This is a story of Sean Miller, a dom that will have your panties diving for cover with an eyebrow quirk. That will have even the strongest woman dropping to their knees in submission with a piercing stare, and Samantha Richards, a female cop who’s tough, seemingly impenetrable shell is strong enough to resist everyone except the one man it was build up to protect her against.
**Disclaimer – If you thought the first two Bliss books were hot, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Creative use of handcuffs, batons, a club scene you have to read to believe, and a tough as nails dominant who is blindsided by the one woman strong enough to threaten his resolve not to let his past dictate his future.**
Like the other books in the Bliss series, this book can be read as a stand alone. There are common characters in the books but it is not necessary to read the first two books in the series to read this one.
From my place in my small kitchen, I start hearing a weird vibrating type noise coming from my bedroom. I have a moment of sheer horror flash before my eyes then I remember that
a) I live alone.
b) I’m a thirty-two year old woman, so who the fuck cares that I have three vibrators, one vibrating egg, and a vibrating pair of underwear that Helen bought me on a dare.
c) I didn’t use my sex toy collection last night because I fell asleep on the couch in the middle of Castle.
d) The noise is not going away by me sitting here considering all the different vibrating toys I have in my top right drawer.
Right …
I jump up and run into my bedroom just as the noise stops. What the fuck! Now I’ll never know. I scan my room for anything suspicious and come up empty.
Then the noise starts again. I drop to my hands and knees, crawling around looking for the source of the ghost vibration, and giggling because now I’m thinking of what happens to sex toys after they die.
Helen would have a field day with this conversation.
I realize the sound is coming from my bed, so pulling back the comforter to an empty bed, I lift my pillows to find my phone vibrating like a kid at Christmas. I lunge for the phone and roll over onto my back at the same time, feeling pretty good about my ability to answer the call and do a side roll at the same time.
“Hello?”
Blissful Surrender Dream Cast
Sean – Stephen Amell
Sam – Kate Cassidy
Ryan – Robbie Amell
Tanner – Luke Mitchell
Helen – Rihanna
Rico – Reynaldo Gannechini
BJ Harvey is the Amazon Bestselling Author of The Bliss Romantic Comedy Series and The Lost Romantic Suspense Series. An avid music fan, you will always find her with headphones when writing, and the speakers blaring the rest of the time. She’s a wife, a mom to two beautiful children, and a full-time university student. BJ resides with her family in what she considers the best country in the world—New Zealand.
A past that haunts can be laid to rest through the act of forgiveness, even if the person you forgive is yourself. It must be gifted freely.
Abby Sullivan cherishes the life she is creating for herself in her hometown of Santa Barbara, California. She adores her best friend and supportive family. Her job as a kindergarten teacher offers her life hope and purpose. She is very talented at many things, especially hiding the pain of her past. That is until her world collides with Caleb Hunter’s, giving them both a lesson in forgiveness and love.
A life changing love is cruelly snatched by sickness and death. A person must be willing to give love, the greatest gift of all, to receive love.
A successful writer, Caleb is living life day-to-day. Giving refuge to his sad and lonely heart since his wife’s sudden death from cervical cancer, his primary focus becomes honoring her memory by rearing their five-year-old daughter, Madison. Yet, when Madison Hunter walks into Miss Abby’s kindergarten class, everything changes for all three of them.
With a little nudge from a loving mother-in-law who has everyone’s best interest at heart, anything is possible, especially when forgiveness and love gift even more blessings than ever imaginable.
Madison looked up and motioned to someone standing by her side. “This is my daddy. He likes to play in the ocean, watch hockey and give butterfly kisses.”
Abby hadn’t noticed anyone else standing with them. She gazed up just beside Madison and saw him. Losing her balance, she fell flat on her rear. This daddy, who liked to give butterfly kisses, leaned down to offer her help. “Are you okay?” He didn’t hide the concern on his face. The most gorgeous man she’d ever laid eyes on was standing right above her. In addition to his looks, something about his presence immediately drew her in. How had she not noticed him before? His prominent brows shadowed his eyes from the sunlight, making it difficult to determine the color of his deep-set eyes. It took her a moment to realize that she was sitting on the asphalt at school, ogling this little girl’s daddy. Madison let out a childish giggle.
Embarrassed, she stood up on wobbly legs, dusting off her thinly covered behind with both hands, causing the nametags she still held to swing back and forth. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just clumsy.” The laugh she offered was unmistakably forced. She looked directly at his grey shirt that displayed a hockey team’s logo on his chest, and then raked her eyes back up to his face.
With a chuckle, he extended his large hand to shake hers. The skin on his hand was smooth and non-callused. This man did not do manual labor. “It’s very nice to meet you, Miss Abby. I’m Caleb.” Unable to pry her eyes off him, she turned several shades of red after hearing his deep voice say her name. He was probably used to women staring at him though. How could he not be?
