KissingBooks 101 Lesson Five (and a Giveaway!): Some of My Recent Fave KissingBooks

Happy Saturday – AND Happy 6th birthday to Reading Is My SuperPower!! I couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate than by spotlighting some of MY recent fave KissingBooks! If you missed the post on YOUR fave KissingBooks, you can check it out here.

Fans & fainting couches at the ready? Fair warning – this is a long post with lots of swoony excerpts but, as before, I don’t think anyone will mind lol.

In no particular order…

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kissingbooks 101 excerpt

With a tug of her hand, he pulled her to him. Less than a fingertip separated them.

Her head tilted back to hold his gaze, unwilling to let go. A moist breeze fanned the familiar fragrance of coconut, tinged with his spicy masculine scent, swirling the aroma all around her. His other hand reached toward her face, then hesitated.

She waited, praying for his touch.

His fingertips traced her hairline, and her heart strained against the laces of her corset, its beat reverberating throughout her entire body. Every nerve ending heightened its sensitivity until she could feel her breath passing back and forth between her lips, the weight of each fabric fiber against her skin.

“You are not easily forgotten.” His voice caressed her, his warm breath fanning her face.

Her stomach flip-flopped like driftwood caught in the surf, swelling and dipping on waves of emotion.

Her mind screamed, If you lose your heart to him, you’ll once again be the shame of the family.

Was she brave enough to face her mother and sisters as the wife of an estate manager? Would she be disowned? Maybe. Probably.

Did it matter? Yes. No.

Did she love Harrison enough to give up a high society life, to become a member of the working class? Her mind remained frozen in fear, but her heart didn’t care. It plunged into love like the pelican into the ocean.

Excerpt from The Duke’s Refuge by Lorri Dudley. Wild Heart Books. © 2020
Used with permission

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kissingbooks 101 excerpt

Michael reached for the blanket to cover their exposed knees. She wasn’t about to admit how snug the waistband of her shorts fit. He could eat all day and still look as gorgeous as a cover model. For all she knew, a six-pack hid under his shirt. She glanced at their legs under the blanket. His muscular thighs dwarfed her somewhat more jiggly ones. She steered her thoughts to safer ground. “Do you miss going on your runs?”

“What?”

“Well, the last time you ran was before we tried to eat waffles in Point.”

His brow furrowed. “Why would you be thinking about that when we’re in a beautiful carriage, touring the old part of town?”

“I’m sorry.” She ignored the heat of his leg pressed against hers. “I got distracted.” “Come here.” He tucked her under his arm and rubbed away the last of her goosebumps. “Better?”

“Yes, thank you.” She smiled at him and met his gaze. In his eyes, she saw warmth and safety—and something else, which caused flutters in her belly.

“You can take in the view or gaze into my mesmerizing eyes,” he said, lowering his voice. “I’d suggest choosing the eyes.”

“While I admit I’m spellbound, it would be a waste of all that money you handed Mr. My-Horse-Never-Kicked-Anyone-Before if I spent the whole forty-five minutes looking at you.”

She could feel his breath caressing her cheek, and her gaze darted to his lips. A lock of hair blew across his face, and she reached up to brush it away. He was rather striking to look at. The lines around his eyes implied a man who laughed often and loved life. “Besides, I can look at you anytime—for free.”

“That you can, waffle woman.” His eyes sparkled with mischief and eagerness.

The rhythmic clip-clop-clip-clop of the horse’s hooves faded as they studied each other. In only a few days, he’d become one of the dearest people in her life again. She’d forgotten how much she’d missed him, and a surge of gratitude overwhelmed her.

“Thank you for…” Where did she begin to explain how much he meant to her? “For being you.”

Michael swiped the escaped tear from her cheek with his thumb and kissed her forehead. “Happy?”

She nodded, managing a smile. He gathered her and held her while she fought to regain control of the emotions shuddering through her. There was nowhere she’d rather be. She leaned into him, the blanket pulled up to her waist. This was so like Michael, calm and rock solid, trustworthy, and—by the heartbeat thumping under her splayed hand— very much alive.

Excerpt from A Promise to Keep by Melony Teague. Anaiah Press. © 2020
Used with permission

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kissingbooks 101 excerpt

kissingbooks 101 excerpt

He grasped her wrist and drew her against him, whispering at her ear, “This and…” He rotated them both. Smoothly, invitingly—plenty of opportunity to refuse him.

