Once Upon a Christmas Moon Review Tour

Blurb:

Twelve Days to Love

When Archer Steele showed up at Calanthe Durand's failing plantation with an alligator over his shoulder, Cali thought she'd never seen a more handsome man. During the war she'd had to defend herself and her servants from both union and confederate soldiers. Independent and self-sufficient, she'd vowed to never marry.

But Archer Steele has different ideas. The first time Archer had seen Cali in town, he felt an instant attraction. He decided he'd do everything and anything to convince the beautiful Miss Durand he was worthy of her love. During the weeks leading up to Christmas, he gave her twelve gifts to in hopes she'd fall in love with him.

Excerpt from Twelve Days to Love:

“Enough love talk.” His grin spoke of the devil is disguise. “Let’s go for a walk. Call it a feeble attempt to court the woman of my dreams, the woman I want to convince she can’t live without me.”

Laughing softly, she cocked her head to one side, studying Archer Steel. “I’d like that. Let me grab a shawl. You’re not afraid of Mr. Lawson popping up.”

“No, not while I’m with you. He’s a sly and manipulative person, a man of no courage. He won’t battle me, but he will wait until you’re vulnerable.”

They walked down the stairs and along a path skirting the bayou. A soft breeze sifted through the cypress trees, stirring the hanging moss. The quiet time spent without conversation left a peaceful feeling within. This moment could last forever, if she had her way and if she admitted the truth, she could get used to having Archer by her side.

A gator slipped into the water as a crane flew by. Cali leaned her head against Archer’s arm, wishing for the past, for easier times. Her father would have made sure the chaperone was a few feet behind. Now there was no one guarding her or her virtue. She didn’t know if she cared. Maybe she wanted Archer to make love to her.

But she didn’t want to ever marry.

He turned her. Their gazes met and she licked her lips, wanting the kiss that now seemed inevitable. Slowly bending toward her, his lips met hers. They were warm and soft, so gentle she almost swooned. Swooning was in the past when women wore corsets. A corset had not molded her shape since the war began and her father left the plantation. Leaving the garment in the wardrobe not only freed her body but also her mind.

With her eyes closed she felt heat sweep within, knew the longing for a man. Fire enveloped her body and the small groan emanating was coupled with the same sound from Archer.

Did he feel the same way? They were doomed. No coherent thoughts made their way inside her head.

His hand touched her neck, one thumb on her jaw. She felt his tongue against her lips. Without thought she opened for him, acknowledged the touch inside her mouth. He deepened the kiss, exploring her, his hand running the length of her arm. She pushed into him, enjoying the hard muscles protecting her, enfolding her in his strength. She realized while she didn’t need protection, she loved the closeness. This was an intimacy she’d never understood or known, deeper than the bond between parents and daughter.

One hand on the small of her back pulled her closer, his kiss deepened. She slipped her tongue inside his mouth, teeth, tongue, a primal dual.

He pulled away, a grim expression on his face. “We need to stop.”

Licking her lips, “I’m not sure I want this to end.”

She heard his groan. “This kiss has to end or Sam will be out here defending your honor. I don’t want him to have to do that.”

“No one but me needs to defend my honor.” She bristled, wishing for one more kiss.

 My Review:

Coming soon

*I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.*

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Author Bios and Links:

Christine Young: Born in Medford, Oregon, novelist Christine Young has lived in Oregon all of her life. After graduating from Oregon State University with a BS in science, she spent another year at Southern Oregon State University working on her teaching certificate, and a few years later received her Master's degree in secondary education and counseling. Now the long, hot days of summer provide the perfect setting for creating romance. She sold her first book, Dakota's Bride, the summer of 1998 and her second book, My Angel to Kensington. Her teaching and writing careers have intertwined with raising three children.  Christine's newest venture is the creation of Rogue Phoenix Press. Christine is the founder, editor and co-owner with her husband. They live in Salem, Oregon.

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Christie L. Kraemer: A traveler for most of her life, C. L. Kraemer has settled in the Northwest with her husband and two cats. When not creating a new world or entity, she likes riding next to her husband on their Harleys.