Main Characters:
Caleb Hunter ~ Successful writer, father to 5-year old Madison Hunter and Widower of 4 years. Avid surfer and hockey fan. Can’t see past his sorrow to let another woman into his heart.
Abby Sullivan ~ Kindergarten teacher and best-friend to Leah Valdez. Avid reader and antique shopper. Loves her non frou-frou coffee and to go shopping at the farmers market for her vegetarian dishes. Holds on to past hurt that keeps her from moving on in love.
Supporting Characters:
Madison Hunter ~ Caleb’s daughter and Abby’s student. Love butterfly kisses, tutus and her daddy.
Leah Valdez ~ Flower shop owner who would do anything for her best friend, Abby including giving her plenty of ‘keeping it real’ advice.
Stefen Hunter ~ Caleb’s cousin from Chicago. Lawyer, heartbreaker and all around player.
Bri Hunter ~ Caleb’s cousin and Stefen’s sister. World traveler, escaping the past while searching for her future.
Kimi lives in So Ca with her high school sweetheart, prom date, and now husband of over 20 years as well as with her two boys that bring so much joy and laughter to her life. There is never a dull moment in Kimi’s day with these three guys by her side. They are happily involved in volunteer work with several local non-profit organizations and believe that everyone needs to do their part, so a portion of her sales will always go to charity.
At an early age, Kimi discovered the magical world of imagination. Many stories were written as well as illustrated by her as a child. Not realizing at the time that she had dyslexia, schoolwork became extremely difficult, and her confidence as a reader and writer dwindled. Thanks to a high school teacher who took the time to invest in her, Kimi found a love for literary legends such as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Washington Irving and Jane Austen. This teacher helped Kimi create one of the happiest school memories she holds. Discovering in college that she had the learning disability was terribly discouraging since help was not readily available and her reading and writing confidence fell once again.
Needing to find a distraction when her husband unexpectedly ended up in the hospital for a week, Kimi explored the indie reading world. Jumping in with everything she had, Kimi pushed herself to read over 150 books last year. During that process, many characters reappeared in her imagination and insisted that their stories be told. Putting all self-doubt and barriers aside, she started writing the outlines and drafts for the four books in her Intertwined Hearts Series as well as bits and pieces of the three books in her next series, Down by the Bay.
Her message to you is similar to that of pop icon, will.i.am‘s:
~You can focus on your problems or you can focus on your dreams ~
Evie Jamieson, a former wild child, is not only a headstrong, smart-mouthed trouble magnet; she is also a lead singer with a plan. That plan involves relocating her band; including her two best friend’s guitarist Henry and band manager Mac, to Sydney to kick off their dreams of hitting the big time.
Jared Valentine is the older brother of Evie’s best friend Mac and also the man determined to make Evie his. They strike up a long distance friendship which suits Evie because she’s determined to avoid the distraction of love, not only because it doesn’t fit in with her plan but because twice in the past it has left her for dead. Moving to Sydney however, has put her directly in Jared’s path and he has decided it’s the perfect opportunity to make his play.
Unfortunately Jared, co-owner in a business that ‘consults’ in dangerous hostage and kidnapping situations, makes an enemy who’s determined to enact revenge. When this enemy puts Evie in his sights, Jared not only has a fight on his hands to make her his own, but also to keep her alive.
Is accepting the love he’s so desperate to give worth the risk to both her heart…and her life?
1. Can you tell us something we don’t know about Kate?
I hate country music. Seriously. Put it on and I’ll punch you. Or lose the will to live.
2. When did you first realize that you wanted to become a writer?
23 November 1997. Nah, lol. I don’t know. It’s something that has always been in the back of my mind.
3. Why do you feel you had to tell this story? Is there something in this book that is based on real life experience?
It was stuck in my head and if I didn’t get it out I swear I would’ve got a stomach ulcer.
God – I HOPE not! Okay, well maybe the friendships. I don’t know about other countries but in Australia we thrive on giving shit to our friends. It’s like our national motto or something. You don’t love your friends if you’re nice to them.
4. We have a lot of characters in the book. What was your inspiration in creating each one of them? Will the rest of the gang be getting their own book, too?
I think each character adds something to the story in their own personal way. Its shows that as people we all have friends who give us something different in our lives that we need. That was a little deep so I’ll just point out here that it’s only 9am so no I haven’t started drinking yet.
Absolutely.
The next book is Give Me Strength – Travis Valentine and Quinn Salisbury.
5. Do you write to music? Any songs that inspired the story of Jared and Evie?
Mostly the soundtrack of my book is my kids screaming at me. They are loud. Earphones are my friend.
Bleeding out by Imagine Dragons is the first song.