She didn’t.

The cap slipped from her fingers as she let the man maneuver her where he willed. Then the door was at her back, he was at her fore, and the rest of the world was at risk of becoming completely blotted from existence.

“And,” he smoothed back in, “a minute or three in the hall. Away from innocent eyes.”

“A minute to…?” Spoken breathlessly, as if she were an innocent herself. As if she weren’t fully, heart-poundingly certain of what he intended to spare those little eyes.

“I’d rather be showing you, aingeal.” A man couldn’t put more suggestion into a tone. “If you’ll get the door for us?”

Helen dithered. Did she want to be…shown? Her arm did, apparently, because it reached behind her to locate the knob. A shaky wrench of it and she was back-stepping out with the swinging door. Never more than a breath away, he tracked along with her. The door thumped against the wall, and the building vanished. Its other occupants a distant thought.

All Helen knew was Silas. The indolent lean that propped his arm above her head. The broad cage of his body that trapped her in and danger out. The heat of him that pulsed outward and into her for a sizzling merger. Not the merger she suddenly burned for, but more than her weakening knees could handle.

Seeming to sense this, he gripped her at the waist, the span of his hand rather impressive. Distracted by this, she gave a little start when his lips grazed her chin. Then again, another careful touch. His barely-there kisses set a course up her jawline, his prickly cheek skimming along hers, touching and lifting like a water bird on a lazy take-off.

Firm fingers snaked along her scalp into her hair, then tugged left. A delicate request. She tipped the direction he desired, and he went straight to the sensitive plane beneath her ear. She hissed an intake, but when his mouth bore in and he released the tiniest of groans, she was struck breathless. Dumb and wholly incapacitated.

If she was to be called Thief of Hearts, he should be Thief of Wits.

Excerpt from Beautiful in His Sight by April W. Gardner. Big Spring Press. © 2019
Used with permission

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kissingbooks 101 excerpt

He grabbed her delicate shoulders. Her silky hair tickled his wrists and teased the hair on his arms. “Lottie, what you did today…”

He lost his words as he stared into the eager-innocence shining in her wide eyes. What was the matter with him? He released her shoulder to run a hand over his face again. He needed to think. “You didn’t know those men.”

“But I did know Captain Gainesboro. His wife is on a committee with my mother.”

He covered her lips with two fingers. “Shh.” Instant regret filled him as his senses leapt to life. Her soft, full lips brushed his sensitive fingertips. Her lilac scent encased him in a heady bouquet. He longed to bury his nose in her fragrant hair. She was fresh air within a stale ship.

He forced his mind to focus on what he needed to say. “As your husband, it’s my duty to protect you.”

A light flickered in her eyes, and she swayed in his direction.

His mouth went dry. His hand caressed her cheek and slid into the gossamer strands at the nape of her neck.

“Protect you from men who want to do this.” He crushed her to him. His lips covered her mouth, devouring its softness.

She melted into him.

The triumphant joy of a conqueror exploded in his heart. He drank her in, imbibing in the sweetness of her response. She let out a soft moan, and his blood caught fire.

Excerpt from The Merchant’s Yield by Lorri Dudley. Wild Heart Books. © 2020
Used with permission

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kissingbooks 101 excerpt

After knowing each other for only a few hours, Greta and Wyatt agree to a marriage of convenience, have a hasty wedding ceremony, and share their FIRST KISS:

“Go on now.” Steele’s fingers dug into Wyatt’s shoulder. “Give your wife a kiss, a nice one.”

“And a long one,” Astrid chimed in, much too eagerly.

“Astrid.” Greta cast the girl a mortified look.

Wyatt took a step closer to Greta. What was the best way to go about the business of giving her a kiss? Should he put his hands on her tiny waist? Or maybe on her shoulders? Or would she prefer he not touch her at all and just lean in?

When she glanced up at him, he was surprised that her eyes were filled with curiosity more than reticence . . .

His attention fell to her lips. Slender like the rest of her, they were slightly open as though she was readying herself. Part of him resisted the notion of kissing this woman. But another part prodded him closer, urging him to do it, to prove to Steele and himself that he was up to the task of having a wife.

“Kiss her!” Astrid said again.