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Genie Gabriel: I'm an optimist whose rose-colored glasses have bent frames and cracked lenses. When life kicks me in the teeth, I find miracles and lessons I refused to learn an easier way. In fact, I live with a small herd of miracles in the furry forms of dogs, who are constantly trying to teach me to forgive, to play more, and to love without limits.

I write about people who find courage and integrity in the darkest times of their lives, who rescue stray dogs and kittens, who find a person they would willingly give their lives for, and who make their little corners of the world a better place.

People have remarked my stories "aren't what they expected." With rose-colored glasses firmly in place, I take that as a compliment.

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One Too Excerpt Tour

Blurb:

Telepathy creates as many problems as it solves, as most of the members of the secret organization x0 would admit. When new member Lola discovers another group of telepaths with a completely different approach, those problems multiply at the speed of thought.

Soon, Lola’s family and friends are in danger. Lucky for her, she’s not your average budding psychic. Each person with whom she is close has a special gift of their own. That’s good, because it’s going to take every power they possess to keep this other group from succeeding with their plan to eradicate x0.

Exclusive Excerpt:

She got out of bed, crept into the hallway, and peaked around the dining room curtains. The first thing she saw was smoke, but there was no smell of fire. She rubbed her eyes awake and looked more closely. Either there had just a been a freakish hail storm or there was a large amount dry ice laying across the front lawn. So it was mist she was seeing. Mist that was being intentionally created. Why?

She squinted into it. At least a dozen people were on the front lawn, dressed in grey cloaks, swaying, and occasionally crouching in fear. Some were moaning in pain as they moved and others were grunting in anger. As near as Lola could tell, there was no particular source of their troubles. Rather, it looked for all the world like an amateur acting workshop devoted to expressing negative emotions. Had this been staged just to wake her and Maurice and fill them with fear?

Alex came up behind her. As he looked out, a tall hooded man raised a dagger high above his own head and started to wail at the top of his lungs.

“What is this shit?” Alex muttered.

“Maybe we should call 911,” Teddie’s voice was behind them, and Alex winced at his ill-timed profanity.

“Sorry, kiddo. This is a little weird for me.”

 “It’s weird for everybody, dad,” Zane corrected his father as he came into the dining room. “And I wouldn’t call 911 unless you think they’re going to hurt us. This has got to be just what Ariel saw. Something to make our family look eccentric.”

“Make us look eccentric?  We’re not the ones dancing around on the lawn making strange noises,” Lola protested.

“How much do you want to bet that isn’t the way that the story is going to get covered?” Teddie said.

“Maybe if we all go back to sleep they’ll just get tired of this and go away,” Alex said.

“I agree. The last thing we want to do is call more attention it,” Zane said.

Lola looked back out through the window. “But if they get loud enough, a neighbor is going to call the police. Then what?”

Zane nudged in beside his mother and studied the scene. The man with the dagger was still waving it around in the air, and his sounds were becoming shrieks. Several of the others began to screech too, alternating like warring groups of katydids.

“I could go out there and spray them all with the garden hose,” Zane offered.

A lone, grey hooded figure emerged from the bushes to the side of the yard, carrying a tray that held a small, lifeless orange animal. The tray was slowly laid in front of the dagger-holding shreiker as the four family members tried to get a good look at it through the mist.

“Please tell me that’s a dead chicken,” Alex said.

“I wish. It looks a lot more like the Nelson’s cat.” Lola said. “Hopefully only drugged.”

The groans and screeches began to coalesce into chanting. It was a little free form, but the gist seemed to involve begging the Zeitmans to come outside and accept their sacrifice.

“They want us to stop the murder of this pet, by appearing outside with them,” Zane said. “They are trying to force us to engage in this nonsense.”

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Author Bio and Links:

Sherrie grew up in Western Kansas thinking that there was no place in the universe more fascinating than outer space. After her mother vetoed astronaut as a career ambition, she went on to study journalism and physics in hopes of becoming a science writer.

