A Second Chance at Love ~ Bundle One and Two

 The first time around they weren't ready. 

Now star-crossed lovers get A Second Chance At Love ...

DIGGIN' UP BONES: Secrets forced Alisa to push Zach away - can she handle letting him back into her life, knowing he is going to keep digging until he finds out what they are?

All Alisa wanted was to be left alone with her writings. But the discovery of Native America bones on her property made that wish impossible.

The last man she wanted to see was back in her life, and with him Zach Bradford brought a whole lot of memories and some questions she really didn't want to answer.

Now besides digging for bones, he's digging into their past as well, searching for answers to why she broke up with him suddenly, two years ago. And Alisa has to decide if she is going to keep living in the past, or if she's going to let it go and reach for a possible future with Zach. The future she should have had.

Includes the short vignette: Writing of Love

Word Count: Novella
Sexuality: M/F

A BID FOR LOVE: He bought her for 48 hours ...

Erika had thought that Ryan was out of her life, and that she was over him. When they run into each other at an art action, and he outbids her on a painting of her grandmother's, she's willing to do anything to get it from him - including agree to spend 48 hours with him. Her head says at the end of it, she can just walk away. Her heart isn't so sure.

Includes the short bonus vignette: Love Slave

Word Count: Novelette
Sexuality: M/F

All Romance eBooks   *   Smashwords   *   Amazon

* * *

The first time around they weren't ready. 

Now star-crossed lovers get A Second Chance At Love ...

HER BEST MAN: What if her love for Rick wasn't so unrequited?

Rick has always been a part of Katherine's life, including being best man at her wedding to his friend. When her marriage falls apart, she finds out that her feelings for Rick aren't so unrequited.

Word Count: Short Story
Sexuality: M/F

WILLED TO LOVE: Two former lovers are unprepared for the reading of a will. Can they live up to the terms?

Although still in love with her husband Devon , Ashley Monroe was seeking a divorce, thanks to his family and their mistreatment. When Devon 's grandmother dies, and Ashley is included in the will, everything changes, because his grandmother wasn't about to let history repeat itself.

Word Count: Novelette
Sexuality: M/F

A CHANGE OF PACE: Ten years ago, Nicole never imagined Alan saw her as anything more than a college study-buddy. Fast forward ten years.

Nicole is frustrated with the emptiness of her life. When a chance meeting with Alan, an object of her affection from the past, ends with an invitation to his house for dinner, she decides to take a chance and live a little. She already has enough regrets about the past - she wasn't about to pass up what could be a second chance.

Word Count: Short Story
Sexuality: M/F

All Romance eBooks   *   Smashwords   *   Amazon

New Releases ...

 DIGGIN' UP BONES

The first time around they weren't ready.  

Now star-crossed lovers get A Second Chance At Love ...

Secrets forced Alisa to push Zach away - can she handle letting him back into her life, knowing he is going to keep digging until he finds out what they are?

All Alisa wanted was to be left alone with her writings.  But the discovery of Native America bones on her property made that wish impossible.

The last man she wanted to see was back in her life, and with him Zach Bradford brought a whole lot of memories and some questions she really didn't want to answer.

Now besides digging for bones, he's digging into their past as well, searching for answers to why she broke up with him suddenly, two years ago.  And Alisa has to decide if she is going to keep living in the past, or if she's going to let it go and reach for a possible future with Zach.  The future she should have had.

Includes the short vignette: Writing of Love

Word Count: Novella

Sexuality: M/F

All Romance eBooks   *   Smashwords   *   Amazon

* * *

BLOOD SLAVE

Sometime in the near future, vampires have been found to exist and have been hunted down and systematically infected with a virus that causes them to lose their sight. But they have found a way around it, through the use of blood slaves.

Where The Blind Leads: Brandon is one of those possible slaves, and if his interview goes right, he will become his master's new eyes, food supply, and lover. After his master is done whipping him and testing his sexual abilities.

Leading The Blind: Nicholas used to be one of those slaves, but through the slow infection of the virus, he has been turned. Now he is facing a future he knows nothing about--dominating another. His old master decides to step in a find a new master for Nicholas, a mortal man who is not only willing to dominate a blind vampire, but also to be his blood slave.

Word Count: Novelette

Sexuality: M/M

Content Warning: D/s, BDSM, vampire blood play

All Romance eBooks   *   Smashwords

* * *

PARALLEL ATTRACTION

Anna-Marie Dallas is having a bad day. She's in a hostage situation where the odds aren't in her favor. When the gunman detonates the bomb he's been threatening, her fears are realized--she' s going to die.

Instead of waking up in the hereafter, she finds herself in a parallel reality, that split off sometime during the second world war. In the alternate universe, a third world war decimated their population, and they're struggling to rebuild. Adjusting to the shift in reality, Anna-Marie also struggles with her growing attraction to Alex Brent, and finds that her life is not done changing.

Word Count: Novelette

Sexuality: M/F

All Romance eBooks     *     Smashwords     *     Amazon

Diggin' Up Bones - Recommended To Buy!!!

Acquanetta Ferguson has reviewed Diggin' Up Bones and rated it Recommended To Buy!!!