Greta dropped her attention to the girl, as though to issue another rebuke. In that instant, Wyatt swooped in and pressed his lips to hers, gently cupping her cheek to guide their kiss. At the softness of her mouth and the intake of her breath, every other coherent thought fled, and he couldn’t think of anything else except their connection.

He deepened the pressure, urging her to respond. For a second, she didn’t seem to know what to do, and then tentatively she let herself press back softly, curiously.

The movement awakened him, almost as if he’d been asleep, so he was conscious of need pulsing through his body—need he’d kept as cold as a wagon tire.

He didn’t want that need awakened. Didn’t want to need a wife. Didn’t want to need anyone.

Excerpt from A Cowboy for Keeps by Jody Hedlund. Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing. © 2021
Used with permission

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kissingbooks 101 excerpt

August pulled her close and lowered his voice even though it still rang out in a sturdy timbre. “Every time it rains, you’re going to think about this moment—you wrapped in my arms as the rain washed away our blues and painted our day with the lazy motion of the Carolina shag.”

Water trickled from the tip of his nose and his grinning lips as he gently swept a lock of wet hair off of her cheek.

Before she allowed herself to overthink it, Josie reached up and placed her equally wet lips against his, briefly but long enough for the warmth of it to reach her tender heart.

“And when you see the rain, you’ll remember the day Josie Slater wasn’t too chicken to take the kiss she’d been wanting for a really long time.” She smiled at him as August concluded their dance.

August’s grin dropped as he focused on her lips. “It took you long enough,” he said in a matter-of-fact tone as if he’d been waiting on her all of those years as much as she’d been waiting on him.

Josie’s thoughts were fleeting, and before she could manage to wrap her mind around them, August’s hands reached over and cupped her cheeks as he closed the gap and took his own kiss, adding the flavor of sweet strawberries and optimism to the memory.

Excerpt from Driftwood Dreams by T.I. Lowe. Tyndale House. © 2020
Used with permission

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So – one of the kissing scenes in “Diamond in the Rough.” When Carrie reached out to me to ask if I’d be cool with participating in her kissing blog, well of course I was cool with that. However, I had no idea what scene she was talking about in this particular book because I tend to forget my books after I turn them in for the last time. She very kindly pointed me to the chapter and scene, and you know what? It is a good kissing scene. So, without further ado – here you go.

kissingbooks 101 excerpt

He took a step toward her, and then another, smiling when she immediately took a step away from him. “I figured that since you got my apology out of the way for me, that I should move on to the next bit.”

“The next bit?”

“Indeed,” he said, reaching her a second later. Smiling, he pulled her into his arms, ignored that one of the poodles seemed to have sunk its teeth into the leg of his trousers, lowered his head, and…kissed her.

Poppy immediately stiffened in his arms for all of a second until she, much to his relief, stole her arms around his neck, leaned into him, and began kissing him back.

Excerpt from Diamond in the Rough by Jen Turano. Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing © 2019
Used with permission

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kissingbooks 101 excerpt

She traced the line of his clean-shaven jaw. “Then you have nothing to fear.”

“And neither do you.” His gaze lowered to her mouth. “When I return, I plan to never again let you out of my sight.”

He leaned down, hesitating before his lips brushed hers. She melted against him like a molasses drip down a bottle, as he sealed his promise with a tender, drugging kiss. It warmed her like the Caribbean sun, and she clung to him, absorbing his strength for what was to come and transferring hers to him.

With a weary sigh, he released her. “The sooner I leave, the sooner I can return.” His smoldering gaze locked on her. “And then, we shall plan our future together.”

She nodded her consent.

He backed up a step and stared at her for a long moment. “This is how I shall think of you each day and night, standing here with flushed cheeks and those becoming lips”—he flashed a grin—“still branded with my kiss.”

She tried to frown, but it curved into a smile.

He turned and jogged down the hall, spinning on his heel for one last look.

Excerpt from The Sugar Baron’s Ring by Lorri Dudley. Wild Heart Books © 2020
Used with permission

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kissingbooks 101 excerpt

“Miss Hatherleigh,” he began, but stopped at her nervous chuckle.

“I believe you can call me Cecy.” She looked shyly at him. “That’s what you used to call me, isn’t it?”

“I would not wish to make any presumptions.”

“You do not. It is my name.”

“Still, I would not want you to…” he paused, conscious of that same connection, that old sense of belonging that he always found in her presence. How could he deny this warm tenderness between them?

