Saturday Sampler - Caster's Unfriendly Ghost by Alicia Dean

BLURB

A year after her husband’s death, Emily Tillman is ready to start dating again, and hopefully, find what she’s always wanted—marriage and children. But the man who broke her heart five years ago is back. And he’s anything but the marrying kind. 

Confirmed bachelor Reese Caster is perfectly content with his life—and he’s finally over Emily, the one woman who almost made him commit. Now, his world is rocked when her dead husband shows up, demanding that Reese pursue Emily to keep her out of the clutches of her latest suitor—a jerk who is only after her money. 

Being around Emily again has made Reese reconsider his bachelor life style. But now that the threat of the other man is gone, the pesky ghost wants Reese to break things off. Can he and Emily find the love they were denied, or will the ghost of her dead husband destroy their chances? 

EXCERPT

“Emily is the kind of woman you have to take things slowly with.”

“Sure, if this was real. But you have to step it up, turn on the charm. You need to show you care, that you know her, buy her things that she loves. Her favorite flowers are white roses, she loves dark chocolate, and her favorite wine is Merlot. You need to move in on her, hard.”

Caster gave a humorless laugh and shook his head. “Do you hear yourself? You were her husband, for God’s sake. Have some respect.”

Joey’s face flushed. “I do respect her. That’s why I don’t want this asshole putting one over on her. She deserves to find someone who will truly love her and give her the things I couldn’t.”

A note of pain in his voice almost made Caster feel sorry for him. But not as sorry as he felt for the family who lost a loved one less than half an hour ago. “Listen, I’ve performed back to back surgeries today, and had my night capped off by an emergency surgery that ended with a young girl’s death. So, you’ll understand why I’m not in the mood for this right now.”

“I’m sorry, but there’s nothing I can do about that. My concern is with Emily. And I need you to follow through with your end of the deal.”

“Deal, my ass. You blackmailed me into going along with this bullshit. Well, I’m out. I’ll finish the haunted forest thing, but no more of this romancing Emily crap. I can’t use her like that, I can’t break her heart again.”

“Break her heart? You sound pretty sure she’ll fall for you. My, my. Someone’s full of himself.”

Caster stood and stalked to the door. “Look, I don’t know if she will or not, I just know I can’t do this any longer. You can destroy everything I own, keep me up every night for the rest of my life, but I’m done.”

He put his hand on the door, but Joey’s voice stopped him. “I’ll tell her.”

Caster paused and turned to face him. “You’ll what?”

“Not only will I continue to screw with you, even on the job, but I’ll appear to Emily, tell her about our little scheme. What do you think she’ll think of you then?”

“You’re bluffing. You wouldn’t hurt her like that.”

Joey shook his head and closed his eyes. When he opened them, they were suspiciously damp. “I don’t want to. But I’ll do anything to keep her from making the biggest mistake of her life.”

Caster let out a resigned sigh and shook his head. “Nah, getting mixed up with the two of us was the biggest mistake of her life.”

Kindle:

http://www.amazon.com/Casters-Unfriendly-Ghost-Hauntings-Garden-ebook/dp/B00NQMV4NQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1412516933&sr=8-1&keywords=caster%27s+unfriendly+ghost

Nook:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/casters-unfriendly-ghost-alicia-dean/1120455662?ean=2940150463943

Wild Rose Press:

http://www.wildrosepublishing.com/maincatalog_v151/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=242_177_139&products_id=5840

BIO & Contact info

Alicia Dean lives in Edmond, Oklahoma. She has three grown children and a huge network of supportive friends and family. She writes mostly contemporary suspense and paranormal, but has also written in other genres, including a few vintage historicals.
Other than reading and writing, her passions are Elvis Presley, MLB, NFL (she usually works in a mention of one or all three into her stories) and watching her favorite televisions shows like Vampire Diaries, Justified, Sons of Anarchy, Haven, The Mindy Project, and Dexter (even though it has sadly ended, she will forever be a fan). Some of her favorite authors are Michael Connelly, Dennis Lehane, Lee Child, Lisa Gardner, Sharon Sala, Jordan Dane, Ridley Pearson, Joseph Finder, and Jonathan Kellerman…to name a few.

Find Alicia here:

Website: http://aliciadean.com/

Blog: http://aliciadean.com/alicias-blog/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100008364070487

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/Alicia_Dean_

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/aliciamdean/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/468339.Alicia_Dean

Meet Author Alicia Dean.

I’d like you all to meet my friend Alicia Dean. We met after I found out about a truly helpful group she started called “Authors Helping Authors”—what a great opportunity to work with such talented and generous people and she is extremely generous with her time. Alicia and I discovered a mutual passion, Major League Baseball. Even though we don’t root for the same teams, I like her anyway. :)

 

Please welcome Alicia Dean.

Alicia, please tell us a little about yourself.