Here's what she had to say ...

"This is the second book that I’ve read by Michelle Houston, and again she has captured human emotions in about 43 pages.

This is the touching love story of Alisa who had something tragic happen to her and in the process broke up with Zack. Two years later, after discovering some Native American remains on her property she calls the one man she can trust which is her ex.

Alisa is ready to put the past behind her, but in the beginning of the story, the only barriers to Alisa’s happiness is her own self-doubts and recriminations.

The story is told only in the point of view of Alisa and we learn so much of who she is by her actions and words. It is a powerful, yet riveting love story of triumph and redemption of one’s self.

Bottom line, the story gets a 4. The author has once again, shown her capacity to showcase human emotion in the written word. She also weaves a very sexy read with Alisa going out of her comfort zone to be with the man she loves. Do not let this one pass you by."

Whoohoo!!!

Up The Chimney He Rose ...

As a way to thank our many readers, Phaze Books authors have contributed stories to a great free collection called "Up The Chimney He Rose..."

This sexy holiday collection includes stories from Leigh Ellwood, Bridget Midway, Jae Knight, D. Musgrave, Michelle Houston, Jane Leopold Quinn, Jude Mason, Jamie Hill, Victoria Blisse and Lisabet Sarai!

Happy holidays!
from Phaze Books
www.phaze.com/PhazeHolidayShorts.pdf
---

My contribution is WRITING OF LOVE, which follows Diggin' Up Bones with Alisa and Zach's first Christmas together.

New Review: Diggin' Up Bones

Received a new review today, this one for Diggin' Up Bones.

"Alisa’s character is an inspiration to anyone who has suffered a personal tragedy." ... "If you only have time for a quick read about a woman who refuses to be a victim and a man who refuses to walk away, you have to read DIGGIN' UP BONES."

You can check out the full review at:
http://www.longandshortreviews.com/WC/0608/DigginUpBones-MH.htm

New Review: Diggin' Up Bones

Title: Diggin' Up Bones
Author: Michelle Houston
Publisher: Phaze
Genre: Contemporary
Publication date: September 2007
ISBN: 978-1-59426-747-5
Pages: 42
Rated: 4 kisses
Reviewer: Alisha for Two Lips Reviews

http://www.twolipsreviews.com/content/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2908&Itemid=36

Alisa has a book deadline coming up, but the distractions make work next to impossible. There are men digging in her yard, and one of them is Zach Bradford. Two years ago she and Zach had a relationship—now they share nothing except an interest in the Cherokee Native American bones on her property. When the bones were discovered, Alisa prevailed upon Zach to handle the case. As an archeologist, Zach will be sure that any remains or artifacts are properly preserved. Now, she is almost regretting her decision.

Zach cannot understand why they are not still together—why they broke up in the first place. Too bad his specialty is digging up answers from the past! Zach had been persistence itself in his pursuit of Alisa, and now wants only to know why she cut him out of her life. He's been waiting two years to find out, and when Alisa comes to him regarding the bones found in her yard, he latches onto the excuse to be close to her. If she will only open up to him, and give him her heart again…

Michelle Houston pens a tender, yet sweet, story of how humiliation and shame can undermine the best of relationships. Alisa's humiliation over a rape several years before intruded on her then growing relationship with Zach—but she was too ashamed to tell him. Alisa must bury the bones of her past, and move forward if she wishes to seduce Zach, the only man she has ever loved!

Another New Review for Diggin' Up Bones

Whoohoo! Another good review for the story that I love. LOL

http://www.sensualreads.net/reviews/diggin_up_bones.shtml

Michelle

New Review for Diggin' Up Bones

I recieved notice yesterday about a new review for Diggin' Up Bones.

I was tickled when I read it to find that the reviewer got what the story was all about.

I would post a snippet fromt he review, but it's hard to find just a small line form it. The reviewer just captures what I was trying to say so well.

So you'll just have to read the whole thing.

http://www.coffeetimeromance.com/BookReviews/Digginupbones.html

Michelle

The Story Behind The Story: Diggin' Up Bones

I’ve had story ideas come from a variety of sources; conversations, what ifs while reading, some of my lectures in college, etc.

But Diggin’ Up Bones is certainly unique in its evolution.

Last summer (that would be 2006), I moved from Kentucky back home to Missouri. Well, almost home--I grew up in Kansas. Anyways, my husband and I moved first, and our daughter stayed with his parents, since our apartment wouldn’t be ready for another month, and we were staying in a one bedroom (very small) house in the meantime.

No cable, no real internet connection (long distance fees out the wazzo when we did dial in), and no real money to speak of. So we spent a lot of time together, watching movies we had on DVD and VHS, listening to a lot of music, and playing endless hours of computer games.

To give you a better idea of the place, we had so much stuff (since we had an entire moving truck of stuff, for a two bedroom house) in this tiny one bedroom place, we had wall to wall boxes. We had boxes stuffed in the kitchen cabinets, and boxes stacked on the counters in front of them. There was a two foot wide walkway from the front door to the bedroom door.

My computer was set up on a chair at one end of our love seat, and his was set up at the other end. Boxes were behind each computer. We had no table, and no place to sit other than the love seat and the bed.