“You would not want me…?” Her dark brows rose.

The words echoed around the room. He did want her. He wanted only her. Only Cecy. Truth bubbled up and released. “I do want you. That’s the thing. I have always wanted you. But I have long felt myself to be a poor bargain. I have no great title or estate, like Abbotsbury. I have no unstained past. All I have is my heart, and hopes, and faith that despite my mistakes God might still deign to use me.”

Her expressive eyes lit, though her countenance remained serene. “You say you want me…” she began.

“More than anything.”

“To do what?”

He blinked. “I beg your pardon?”

“What do you want me to do?”

“This.” And he drew close, closer, heard her squeak of breath as he lifted his hands to gently clasp her face. And then he kissed her. And kissed her. And kissed her, savoring the softness of her lips joining his, savoring the sweet scent of roses in her skin, savoring the heat of her form against his. Oh, he kissed her.

Excerpt from Underestimating Miss Cecilia by Carolyn Miller. Kregel Books. © 2019
Used with permission

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kissingbooks 101 excerpt

Their eyes connected and the space they occupied shrank to nothing as they each took a step closer. The slightest lift of her chin was a good signal that maybe she was ready to move forward, but he had to be sure.

He leaned toward her ever so slightly until there was no space between their bodies and they both fit within the rectangle of her doormat. His right arm snaked around her waist.

With achingly slow movements, giving her time to speak up or break away, he slid his left hand up her arm and around to the back of her neck and tipped his head down at the same time she lifted to her toes. He couldn’t be sure who kissed whom first.

But he was sure that this moment was one he’d hold on to for a very long time. The softness of her lower lip teased his senses, opening just enough to invite him for another taste. He deepened the kiss—or maybe she did—and took a half step closer, pulling her tighter until they were pressed against her blazing hot door.

She gasped. He winced. The late afternoon sun had done a number on the painted metal.

“I’m so sorry. Are you okay?” Dyson pulled her away from the door and examined the backs of her upper arms and any other exposed skin. Red in a few places, his heart slammed with guilt. He should have been paying attention. How long had he lived here in the southwest? Three summers? He should have known better and protected her.

“I’m fine,” she insisted, placing her palm against his chest. “It was just a little hot, that’s all.”

“I’ll say.”

Excerpt from Whatever Happens Next by Jaycee Weaver. Sandia Sky Press. © 2020
Used with permission

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kissingbooks 101 excerpt

“The captain doesn’t drink all the lemonade sent to his cabin, does he?” A mischievous twinkle sparked in his eyes. “He never takes any at dinner, and yet a good amount is always brought to his quarters throughout the day.”

Her face grew hot, and she tipped the liquid toward her mouth to try to cool the rush. A bright tartness trickled across her lips. But it wasn’t lemon. “Limes?”

Peyton nodded and drank from his flask. “I found some in the market this morning. I thought you’d like a reprieve from your lemon water.”

Georgana took a drink. It wasn’t cold—few things on this island were—but the drink tasted wonderful in the heat of the evening.

“A refreshing change, is it not?” the lieutenant asked.

She answered by taking another sip.

He faced the sunset, which by now painted their skin a rosy hue. “Here’s to tall ships and small ships. Here’s to all the ships at sea. But the best ships are friendships”—he gave her a wink—“and may they always be.” The lieutenant raised his flask in her direction.

A smile she could not keep back spread across her face. She tapped her drink against his, then put it to her mouth. Friendships. She liked the thought of him considering her a friend. If only they could be more . . .

Why did she keep dreaming? Of course they couldn’t be more than friends. He would be horrified if he found out who she truly was. And a man like Peyton surely had someone waiting back home.

Excerpt from Georgana’s Secret by Arlem Hawks. Shadow Mountain. © 2021
Used with permission

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kissingbooks 101 excerpt

“Oh, do stop.” Beryl clutched a hand to her corseted waist. “You’re giving me a stitch in my side.”

“Forgive me,” Mark said, still grinning. “It’s not really even that funny, is it?”

She swiped at her eyes. “Indeed. We should both be appalled.”

“Just so.” Standing from the wall, he ran a hand through his hair. He gave her a rueful smile. “I’d best get back before the sermon ends.”

But he didn’t go. Quite the reverse. He came closer, and reaching up, brushed his fingers gently against her cheek. His expression softened. Not with humor this time, but with something else. Something warmer and infinitely tender.