She published her first science fiction short story long ago, and then waited a lot of tables while she looked for inspiration for the next story. When it finally came,  it declared to her that it had to be whole book, nothing less. One night, while digesting this disturbing piece of news, she drank way too many shots of ouzo with her boyfriend. She woke up thirty-one years later demanding to know what was going on.

The boyfriend, who she had apparently long since married, asked her to calm down and  explained that in a fit of practicality she had gone back to school and gotten a degree in geophysics and had spent the last 28 years interpreting seismic data in the oil industry. The good news, according to Mr. Cronin, was that she had found it at least mildly entertaining and ridiculously well-paying  The bad news was that the two of them had still managed to spend almost all of the money.

Apparently she was now Mrs. Cronin, and the further good news was that they had produced three wonderful children whom they loved dearly, even though to be honest that is where a lot of the money had gone. Even better news was that Mr. Cronin  turned out to be a warm-hearted, encouraging sort who was happy to see her awake and ready to write. "It's about time," were his exact words.

Sherrie Cronin discovered that over the ensuing decades Sally Ride had already managed to become the first woman in space and apparently had done a fine job of it. No one, however, had written the book that had been in Sherrie's head for decades. The only problem was, the book informed her sternly that it had now grown into a six book collection. Sherrie decided that she better start writing it before it got any longer. She's been wide awake ever since, and writing away.

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Relatively Crazy Blurb Blitz

Blurb:

On her fortieth birthday housewife Wanda Jo Ashton is expecting her husband's standard gift of an E and E from T-that being Elegant and Expensive from Tiffany's. However, what she gets is the news that her formerly successful, dependable corporate attorney husband is leaving her to pursue the rich life of a kept man. Left with nothing she has no choice but to escape the San Francisco area, with her sixteen-year-old daughter in tow and head toward the mountains of West Virginia and the quirky family she left behind twenty years ago. Here Wanda Jo must carve out a future, complete with career and home in the midst of family feuds, computer phobias and the occasional homebrewing explosion before she finally figures out life can indeed being again at forty.

Excerpt:

Okay, there is was. Looking no different than twenty-two years ago. A small opening in the woods marked by a gray, metal, utilitarian mailbox and a graveled trail that passed for a driveway in these parts.

I was home. Oh God help me. Please.

I depressed the brake pedal, leaving behind the paved surface and tried not to wince as what sounded like millions of tiny gravel bits pinged against the underside of my car.

The azaleas lining the drive still looked the same. The one at the very end caught my attention, I could have sworn it jiggled. Oh no, it couldn’t be. Surely it was impossible now.

Suddenly the bush jumped in front of the car.

I slammed on the brakes, pinning Olivia to the seat with my outstretched arm. In the fashion of mothers everywhere I was protecting my offspring from flying through the windshield by crushing her windpipe while invoking the Maternal Arm.

I looked toward the hood and the half-dozen bobbing azalea twigs in front. I sat resolved as they rose and wre followed by an old pith helmet and a face which looked a bit older than I’d remembered, although it was hard to tell precisely, given the layers of green and black greasepaint. A body followed, dressed in a set of ancient Army –issued fatigues.

“Gun,” Olivia croaked, pointing.

I simply nodded, there would be plenty of time later for my daughter to find out exactly what was swimming around in the waters of the gene pool from whence she’d sprung.

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Author Bio and Links:

At the age of nine Ellen Dye decided she was going to be a writer when she found her Aunt Nettie’s trunk of True Confessions magazines and spent untold hours reading the lot, a bag of Munchos potato chips and a frosty RC Cola at her side. Then, being nine, she promptly forgot all about it as she got lost in the pesky business of growing up, And then one very lucky day she spotted a confession magazine on the grocery store shelf and began to tap out her own stories which were a delight to see published. Now she spends her days tapping out her characters’ happily-ever-afters for The Wild Rose Press.

Visit anytime at www.ellendye.com

Ellen is always up for meeting new friends at Ellen Dye Author on Facebook.

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Going Gone! Excerpt Tour

Blurb:

Code Name Trackers: The elite of the elite. FBI agents, each with a secret, an extraordinary ability that defies reason and logic.

