers with the hope that you, too, will find your own H.E.A.!

Rene also enjoys reading, baking, seeing movies, going to museums, and spending time with her friends and family.

Rene lives in Arlington, VA.

FINAL SIEGE BY SCARLETT COLE

“Mac,” she whispered, and tried to stop the tears and the uncontrollable shaking of her body. She shrugged his hands off her shoulders, and scrambled to the other side of the bed. Even as he held his hand in the air, the universal sign of surrender, a part of her wanted to reach for him, to let him hold her the way he had when she’d sneak into his dorm room at night.

Her head spun in confusion as she pressed her fingertips to her temples. She couldn’t do this again, couldn’t grieve for him all over again. Not on top of everything else.

“Delaney, sweetheart. You’re safe.” Those eyes of his that always reminded her of the dark blue ocean at sunset reassured her she was. She’d dreamt of them. Missed them.

God, the anger she felt toward him now was only a fraction of the love she’d felt for him all that time ago. Until he’d killed her brother when they were both twenty years old.

The tattoo across my right hip says it all really. A Life Less Ordinary. Inked by the amazingly talented Luke Wessman at the Wooster Street Social Club (a.k.a. New York Ink). Why is it important? Well, it sums up my view on life. That we should all aspire to live a life that is less boring, less predictable. Be bold, and do something amazing. I’ve made some crazy choices. I’ve been a car maker, a consultant, and even a senior executive at a large retailer running strategy. Born in England, spent time in the U.S. and Japan, before ending up in Canada were I met my own, personal hero – all six and a half feet of him. Both of us are scorpios! Yeah, I know! Should have checked the astrological signs earlier, but somehow it works for us. We have two amazing kids, who I either could never part with or could easily be convinced to sell on e-bay.

I’ve wanted to be a writer for a really long time. Check through my office cupboards or my computer and you’ll find half written stories and character descriptions everywhere. Now I'm getting the chance to follow that dream.

Connect with Scarlett: Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

Check out the excerpt and enter to win a $25 Amazon gift card!

Add to your Goodreads shelf now!

GREEN Excerpt

Copyright © 2018 S.M. West

It’s the sway of her hips and mass of dark curls that catch my eye. She’s dancing at the bar while sipping a drink and leaning into some guy who is all over her. His hands bracket her waist, slowly inching down the curve of her ass.

She’s mine to protect. I charge like a bull, hot and agitated, yanking her out of his arms. Her drink spills over the guy’s shirt.

“Hey!” he yells, flicking liquid off his hands.

Anna whips her head to me, eyes wide and mouth open. “What are you…”

I lean in close and whisper, my tone thick, heavy and derisive. “This sex kitten act isn’t working for you, little girl. Stop making a fool of yourself.” I’m a damned liar, but I don’t intend to give that any thought right now.

“Get lost.” Her angry gaze lights into me, and she pivots toward the guy who is ready to take me on.

I grab her arm, wrapping her in an embrace while she tries to wriggle free. “We’re leaving.”

“Get your hands off her, asshole,” drunk college boy slurs, wobbling toward me.

“No, I’m not.” Her eyes narrow into a glower. “Leave if you want to. Let me go.”

“You heard the lady, let her go." The guy looks at her with a stupid face that he probably thinks is endearing. Instead, he's a jackass with puckered lips and crossed-eyes. “Hey baby, you okay?”

He paws her clumsily, and my patience snaps. “You touch her again, and you’ll lose your arm.”

He falters for a second, glancing down at my arms firmly banded around her and then back at me.

“Hey, man.” He raises his hands as if he’s staring down the barrel of a gun. “No disrespect, I didn’t know she was yours.”

“I’m not,” she grinds out, jabbing her elbow in my side.

I flinch but keep my hold on her and she releases a frustrated groan. The guy doesn’t give either of us a second look. He’s gone.

“Let me go,” she hisses. Ignoring her, I text Tango and Tommie to meet us out back.

Within minutes, I’m thrusting her into Tango’s arms and ordering them to take her home.

“Do not leave,” I stress, and Tango nods obediently.

Anna is fuming. Livid. Her nostrils flare and lips are tight while her eyes blaze. If looks could kill, I might be sucking in dirt. But I’ve gotta admit, hot and bothered looks good on her.

While completely uncalled for, I wink and flash my sexy grin– the one that has women falling at my feet–before turning my back on her. As I walk into the club, she curses a blue streak, and I laugh. My cock twitches, turned on by her spunk. Down boy, this is Anna. Off-limits no matter how tempting.

