Title: At Midnight
Author: Lainee Cole, Lynn Crandall, Rena Koontz
Genre: Fiction Anthologies
Book Blurb:
Midnight Casanova by Lainee Cole
Stranded at midnight by a broken-down car, dog trainer Maddie Lockhart finds refuge in a deserted farmhouse. When the owner of the house, Chance Marlow, tries to oust her, Maddie uses the stray mutt he calls Casanova to convince him she can help with his collection of homeless animals. While their paths seem incompatible, working side-by-side to rescue animals, they discover otherwise.
Two Days Until Midnight by Lynn Crandall
Time is running out for reclusive billionaire Tamier Rein to save himself from transforming into a cheetah, and bird-shifter Lark Ellis is his only hope for surviving past midnight.
Midnight Deadline for Love by Rena Koontz
T.B. Amanscott is Harrison City’s wealthiest man and his kidnappers want one million dollars ransom by midnight or they will kill him. Every possible resource is available to Sergeant Ariana Jeanne Lozione, who is heading up the rescue attempt. There’s only one problem. A.J. wants him dead.
Excerpt:
Midnight Casanova
Thwap-Clap.
Maddie jumped at the sound of the large doggie door snapping shut behind her as she crawled into the dark farmhouse. Hear pounding, she scrambled back against the door, listening for any sounds coming from within.
A resident dog would have greeted her in one way or another before she ever made it this far. And even if it didn’t, she was confident in her abilities as a dog trainer to handle any surprises.
What she couldn’t handle was turning into a pumpkin at midnight. She tipper her head back and closed her eyes.
Baby, her trusty Ford Mustang, had malfunctioned as soon as the clock turned midnight. Despite her foot mashing the gas pedal to the floor, the car had slowed and the speedometer dropped. She’d gripped the steering wheel and barely made it onto the shoulder before the car shuddered to a stop. The dah lights dimmed, the headlights flickered, and then both had gone out, leaving her stranded on a dark country road.
Talk about experiencing a Cinderella moment.
Maddie sat in the darkness, thinking about her life. She’d loved fairy tales since she was a little girl. In some ways, she was living her very own, having been adopted by doting parents. But she knew nothing about being a princess or a pumpkin. Well, aside from reading Cinderella many, many times.
Unlike the horses in her favorite childhood fairy tale, the horses under her hood hadn’t turned into mice and scuttled away, but their magic had definitely expired. Taking shelter in a deserted farmhouse in freezing cold Illinois was not how she had planned to spend her New Year’s Eve.
There were some positives. One, Baby hadn’t turned into a pumpkin so once she was fixed, Maddie still had wheels. Two, she was dressed in comfortable jeans. No dresses or fancy glass slippers for her. And three, there was no prince. She would have to save herself.
---
Two Days Until Midnight
“Drat! Drat! Rat!” Tamier Rein stared at an email from an assistant engineer in his company and raked his fingers through his hair.
Mr. Rein: Please see the attached weekly status report for each project I’m managing. As you’ll see, the timetable for only one project has been delayed.
A slow boil churned in his gut as he perused the list and suddenly, he couldn’t stand the clutter on his desk another second.
He razed the top of his desk, shoving aside papers, files, and the stapler in one fell swoop of his arm. He watched everything flutter and fall all around him. His pens and pencils clattered to the stone floor.
“Damn Her!”
Fuming anger propelled him around the desk in his home office and out onto the upstairs balcony. Fresh air might help calm his rage. He leaned on the wooden railing and sucked in deep breaths. Thoughts chased each other in circles, turning his mind into butter. He wrapped his fingers around the railing, squeezing as though his life depended on his grip.
He had to get control of the beast inside him before it was too late. If it took over, he would have to wait for an explanation for why one of his engineering and architectural firm’s large projects was at a standstill. Deadlines for licenses and permits loomed. And now this glitch. Wasn’t preventing this kind of obstacle to purchasing the large piece of property in Crescent Point a reason he hired an assistant engineer four months ago?
He went back inside to this desk and grabbed the handset for his landline but paused before punching in Lark’s phone number. His hand shook.