An intricate scheme to kidnap the children of high-ranking politicians on Capitol Hill gets disrupted when private investigator Kerry Branson rescues one of the victims.

Teamed with FBI Tracker Ryan Barr, they discover the plot extends to the Office of the President and—the horrific plan has drug cartels and terrorist cells lined up to cash in.

Exclusive Excerpt:

The hair on Ryan’s neck had prickled at Kerry’s serious demeanor when she asked about a refill. She was up to something, and the coffee was an excuse, but he didn’t have a clue as to what. Well, he’d stick around. He might find out how she came up with those damn drawings.

Setting Ryan’s cup on the table, she settled in her chair and took a sip. The heat felt good as the liquid slid down her throat. Staring at Ryan over the rim of the cup, she took a second sip, then said, “How did you come up with Moore’s name?”

The question wasn’t a surprise, but hopefully, he could avoid the explanation. “Hmm … a hunch. Someone mentioned the name, and it seemed to fit the Harris imposter.”

Kerry thought, what a crock. He’s using the same kind of answers I do when I can’t explain how I know something. “Nope, I’m not buying that answer. What is it you don’t want to tell me?”

Perturbed by her persistence, Ryan fired back. “How did you come up with the sketches?”

“Fair question. Since I believe we both have issues we don’t want to discuss, I would like to propose an … alliance, for lack of a better word. The only rule is this discussion stays between the two of us. Considering the risk to our careers, I think it is a fair resolution to our individual concerns,” Kerry said.

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Author Bio and Links:

Award winning author, Anita Dickason, is a retired Dallas Police Officer. Anita served as a patrol officer, undercover narcotics officer, advanced accident investigator, and SWAT entry/sniper.

Upon retirement, she became involved in a research project that dealt with the death of a witness to the Kennedy assassination. The research led to her first book, JFK Assassination Eyewitness: Rush to Conspiracy, that details the results of her reconstruction of the 1966 motor vehicle accident that killed Lee Bowers, Jr.

The project jump-started a new career as an author and publisher, and she started a new business: Mystic Circle Books & Designs, LLC.

As an author, her fictional works are suspense/thrillers with a touch of paranormal and romance. Characters with unexpected skills, that extra edge for overcoming danger and adversity, have always intrigued her. Adding an infatuation with ancient myths and legends of Native American Indians, and Scottish and Irish folklore creates the backdrop for her characters.

As a publisher, her diverse background has proven to be an invaluable asset. Assisting other authors to publish their works utilizes the gamut of her experience. Graphics design has become one of her favorite endeavors.

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The Remains in the Pond VBT

Blurb:

Senior prom is the happiest night of Gabi’s life. Her crush has just revealed that he is every bit as infatuated with her as she is with him. When he has a car wreck and is transported to the hospital in a coma, Gabi feels as if she’s taken a knife to the heart. But his jealous cousin, Rose, sees her chance to give the knife an even harder twist. She convinces Gabi to meet her at a local parking spot outside town. It's a night that will change several lives forever. One of the girls will return, and one will become known as the remains in the pond.

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Ann, thanks so much for stopping by. So, how did you get started writing?

I wrote stories in a spiral notebook in Jr. High, but I didn’t publish any until college when I won a short story contest.


What was the inspiration for your book?

The Remains in the Pond was inspired by an image in a movie. It showed a white skull barely visible in a murky pond.


What’s the one genre you haven’t written in yet that you’d like to?

I would like to write a medical romance like A Walk to Remember.


Are there any genres you won’t read or write in? Why?

Nope. Can’t think of any.


What are you up to right now? Do you have any releases planned, or are you still writing?

Yes, I have book four in my Phantom series getting ready for release soon. I also have another YA novel that will come after than, and now I am working on a romance set near Stutter Creek.


Alright, now for some random questions. Favorite color?

Turquoise.

Favorite movie?

Terminator.

Book that inspired you to become an author?

Red Sky at Morning.

You have one superpower. What is it?

The ability to make everyone kind.


You can have dinner with any 3 people, dead, alive, fictitious, etc. Who are they?