 Lady X's gossip sheet tells all and it leaves everybody talking.

All new material out January 23^rd – It Started with A Whisper Box Set

It Started with a Whisper: A Historical Romance Collection

Genre: Regency Historical Romance

Release Date: January 23, 2018

Format: Digital

Rumors, gossip, and secrets all have a way of unraveling at the worst possible time. Follow each story as it leads you through a path of mystery and intrigue. Lady X's gossip sheet tells all and it leaves everybody talking. The rumors have the potential to ruin lives and with each whisper a new scandal arises.

Will those who find themselves the subject of her scandal sheet escape unscathed and discover who Lady X is along the way?

One Moonlit Tryst by Amanda Mariel Lady Tabitha Pemberton wants nothing more than to enjoy her first season without becoming attached, but when Lady X writes of a forbidden tryst between Tabitha and Colin Brooks, the earl of Harcourt, everything changes. Now Tabitha must choose between her reputation and her desire to remain unattached.

Love Me, Lord Tender by Deb Marlowe Lord Tensford has an old title and an empty purse. He knew it would be difficult to find a Society bride, but after Lady X heeds baseless rumor and brands him Lord Terror, it's next to impossible.
Until he comes to the aid of Lady Hope Brightley, causing Lady X to re-dub him Lord Tender.
Now he's a laughing stock and a fortune hunter. But Lady Hope means to repay him and help him find a bride. In the end, will she turn him over to the perfect mate? Or ask him to . . . Love Me, Lord Tender?

The Lady Loves a Scandal by Christina McKnight Many years ago, Gideon Lyndon, Viscount Galway, made a grave mistake. On the verge of rectifying this misdeed, he finds himself faced with his greatest challenge yet: winning back the woman he has loved since the moment he met her. But after a year of silence, convincing his headstrong paramour Sybil Anson to take him back will not be easy. Especially since he can't even explain why he left--not if he wants to keep her safe.

The Scandalous Widow by Erica Monroe Bow Street Runner Gabriel Sinclair has spent the last three years trying to forget about smart, beautiful Lady Jemma Forster, Countess of Wolverston, who broke his heart when she married his best friend. Her husband's death thrusts Gabriel and Jemma back together, as they work to find his murderer. Their investigation takes them into the darkest, most dangerous parts of London. They're perfect partners for solving crimes, but can they be partners in love too?

How to Land an Earl in Ten Days or Less by Ava Stone Known for his silver tongue, Reese Delacy, the Earl of Darling, wagers that he can make any girl fall in love with him in less than a fortnight. Unfortunately, the boast catches the ear and subsequently the pen of a notorious gossip columnist, making Reese a pariah in short order. He seems doomed for failure until he meets a Bermudian beauty who is seemingly unaware of the scandal.
With control of the Caribbean salt trade hanging in the balance, Miss Cara Beckett, left her home to solicit the support of parliament, never imagining she'd become embroiled in a reckless wager.

A Lady Hoyden's Secret by Dawn Brower Lady Helena Carter has a secret. She dare not reveal it and court her own ruin--or incur the wrath of Lady X. Oliver Hunt, the Marquess of Dashville has problems of his own regarding the Lady of Whispers, and only Lady Helena can help him. As they cross paths, desire sparks between them. Their budding romance is tested as secrets are uncovered, and the revelations will either bring them closer together or tear them apart forever.

Available at: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | iBooks

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It was never a good day when he woke with the taste of blood on his tongue and no recollection of how it had got there.

Again.

Fuery stared up into the darkness, cold sweat trickling over his exposed chest and sticking the thin black bedclothes to his legs. He breathed hard, each heavy desperate exhalation shattering the silence, rasping in his ears together with his thundering heartbeat.

Icy claws gripped him, sinking into the blackened remains of his heart, attempting to pierce deep enough to reach whatever fragment of light remained in him.

He squeezed his eyes shut, dragged down a shuddering breath and held it, unwilling to let fear pull him into the darkness. He would not let it win. He couldn’t. He exhaled slowly, a measured pace that created a sliver of calm, enough to give him the strength to shake the grip of his fear and allow him to extinguish that emotion.

Because fear was a weakness.

He did not feel such things.

He hadn’t in a long time.

Not since he had hardened himself to the world.

Not since that night.