“I haven’t seen this dimple in an age,” he said.

Beryl’s heart thumped hard. Her mouth was still curved in a smile, but the hilarity of the moment had gone. It was replaced by a peculiar tension. A deep thread of connection, vibrating between them, just as it had when she’d sat next to him in the Grange’s rose garden. Drawing her closer to him, almost against her will.

Impulsively, she covered his hand with hers, and turning her head, brushed her lips against his palm.

Mark made a sound low in his throat. “Beryl, I—”

“Don’t say anything.”

They were neither of them smiling now.

He gave her a searching look, and then slowly, slowly bent his head to hers. She stretched up to meet him, her breath trembling out of her as Mark’s arm slid around her waist and his mouth captured hers.

Excerpt from Fair as a Star by Mimi Matthews. Perfectly Proper Press. © 2020
Used with permission

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kissingbooks 101 excerpt

Alex gasped, but the sound was swallowed up by the press of Gabe’s lips, soft, pliant and hungry, fusing to his with a need that ignited his own. It was only a catch of his breath, but it seemed like eons that he wrestled with his conscience and lost, returning Gabe’s kiss with a fire that seared his very soul. Her crutches crashed to the ground when she rose on tiptoe to slip her arms around his neck, and her mouth united with his in a mating he never wanted to end. He lifted her off her feet, molding her body to his with an intensity that shocked him. Groaning, he butted her to the wall while his mouth explored hers, his passion apparently buried so deep, he’d never even known it was there.

Well, he knew it now, and it scared him silly.

“Gabe,” he whispered, voice hoarse as he carefully set her down. He grasped one of her crutches to gently prod it beneath the arm of her bad leg with breathing as ragged as hers. Heart aching, he cradled her face in his hands. “Please forgive me. I never should have done that—”

Her eyes widened. “No, Alex, there’s nothing to forgive—”

“Yes, Gabe, there is. I am your superior and I stepped over the line, which never should have happened.”

“But I kissed you!” There was an urgency in her voice he’d never heard before, a neediness he had no will to exploit.

He steeled his jaw, heartsick over what he had to do. “And I took it a step further, Cadet, which I deeply regret.”

“Well, don’t!” she shouted, lurching forward so fast, that blasted crutch teetered along with his heart. His palm shot out in reflex, girding her waist to keep both of them from falling.

Too late

Excerpt from A Wing and a Prayer by Julie Lessman. Julie Lessman LLC. © 2020
Used with permission

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ONE of my readers will receive FOURTEEN of these swoonlicious reads! This giveaway includes a mix of print & digital copies. (Print copies sent at discretion of each author & are subject to change to digital copies without notice.) US only for print. Ebooks international eligibility at author’s discretion. Void where prohibited by law. Winner must be able to accept ebooks or be willing to accept a reduced giveaway of only the print copies available.

Special thanks to the authors who donated books & excerpts for this giveaway!

One winner will receive the following books:

Print copy of The Duke’s Refuge by Lorri Dudley
Print copy of The Merchant’s Yield by Lorri Dudley
Print copy of The Sugar Baron’s Ring by Lorri Dudley
Ebook copy of A Promise to Keep by Melony Teague
Print copy of Winning Back Her Heart by Allie Pleiter
Ebook copy of Beautiful In His Sight by April W. Gardner
Print copy of A Cowboy For Keeps by Jody Hedlund
Signed, print copy of Driftwood Dreams by T.I. Lowe
Signed, print copy of Diamond in the Rough by Jen Turano
Ebook copy of Underestimating Miss Cecilia by Carolyn Miller
Ebook copy of Whatever Happens Next by Jaycee Weaver
Print copy of Georgana’s Secret by Arlem Hawks
Ebook copy of Fair as a Star by Mimi Matthews
Ebook copy of A Wing and a Prayer by Julie Lessman

One winner will receive:

Ebook copy of Winning Back Her Heart by Allie Pleiter
Ebook copy of A Wing and a Prayer by Julie Lessman

One final winner will receive:

Ebook copy of A Wing and a Prayer by Julie Lessman

This giveaway is subject to Reading Is My SuperPower’s giveaway policies which can be found here. Enter via the Rafflecopter form below. Giveaway ends 11:59PM Eastern on April 17, 2021.

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What about you? Which of my recent fave KissingBooks have you read?