My father who died when I was eight; my mother who died a few years ago; my sister who died last year. We would all sit around talking about books.


Last question: Which of your characters are you most like and how/why?

Stevie-girl from the Phantom series because she is based on the me I wish I had been.

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Author Bio:

Ann has been a writer since junior high school, but to pay the bills she’s waited tables, delivered newspapers, cleaned other people's houses, taught school, and even had a short stint as a secretary in a rock-n-roll radio station. She also worked as a 911 operator and a police dispatcher.

Ann’s stories began to win awards in her college days. Since then she’s published novels, novellas, and short stories. But even if no one ever bought another book, Ann wouldn’t stop writing. For her it’s the cathartic pause in a sometimes-crazy world. Most of the time, it even keeps her sane.

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A Hundred Promises of Love Blurb Blitz

Blurb:

For Ethan and Nico, a broken millefiori ornament is more than a few shards of glass−it’s a chance at finding love at Christmas.

Ethan Carson wants to treat his mother to the perfect Christmas while she’s visiting over the holidays. He’s spent all his savings on presents and bought an enormous tree that takes up half his living room. But when he starts to trim the tree with the family heirloom decorations, he finds her favorite ornament, the one his late father bought on their honeymoon, is broken.

Glassblower Nico Kazan doesn’t celebrate Christmas—unless you count trying to sell the art glass in his gallery to holiday shoppers. When Ethan, the object of his secret crush, asks him to recreate a broken Murano ball, he knows it will take more than his skill and time. Can he risk his heart to give Ethan back a symbol of love and family for Christmas?

Excerpt:

On the Christmas card, two fluffy Persian cats sporting felt antlers stared at Ethan in disgust. Behind them a miniature sleigh sat empty. A thought balloon rose above one cat with the words, “Pull your own sleigh, fat man.” Ha. Ethan tried to smother the chuckle, but it escaped.

“Are you laughing at your Cousin Emmylou’s lumbago?”  His mom’s disapproving question snapped Ethan back to the conversation on his phone. He shoved the card back in the rack and lined them up from where the last customer picked through them.

“What? No. What is lumbago, anyway?” His Cousin Emmylou always had some ailment discussed ad nauseam by the family. A pang of regret thrummed in his chest as Ethan realized he wouldn’t see Cousin Emmylou or any of the extended family this Christmas.

At least his mom would be here to celebrate.

“It’s a three-dollar word for back pain.” Ethan’s mom sighed. “Last month it was impetigo. I swear that woman is a walking health hazard.”

“Well, you’ll get a week off from Cousin Emmylou. I’m looking forward to your visit, Mom.” And he was. His mom traveled little, and he wanted to pamper her this Christmas. He’d spent his cash, extra savings, and maxed out his puny credit card to buy spa day gift certificates, theatre tickets, and a special weekend stay at the Opryland  hotel.  He’d  even  sprung  for  passes  to  see  his mom’s favorite performer in concert. He’d need to watch his budget through January to make sure he didn’t overdraw his checking account, but she deserved it. Christmas was always hard, now that Dad had passed. And with her move out of the family home this year... He wanted her new memories to be just as special.

“I can’t wait to spend quality time with my baby boy again.”

“Well, it will be a whole new experience to see Nashville at Christmas. Don’t forget to bring a warm coat.”

His mom’s laughter sparkled through the phone’s speaker. “No shorts for Christmas?”

“I’m hoping for snow.” Ethan chuckled at his mom’s exaggerated “brrr” noise in response.

“There’s something else I—” She began but movement beyond the coffee shop’s plate glass window caught his eye.

Ethan recognized the tall, delicious figure in purple lens sunglasses striding toward him. He interrupted her mid-sentence. “Oops. Gotta go, Mom. Love you.”

“Love you too, baby boy.”

Ethan rammed the phone back in his pocket and ducked behind the counter a minute before the bell over the door jingled.