Fuery screwed his eyes shut even tighter, his lips drawing into a grimace that flashed his emerging fangs as the darkness welled again, pulling up memories from the abyss. They surged and fought for freedom, and he growled as he pushed back against them, battled and resisted them. The fight took longer this time, strained minutes in which the fear slithered back in and wrapped around him again, squeezing his lungs tight and hissing whispered taunts in his ear, words about the terrible sins he had committed that had the memories surging harder, almost breaking to the surface.

He gripped the sides of his head and squeezed hard as he snarled through his clenched fangs. Tears cut down his temples, hot against his chilled skin. He didn’t want to remember, but he could never forget either.

He didn’t want to go back into the darkness, refused to sink into oblivion again and do the vile bidding of the darkness that lived inside him. Not again.

He grappled with fear, wrestled with the darkness, and fought the tide of memories, and somehow, the gods only knew how, he managed to subdue them and vanquish the raw agony and the sheer terror that threatened to push him back over the edge.

He panted hard, body trembling from the exertion of overcoming the darkness and clawing his way back to the light.

Couldn’t think about that night.

Never look back.

The past was pain.

A constant source of it that scoured his blackened soul.

No looking back.

He inhaled and exhaled, keeping them measured and deep, struggling for calm again as his past and his present churned inside him, rocking him and trying to keep him off balance, on the brink of teetering back into the abyss.

No looking back.

Fuery chanted it in his mind as he sought the calm—the quiet.

It was slow to come while the darkness roared inside him, drawn out by the fear that had paralyzed him, weakened him and opened him to it. Its inky tendrils snaked around his heart and squeezed it in his hollow chest.

Attempted to claim his soul.

Calm seemed an impossible dream while blood coated his tongue.

But gods, he wanted it, reached for it, desperate to shirk the grip of the fear and the darkness again.

They combined to overpower him and he could feel himself slipping again, skidding down that terrifying slope towards the cold forbidding darkness where it reached for him, beckoned him with promises of oblivion and an escape from the madness.

From the pain.

No looking back.

The past was a nightmare.

The past was pain.

Always pain.

He opened his eyes and stared up into the darkness as he forced himself to see where he was in a vain attempt to focus on the present. He was here, in the guild, in the free realm of Hell. He was far away from there. Leagues from the elf kingdom. Centuries away from his past.

Light streaked across the darkness and his eyes swiftly adjusted to the onslaught. A shadow made the slim vertical shaft flicker and then brightness exploded in the room, driving back the darkness entirely.

Just as the male on the threshold of his room drove it from his soul.

Hartt looked at him through sleep-filled eyes and murmured huskily in the elf tongue, “I felt you stir. Everything alright?”

Fuery went to nod, because any other response would leave him weak. Vulnerable. He stopped himself, paused and stared at Hartt where he stood dressed in only a loose pair of black cotton trousers and scrubbing a hand over his short sleep-mussed black-blue hair, yawning the whole time.

He didn’t need to protect himself like that with this male.

Hartt knew the truth of him. Knew his secrets. His story.

Fuery slowly shook his head.

Hartt yawned again, smacked his lips together and rubbed sleep from his violet eyes as he stepped into the room. He quietly closed the door, descending the room back into darkness that lasted only a second. A soft glow burned in the glass lamp on the low round wooden table near the window to Fuery’s left and gradually gained strength, driving back the shadows again and drawing some of the darkness out of the black plastered walls, softening the bleak colour.

Hartt’s doing, because Fuery’s own powers were unpredictable.

Unreliable since that night.

The male padded silently barefoot across the stone floor towards him and sat on the edge of the bed on his left, causing Fuery to roll towards him. The warm light chased over Hartt, throwing the left half of his face into shadow.

Hartt’s violet eyes softened as they met his. “Tell me about it.”

Fuery sank back into the double mattress on a sigh and averted his gaze, pinning it back on the wooden ceiling. Gods, he didn’t want to speak about it. Everything in him screamed to protect himself by making the male go away, but that light Hartt always seemed to draw out of him emulated the lamp, fought to grow brighter and drive the darkness back.

He had to speak about it. Years of experience had taught him that. Holding it inside would only give the darkness a firmer hold on him, making it harder to shake it and increasing the risk of him sinking into that terrible oblivion again.

He didn’t want to go there.

So he forced himself to speak.

“I woke…” His hands tensed against his bare stomach, fingers curling into fists, and he pushed onwards. “I woke with the taste of blood in my mouth.”

