February Embrace Blog Tour: Full Measures Excerpt + Giveaway

 

Welcome to my stop on the February Embrace Blog Tour! Today I have a great excerpt from FULL MEASURES to share with you and don't forget to enter the awesome giveaway!

Don't forget to grab your copies of FULL MEASURES and IN BLOOM now - they're currently on sale for 99 cents each for a limited time only!

Full Measures

Author: Rebecca Yarros

Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance

Release Date: February 10, 2014

Publisher: Entangled Publishing - Embrace

Description:

 

She knew. That’s why Mom hadn’t opened the door. She knew he was dead.


Twenty years as an army brat and Ember Howard knew, too. The soldiers at the door meant her dad was never coming home. What she didn’t know was how she would find the strength to singlehandedly care for her crumbling family when her mom falls apart.


Then Josh Walker enters her life. Hockey star, her new next-door neighbor, and not to mention the most delicious hands that insist on saving her over and over again. He has a way of erasing the pain with a single look, a single touch. As much as she wants to turn off her feelings and endure the heartache on her own, she can’t deny their intense attraction.


Until Josh’s secret shatters their world. And Ember must decide if he’s worth the risk that comes with loving a man who could strip her bare.

A dozen or so trips later, I had the bags spread out in the kitchen, the contents spilling onto the counter. I heard the door open a scant second before Gus hit the entryway, a cacophony of stampeding feet to the kitchen. “Cool!” he called out, snatching a box of Fruit Roll-Ups from the counter. “Snacks!”

I ruffled his hair and took his backpack, amazed it was already three. “Homework?”

His expression fell. “Yeah.” His face puckered up like he’d tasted something sour. “Do I have to?”

“Yep! You have hockey in an hour, so get it done.” I poured him a glass of orange juice and set it on the counter before putting away the groceries.

Two grimaces and three broken pencil tips later, Gus finished his homework, and I finished making a sandwich. “Hey, take this up to Mom if you’re done.”

“Gotta scram!” He snatched the plate and ripped through the upstairs in a flurry of activity. 

Gus had two speeds: full throttle and asleep.

I cracked open a bottle of water and congratulated myself on a great grocery trip.

The door slammed, accompanied by the swift click of heels on the floor. April sashayed into the kitchen, dropping her backpack, purse, keys, and phone on the island I had just cleared off. I bit back my immediate need for her to clean off her crap. Hey, was that purse new?

“Look who I found outside,” she sang, arching her perfect eyebrows at me. She took the cold bottle of water out of my hand and headed up the back stairs.

Josh Walker stood in my kitchen, leaning against the counter in jeans, a CU hoodie, and backward black hat. Holy shit, he looked freaking edible. How had I missed how hot he was the last two times I’d seen him? And what was he doing in my kitchen?

“Hey, Ember.” He smiled.

“Josh.” I was unsure I could say anything else and not jump him, but I went ahead. “What are you up to?” I put the island between us, for his own safety.

“Just grabbing Gus for practice.” His smile was lethal, a mix of boyish charm and pure sex. Sex? Like you’d even know. What the hell is wrong with you? You have a boyfriend!

“That’s . . . um . . . really nice of you.”

“I figured your mom wouldn’t be up for it yet, and Gus has been itching to get back out there.” His understanding softened me even further. It was one thing to lust after him, but quite another to find myself . . . liking him as a person, not just a hot body. After about a minute of me staring wordlessly, he raised his eyebrows in question. “So, what’s for dinner?” he asked, motioning to the pile of paper bags I’d accumulated.

“Um . . .” My mind raced through the ingredients I’d bought. What was I going to make? Chicken? I didn’t buy any. Fajitas? No steak. I sighed in exasperation and smiled. “Cookies.”

A laugh tumbled from his lips.

“I went shopping, I swear!” I laughed, holding my head in my hands. “I bought all the food everyone likes, but nothing we actually needed!” The laughter wouldn’t stop, and my shoulders shook as I let go. “We have coffee creamer, but no coffee, and tortillas but no cheese.”

Josh’s laughter mingled with mine. He reached over and pulled my hand from my face, giving it a gentle squeeze. “It’s good to see you smile, Ember.” The nerves in my skin short-circuited where he touched me.