I’m divorced with three grown children. I live in Edmond, Oklahoma where I’m a legal assistant for a family law firm, in addition to being a writer. I’m a huge Elvis Presley fan, and I love MLB and the NFL. If you look closely, you’ll see a reference to one or all three in pretty much everything I write. If I could, I would divide all my time between writing, watching my favorite television shows-such as Dexter, Vampire Diaries, Justified, and True Blood-and reading my favorite authors...Stephen King, Dennis Lehane, Michael Connelly, Lee Child, and Lisa Gardner to name a few.

What’s your latest project?

My suspense short story, Thicker than Water just came out with The Wild Rose Press. It’s part of a collaboration with my fellow OKRWA chapter members. A group of us wrote (or are writing), short stories with the common thread of an ancient cursed doll and--other than the originating story which took place in the early 1700’s--the stories are all set in or have ties to Oklahoma. The stories span all genres, so there isn’t always a paranormal theme. The doll can just be considered ‘bad luck’ or just a prop in the story where the legend is mentioned; All those who betray you will suffer. Only true love can break the curse…So far, we’ve had 8 stories accepted, if I’m not mistaken. Most of these were by previously unpublished authors. It’s been an amazing, fun experience for everyone involved.

I also recently released Lady in the Mist, a gothic mystery novella under the pen name, Winter Frost. Author, Mel Odom, and I plan to write a series of gothic mystery novellas under the same pen name, and the first one out is my story.

I’m currently working on a sequel to Soul Seducer.

I thoroughly enjoying three of your books. Death Notice and Soul Seducer are a mystery and a paranormal, respectively. Lady in the Mist reminds me of Victoria Holt’s gothic mysteries (one of my favorite genres). I love the cover for Thicker Than Water. That's definitely on my To Read list. What draws you to write in different genres?

Partly the challenge, and partly because it allows me to write the kind of stories I love to read. My favorite genres are Suspense, Paranormal and Gothic, so it just makes sense to write them.

When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?

I’ve wanted to be a writer as far back as I can remember, probably when I first discovered stories like Pippi Longstockings and Amelia Bedelia. I wrote my first romance when I was around 10 or 11.

What is your work schedule like when you’re writing?

Very haphazard. :) I’m involved in so many different projects and with my full-time job, in addition to being an editor, I just have to grab time when I can. My favorite time to write is in the mornings, but I don’t always get up early enough to write before time to leave for my day job. I do most of my writing on the weekends.

Where do you get your information or ideas for your books?

They just pop into my head. Sometimes I’ll read a news story that will trigger an idea, but usually, I have an idea of what kind of story I want to write, and I mentally consider several scenarios until something pulls at me.

What do you like to do when you’re not writing (besides watching Major League Baseball)?

I love to read, I used to play golf, but haven’t in a long time. I’d like to get back to that. I enjoy watching television in general, not just MLB. :) I enjoy hanging out with my kids, my writer friends and other friends, and my family.

Where can readers can find you?

Web site: www.AliciaDean.com

On Twitter: @Alicia_Dean_

They can email me at: AliciaMDean@aol.com

Now for a treat. Here are blurbs about Alicia's latest releases.

Lady in the Mist:

Upon her arrival in Shoal Harbor, Maine, Lily Jackson hears eerie moans that the locals claim are the ghostly cries of the unfortunate Breckenridge women. Running from loss and setback in Cincinnati, Lily needs the job as semi-psychiatric caregiver for Andrew Breckenridge, but the storm she has to weather from the oldest Breckenridge brother is severe. Clinton Breckenridge is a brooding man used to getting his own way, and he’s not convinced Lily is the right person to help his troubled younger brother.

Even as Lily starts picking up the pieces of Andrew’s tortured psyche and finding out his dark secrets, another mystery looms before her. Andrew’s lover has gone missing in recent months and no one knows what has happened to her, or if her voice has joined those of the other Breckenridge women. Before she knows it, Lily finds herself in danger—thrust directly into the eye of the raging storm.

Lady in the Mist is available for:

Kindle: http://amzn.com/B008PUV36W

Nook: http://bit.ly/Oz93Am

And now for Thicker than Water:

Sometimes, secrets refuse to stay buried--

A ten-year-old accidental killing and an ancient cursed doll are only part of Julia Bennett’s problems. When she returns to her hometown of Covington, Oklahoma for an old friend’s funeral, she’s thrust into the middle of a murder case--and discovers she never stopped loving her high school sweetheart.

Jake Devlin is now the sheriff of Covington and faced with solving a murder. He isn’t surprised to find Julia in the middle of things. She still seems like the troublemaker whose reckless mistake caused a man’s death years ago--and who broke his heart when she left him without so much as a goodbye.

Jake makes it clear he’s over her, and Julia can’t wait to leave Covington behind. But when another friend dies, she knows she must stay. Can they put the past behind them and stop a killer before he claims another victim?

Thicker Than Water is available at:

Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/Ny9ptx

Amazon: http://amzn.com/B008U8NKCO

The Wild Rose Press: http://www.thewildrosepress.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=137&products_id=4930

Alicia, thanks for coming. It’s been great getting to know you better.