He could still taste it now.

He dropped his gaze to his body. No trace of crimson on his torso. He uncurled his hands and lifted them, stared at his fingers and his callused palms, scouring them for a sign, some evidence that he had lost himself to the darkness and had killed.

There wasn’t a single fleck of blood on him.

But it was there in his mouth.

Coppery. Vile.

“I think I did something terrible,” he whispered and shook his head, numbness sweeping through him and bringing fear in its wake, a stronger wave this time, one that threatened to pull him under. Break him. “I don’t remember. I can’t recall how I got to my bed.”

He shifted his gaze to land on Hartt.

The pity shining in Hartt’s violet eyes drove shame through his heart like a spear and he quickly looked away.

“I put you here,” Hartt said softly, his deep voice a bare whisper but one that soothed Fuery, easing his fear and the grip the darkness had on him. “You had an… episode… and I brought you home.”

Relief bloomed inside him, sweet and warm, but the darkness still refused to release him and worry continued to slither inside him like a living thing, hissing in his ear that Hartt was lying, that he had killed and the male was covering it up.

Hartt seemed to see it, because he sighed and jerked his chin towards him. “Open your mouth.”

Fuery didn’t hesitate to do as he was ordered. The male leaned over, peered into his mouth and lifted his top lip with his left hand. When he prodded Fuery’s tongue on the left side, sharp pain lanced the length of it and he flinched, almost biting Hartt’s finger. The male was too fast for him though, reacted in a heartbeat and had his finger clear before Fuery’s fangs could pierce his flesh.

“You must have bitten your tongue when you were thrashing around. That’s all.” Hartt eased back.

Gods, the relief that hit Fuery this time was like ambrosia. It poured through him, washing away his worry and easing the chill from his blood.

Hartt’s lips tugged into a smile and he slowly shook his head. “For a male who makes a living taking lives, you are oddly affected by the idea of killing.”

Fuery knew it was a paradox, that Hartt was right and he had no qualms about his life as an assassin.

But there was a vast difference between killing when he was in control and murder when he was lost to the darkness.

He had felt that way for many centuries.

He had felt it since that night.

Now he couldn’t bear the idea he might kill someone innocent during one of his blackouts.

He looked to Hartt and saw in his eyes that he wouldn’t tell him if he did. Hartt was noble in his desire to protect him from the pain of the things he did when the darkness was in control, but Fuery didn’t want his friend to lie to him, to cover the truth and spare him like that.

He needed to know the things that he did. He had to know them. He could never atone, but he could bear his sins.

Because all that he had done, and all that he might do, paled in comparison to the sin he had committed.

That night.

Book 1: Kissed by a Dark Prince (FREE AT SELECTED RETAILERS!)
Book 2: Claimed by a Demon King
Book 3: Tempted by a Rogue Prince
Book 4: Hunted by a Jaguar
Book 5: Craved by an Alpha
Book 6: Bitten by a Hellcat
Book 7: Taken by a Dragon
Book 8: Marked by an Assassin
Book 9: Possessed by a Dark Warrior
Book 10: Awakened by a Demoness
Book 11: Haunted by the King of Death
Book 12: Turned by a Tiger
Book 13: Tamed by a Tiger
Book 14: Treasured by a Tiger
Book 15: Unchained by a Forbidden Love

Felicity Heaton is a New York Times and USA Today international best-selling author writing passionate paranormal romance books. In her books, she creates detailed worlds, twisting plots, mind-blowing action, intense emotion and heart-stopping romances with leading men that vary from dark deadly vampires to sexy shape-shifters and wicked werewolves, to sinful angels and hot demons! If you're a fan of paranormal romance authors Lara Adrian, J R Ward, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Gena Showalter and Christine Feehan then you will enjoy her books too.

If you love your angels a little dark and wicked, the best-selling Her Angel series is for you. If you like strong, powerful, and dark vampires then try the Vampires Realm series or any of her stand-alone vampire romance books. If you’re looking for vampire romances that are sinful, passionate and erotic then try the best-selling Vampire Erotic Theatre series. Or if you prefer huge detailed worlds filled with hot-blooded alpha males in every species, from elves to demons to dragons to shifters and angels, then take a look at the new Eternal Mates series.

If you want to know more about Felicity, or want to get in touch, you can find her at the following places:

WEBSITE | BLOG | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | GOODREADS | INSTAGRAM