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Author Bio and Links:

Award-winning author Aidee Ladnier began writing at twelve years old but took a hiatus to be a magician’s assistant, ride in hot air balloons, produce independent movies, collect interesting shoes, fold origami, and send ping pong balls into space. Don’t tell anyone, but she secretly likes to watch Hallmark Christmas movies because she’s convinced that the holidays are the most romantic time of year.

You can find her on her blog or on her favorite social media sites:

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Responsible Adult Series Blurb Blitz

Blurb:

The Responsible Adult series follows bad boy Micky O’Neill as he attempts to better his life to bring up his disabled little brother. A past full of juvenile delinquency and living in a small town rife with idle gossip means Micky struggles to be seen as anything other than a no-hoper from the wrong side of the tracks... until he takes a job at the local supermarket and meets his boss, Dan, a university graduate and self-proclaimed shy, awkward bookworm.

Dan, older and burned from a past relationship, is the one person who sees through Micky’s tough-guy facade to the true heart underneath. With fear and mistrust on both sides, the two must steer their way through a complicated relationship where outside forces are determined to break them up at every turn.

Responsible Adult is a series about growing up and learning that love always brings responsibility.

Book One - Misdemeanor:

Love isn’t always responsible

After his mother tragically dies and his deadbeat father goes off the rails, nineteen-year-old Micky is left to care for his disabled little brother, Flynn.

Juggling college, a dead-end job and Flynn’s special needs means Micky has to put his bad-boy past behind him and be the responsible adult to keep his brother out of care. He doesn’t have time for anything else in his life.

Until he meets Dan…

Excerpt:

Dan froze. He couldn’t move. He meant to have walked back out of the locker room as soon as he’d given Micky the key, but his previously keen legs were now finding it hard to take him anywhere. It wasn’t so much the body that had him grounded—the body was an absolute delight in itself, no doubt about that, and it was a close toss-up as to what Dan had appreciated more today, the apple pie consumed earlier or the fine specimen of male stripping down to his boxers in front of him right then.

Micky had defined muscles with smooth white skin and was stockier than he appeared with his jumper on. But what had Dan stuck to the floor, mouth gaping in a shocking display of corporate unprofessionalism, was the large tattoo etched down Micky’s right side torso. A black Celtic dragon. The triangle point of the tail started at his hip bone and the rest of the black ink drew out the sketched mythical beast, ending with a triangle tongue at just above his pectoral line. It was a work of art and something Dan had never laid eyes on before. He discovered his eyes quite liked it and didn’t want to look at anything else ever again.

Micky caught the stare and shuffled his feet.

“My mum was Welsh,” he heard Micky say, possibly by way of explanation and even more probably because this wasn’t the first time he had been gawked at after taking off his top. Nor, Dan doubted, would it be the last.

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Author Bio and Links:

Brought up in a relatively small town in Hertfordshire, C F White managed to do what most other residents try to do and fail—leave.

Studying at a West London university, she realised there was a whole city out there waiting to be discovered, so, much like Dick Whittington before her, she never made it back home and still endlessly searches for the streets paved with gold, slowly coming to the realisation they’re mostly paved with chewing gum. And the odd bit of graffiti. And those little circles of yellow spray paint where the council point out the pot holes to someone who is supposedly meant to fix them instead of staring at them vacantly whilst holding a polystyrene cup of watered-down coffee.

She eventually moved West to East along that vast District Line and settled for pie and mash, cockles and winkles and a bit of Knees Up Mother Brown to live in the East End of London; securing a job and creating a life, a home and a family.

After her second son was born with a rare disability, C F White’s life changed drastically and brought her pen back to paper after she’d written stories as a child but never had the confidence to show them to the world. Now, having embarked on this writing journey, C F White cannot stop. So strap in, it’s going to be a bumpy ride. 

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NOTE: The first book in the series will be available for $0.99 and the second book in the series will be available for $1.99.

Responsible Adult Serial (Pride Publishing)

Misdemeanor (Responsible Adult #1)

Hard Time (Responsible Adult #2)

Reformed (Responsible Adult #3)

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St. Cross Series

Won’t Feel A Thing (Coming 19 December by Loose ID)

The District Line Series (Indie)