We stayed there about 45 days.

So to stay sane, and would take walks in the evenings, just to get out of there. On one of our walks, a line came to me. Simple, direct, and spoken in a soft yet frustrated voice.

“Zach Bradford, part time archeologist, full time pain in the ass.”

I didn’t know anything else about him, or about her, than that. He was an archeologist, and she felt him to be a pain in the ass.

I started playing with it from there. If he’s an archeologist, then what does he do? What does he look like? Well, he’s part Native American, so he will specialize in preserving digs of Native American sites.

From there, the idea for the title came to me. I had the title, “Diggin’ Up Bones”, one line from the story, and nothing else. That title however, spun off other ideas. It’s the title of a song, by Randy Travis. While I don’t listen to a lot of country songs, I do enjoy that one. And it got me to thinking about their relationship. He’s a partially Native American archeologist. So he’s doing a dig at her place, but she doesn’t want him there.

Why not? What’s the story there? How do they know each other? What do they mean to each other? These and a few hundred other questions filled my mind during the mile and a half walk.

My husband walked silently beside me, not bothering me, after I told him I had a story idea. And boy did I ever.

When I sat down that evening, the story flowed out of me. I hit just over 5 thousand words (a milestone for me at that time). I was happy with it. I felt the story had been told. A friend of mine edited it, and we had it polished to within an inch of its life, bringing it to about 7 thousand words.

I sent it off to Venus Press, and surprise of all surprises, it was accepted. But then things happened, and I had to pull it before it ever saw an edit there.

So I started looking around, trying to find another home for what was quickly becoming my baby.

Phaze offered that home. But I wanted it to be more than a HeatSheet. I knew it could be. After all, it was my baby, and it deserved its own cover image. (Yes, that was actually a factor in expanding the story). By that time, I had also reread it, and there were some places I felt could be tweaked. I also had another friend look at it and suggest some spots she felt would be better as a longer piece. So I tweaked. I rewrote. I added to. By the time I was done, I had hit 12 thousand words. Just barely. 12,038 I believe was the word count. I had reached another milestone in my writings.

And again, it was accepted. I jumped for joy, and went on to write other things.

Then the edits came. LOL My oh my, I almost died. I admit that freely. I flat out, no holds barred, freaked. I was devastated, and exhilarated. I had a headache and hope at the same time. This was the first time I had written a story of this length, so the consistency issues, the flow of the dialog, the clothing they were wearing, and the emotion behind the words all had a bigger importance.

Through it all, I kept repeating the words of one of my high school English teachers to myself. “The more red ink, the more actual suggestions made, the more the person cared about the story.” It became my mantra.

For the first time, I allowed my husband to read it. (The unedited version I subbed, and the red inked one). He had his own editing suggestions. And over the course of two exhausting days, I took both edits, used what I thought fit, added a bit more here and there - where it was suggested a scene be added, or some info be included - and before I knew it, I was at 14 thousand words.

I kept right on going, polishing the heck out of the story.

It was exhausting, it took over a year from start to finish, and a kick ass story (at least I think so anyways) has resulted.

And now, today, it is available for others to read. I am giddy, and anxious, and nervous as hell. So I hope that you enjoy Diggin’ Up Bones. And that you disagree with Alisa. He might be a part time archeologist, but Zach Bradford is no pain in the ass.

Michelle

Two new releases! Whoohoo!

Diggin' Up Bones is OUT!



I am SO EXCITED about this one. I can't wait to see the reaction it receives.


BLURB: All Alisa wanted was to be left alone with her writings. But the discovery of Native America bones on her property made that wish impossible. The last man she wanted to see was back in her life, and with him Zach Bradford brought a whole lot of memories and some questions she really didn't want to answer. Now besides digging for bones, he's digging into their past as well, searching for answers as to why she broke up with him suddenly, two years ago. And Alisa has to decide if she is going to keep living in the past, or if she's going to let it go and reach for a possible future with Zach. The future she should have had.


It's available from PHAZE.
http://www.king-cart.com/Phaze/product=Diggin'+Up+Bones+by+Michelle+Houston


Also available today - from Phaze - is Phaze in Verse. A wonderful collection of poetry from the Authors of Phaze.


BLURB: Edited by Kally Jo Surbeck, featuring the authors of Phaze. Poetry has long been a short form method to story telling. Morals, epic tales, even desperate pleas for understanding have been recorded through the ages in verse. And yet, somewhere along the line of our technologically advancing society, it seems those small intimate pleasures are growing lost. Poetry is love, life, and feeling breathed into words. Our shared experiences, emotions, dreams?. Today, we are pleased to present to you a fine collection of poetry. This is not just iambic pentameter or rhymed. It is not only free verse or measured. This is a comprehensive collection of a wide variety of tastes, styles, and passions. Just like our readers. There is a little bit of something for everyone.

http://www.king-cart.com/Phaze/product=Phaze+in+Verse+by+Phaze+Authors


Michelle

The Cover Art has arrived!

The cover for Diggin' Up Bones arrived in my email this morning.


Check it out!




Michelle
http://www.eroticpen.net/