He swiped away the pesky sweat running into his eyes, willing his body to stay still. He ground his teeth, begging the beast to disappear. Maintaining calm didn’t always prevent the takeover, but it was his only method.
---
Midnight Deadline For Love
She had until midnight.
Until then, each minute that passed shortened the hostage’s life. His life. The man she once...
A.J. could literally watch the time tick away to midnight on the oversized analog clock hanging in the center of the wall in the squad room, its shiny white face accented by black digits and two fat hands. In between, a spaghetti-thin second hand jumped from one dash to the next, in deliberate motion. Tick. Tick. Tick to the kidnapper’s deadline.
Her colleagues stood around the room waiting for her orders, staring at her as if she were the timepiece eating up their precious minutes. On the wall, the second hand jumped another notch. When most of the detectives and office staff had already gone for the day, A.J. could not only witness time marching on while she sat at her desk, she heard it. One monotonous click after the next.
It echoed in her ears now. Each hand movement, large or small, shrunk the open window for her to locate and rescue Harrison City’s richest man. Thirteen hours and counting. Unlucky thirteen. Or maybe not.
This morning, the squad room felt overly warm and her breakfast bar lay heavy on her stomach. Or did the situation she found herself in make everything more uncomfortable?
His office staff reported T.B. Amanscott missing when he failed to show up for a charity sunrise breakfast this morning. A.J. listened to the news account on her way to the police station after interviewing the owner of a jewelry store whose business was robbed the day before.
As always, she cringed at the mention of Tobias’ name. Probably hungover, or coming down from a cocaine high, or shacked up with some bimbo his wife turned a blind eye to. It wasn’t only her. The entire city looked the other way at Tobias Benjamin Amanscott’s shenanigans because he was a wealthy benefactor for so many causes. Every time the man got his tit caught in the wringer, he bought his way out of it. He had the money. And the political connections. And the stones.
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This anthology is three different stories each dealing with love, hope, friendship, power, greed, revenge and the most powerful of all relationships! Three authors whose stories will bring back the true meaning of love.
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Author Biography:
Lainee Cole: Lainee Cole’s love affair with books began when she was young. By the time she was in seventh grade, Lainee was making up her own stories and poems, exploring various styles of writing. Reading voraciously and exploring different types of writing led her to romances. She loves the challenge of writing romance, developing characters and figuring out what makes them tick. They often take on a life of their own, surprising and annoying her. But they also give her hope and inspire her to follow her dreams. Lainee strives to write stories that will make readers laugh and cry, give them hope, and encourage them to believe in the power of love.
Lynn Crandall: After cutting her writing teeth as a feature writer for commercial and trade magazines, a reporter for newspapers and radio, and an executive editor for a communications company, award-winning author Lynn Crandall tuned her voracious appetite for stories to writing contemporary and paranormal romance, women’s fiction, and romantic suspense. In her books, she enjoys taking readers on emotional journeys with relatable characters who refuse to back down, and face challenges and tribulations with heart and soul. She believes every love has a story, and hers is with one handsome husband and a large, beautiful circle of family, including her cat Winter.
Rena Koontz: I'm a lifelong journalist and an award-winning author. My writing career has taken me into the sports arena, politics, feature writing, editorial writing, and, my favorite, cops and courts. I've chased fire trucks and police cars, covered all sorts of crimes, including murders, and reported criminal, civil, high profile and ordinary trials.
And that's what I write about.
In my books, cops are the good guys and the good guys always win.
I'm a Pittsburgh native and an avid sports fan. I work Pittsburgh connections into all of my stories and my characters often wear black and gold or reference the city's outstanding sports teams -- the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Pittsburgh Pirates.
My books are based on real incidents. Plus, I'm married to a retired FBI agent whose stellar career fuels my ideas and whose technical advice is invaluable. He also takes credit for the steamy scenes!
Social Media Links:
Lainee Cole: https://www.facebook.com/LaineeColeAuthor/
Lynn Crandall: https://www.lynn-crandall.com/
@lynnkelynwriter (TikTok)
Rena Koontz: www.renakoontz.com
@author_renakoontz (TikTok)