My smile slipped. Was it too soon? Am I allowed to laugh? As if on cue, Gus scrambled in from the garage, toting a bag of gear bigger than he was. “Ready, Coach?”

“You got it, little man,” Josh answered, slipping his hand from mine. He sent me a smile that made me forget my own name. “Later, Ember.” Good thing he reminded me.

I nodded, doing my best not to look too freaking captivated by him. “Seat belt on, Gus, okay?”

Josh didn’t mock or patronize me, just nodded his head once. “You hear that, Gus? Seat belt’s on you.”

The door shut behind them, and I whipped out my cell phone, needing my anchor and a quick reminder that I wasn’t allowed to think naughty thoughts about Josh Walker.

Rebecca Yarros is a hopeless romantic and lover of all things chocolate, coffee, and Paleo. In addition to being a mom, military wife, and blogger, she can never choose between Young Adult and New Adult fiction, so she writes both. She's a graduate of Troy University, where she studied European history and English, but still holds out hope for an acceptance letter to Hogwarts. Her blog, The Only Girl Among Boys, has been voted the Top Military Mom Blog the last two years, and celebrates the complex issues surrounding the military life she adores.

When she's not writing, she's tying on hockey skates for her kids, or sneaking in some guitar time. She is madly in love with her army-aviator husband of eleven years, and they're currently stationed in Upstate NY with their gaggle of rambunctious kiddos and snoring English Bulldog, but she would always rather be home in Colorado.

Links:
Blog: http://rebeccaelizabethyarros.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/RebeccaYarros
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RebeccaElizabethYarros
Author Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7539785.Rebecca_Yarros

Buy Links:
Amazon
Barnes and Noble  


Check out Embrace's other February release:

In Bloom (The Brightside #1)
Author: Katie Delahanty
Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance
Release Date: February 10, 2014
Publisher: Entangled Publishing - Embrace

Description:

My name is Olivia Bloom and I. Am. Free.


I left for LA with everything I owned piled into my old Volkswagen and dreams of becoming a costume designer. Little did I know I’d wind up designing for a lingerie company—yeah, not sure how I landed this gig—and taken under the wing of two young Hollywood insiders. The fashion shows and parties were great, but life really got exciting when the seriously hottest lead singer of my favorite band started to fall for me.　


How does someone like me, an ordinary girl from Pittsburgh, wind up in the arms of the world’s sexiest rock star—surrounded by celebrities, fashion, and music—and not be eaten alive? Berkeley is everything I've ever dreamed of in a boyfriend, but the paparazzi, the tabloids, the rumors, it's all getting a bit too crazy. My life has become every girl’s dream come true, if only I don’t blink and lose it all…　

Katie Delahanty is a fashion designer turned novelist. She holds a BA in Communication Studies from UCLA and a Professional Designation in Fashion Design from FIDM. It never occurred to her that she was a writer until an economic-crisis-induced career shift from lingerie designer to e-commerce webmistress led her to start the company blog. Not being an expert in lingerie, she decided to write the blog as a fictional serial starring a girl named Olivia Bloom who worked for the lingerie line. And that’s when Katie fell in love with storytelling. She hasn’t looked back since. Katie lives in Los Angeles with her husband.

Links: 
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/KatieDelahantyAuthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/KTDelahanty
Website/Blog: www.KatieDelahanty.com
Instagram: http://instagram.com/ktdelahanty/#
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7437226.Katie_Delahanty

Buy Links:
Amazon
Barnes and Noble  

From Katie Delahanty, author of In Bloom:

One gift basket with the following in it (US and Canada only):

$75 gift certificate to www.InBloomIntimates.com

$25 Amazon gift card

The Remainers Formal Fridays CD

Pink Champagne Cupcake Bath Bomb from www.soapybliss.com

Peach & Coconut Milk Push Up Lotion Pop from www.soapybliss.com

Berry Buttercream Soy Candle from www.JaquaBathandBody.com

Sees milk chocolate foil hearts

Autographed copies of STARSTRUCK and LOVE ME from author Rachel Shukert

Plus, $25 international gift certificate to either Amazon or B&N

From Rebecca Yarros, author of Full Measures:

US and Canada only- http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-Ereader-ebook-reader/dp/B007HCCNJU/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1391633560&sr=1-2&keywords=kindle

Plus, $25 international gift certificate to either Amazon or B&N

a Rafflecopter giveaway