This Is What Makes Us Girls by Lana del Rey
Give Me Love by Ed Sheeran didn’t inspire the name of the book but I think it’s a really good perspective for Jared’s character.
6. Among all the books that you have read, which of these have significantly contributed to your writing style?
My book came out the complete opposite of how I expected it to so I have no idea. I just sat down and all that came out. The characters really took on a life of their own.
7. Name 3 authors you would love to collaborate with.
BJ Harvey, Tara Sivec, JD Nixon
8. Excluding your own, name 3 books you would recommend to your friends.
Little Town series by JD Nixon.
The Redhead series by Alice Clayton
BDB by JR Ward
Sorry, they are all series books. I love a good series.
9. If you could date any fictional character, who would it be and why?
Thor because he’s got a big hammer.
Let’s do our fast talk:
1. Coffee or tea? tea
2. Lights on / lights off? OFF – so off.
3. Boxers or briefs? (For your guy) boxer briefs
4. Favorite male body part? Back. I give good massage 😉 get your mind out of the gutter. Oh wait, that’s me.
5. Do you believe in love at first sight? No.
6. 3 things you never leave home without? (apart from keys, phone and money) shoes (I keep my toes wrapped – unless I’m wearing thongs, and by thongs I mean flip flops 😉 ), what else, umm, lip balm, clothes are always a good thing. Australia isn’t that liberal.
7. Sleep in or get up early? I have kids.
8. Ever slapped a guy? No. Sounds like fun though. Must try it some time.
9. 3 celebrity crushes? Chris Hemsworth, Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki (easiest question ever – thanks!)
10. Sex on the first date? Absolutely maybe sometimes depends – I mean, if it’s Chris Hemsworth I wouldn’t even wait for the date, just get down to the business thanks.
Any advice to give to aspiring writers? Yes, stay true to your writing style.
Any message to your followers? Thanks for reading my book. Buy the next one. Or else…
For a debut novel, I think Kate did an amazing job with this book. A great love story that has such interesting characters with powerful conflicts…conflict that keeps me turning pages, wondering what’s gonna happen next.
Lead singer of the aspiring band Jamieson, Evie is a woman with dark past and was too scared to invest her feelings because of that. Until she felt the connection with Jared and it was an intense attraction she knows she couldn’t resist that no matter how hard she tried to guard her feelings, she was blind-sided by his charms and agreed to a long distance relationship with him. But he wanted more…
Jared is the older brother of Evie’s best friend, Mac. A sexy as hell, swoon worthy, bad-ass guy who fell in love with Evie in an instant and will do everything to get her. Ohhhhh I love alpha male!!! But he had some trust issues too.
“You think I don’t trust you? It’s everyone else I don’t trust. You gotta learn to put yourself in situations where people take advantage of you.”
But despite their individual issues and their push and pull relationship, together they create a great chemistry and a good rapport that resulted to some hot and sizzling bed scenes that will definitely put you over the edge.
Kate was able to create a story that is realistic; characters that I can easily identify and empathize with; and scenes that kept me emotionally involved.
“One day you’ll belong to me, Evie, and I’ll know everything about you.”
The story and the characters that are intertwined are just fantastic. I also loved how she was able to create such fun and interesting support characters who made significant contributions to the story. Its a fun book to read, (I am lauging my a** off for most of the parts) with just enough drama and angst to hold my interest to the very last page. The middle part of the book came a bit slow for me and felt there were some scenes which can be skipped. But as you move towards the end of the book, it turned out to something else… Kate redeemed herself with captivating scenes, hold-your-breath moments, a turbulent ride you will never forget.
If you are looking for a book with a great mix, then this is something you shouldn’t miss. Humor, drama, suspense, action and HOT HOT SCENES and not to mention, their cute, sexy Aussie accents you can almost hear while reading. Great job Kate! Now I can’t wait to read Travis and Quinn’s story.
Kate McCarthy grew up in a small town outside of Port Macquarie, Australia. Raised in a house just a short walk to the beach, Kate enjoyed the peaceful, relaxed atmosphere and friendships that come from being raised in a friendly, small town area. She now resides in Brisbane, Australia, a city in the state of Queensland where she works as an accountant, along with a sideline wedding cake business and her writing. She is married with two children, has two dogs and house in the suburbs, and a pile of friends and family dotted all over the country that help keep her sane. When she’s not busy running after naughty kids, filthy dogs, crunching numbers, piping buttercream and writing books, you can find her curled up in bed in the early hours of the morning reading new books and re-reading old favourites. Her favourite authors include (and are not limited to) J.R. Ward, Nalini Singh and JD Nixon. Her favourite books are the Black Dagger Brotherhood series by J.R. Ward in which she longs to eventually join the brotherhood and change her name to Phierce Mutha.
