The Many Faces of Romance: HEROES ARE MY WEAKNESS Virtual Tour: Stop by for Excerpt & Giveaway!

Heroes Are My Weakness

By: Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Releasing Sept 28^th, 2015

Mass Market Paperback

Avon Romance

Inside The Covers:

The dead of winter.
An isolated island off the coast of Maine.
A man.
A woman.
A sinister house looming over the sea ...

He's a reclusive writer whose macabre imagination creates chilling horror novels. She's a down-on-her-luck actress reduced to staging kids' puppet shows. He knows a dozen ways to kill with his bare hands. She knows a dozen ways to kill with laughs.

But she's not laughing now. When she was a teenager, he terrified her. Now they're trapped together on a snowy island off the coast of Maine. Is he the villain she remembers or has he changed? Her head says no. Her heart says yes.

It's going to be a long, hot winter.

My Review:

Susan Elizabeth Phillips is a long time favorite and friends and I have driven through heavy snow to go to her book signings. So yes, I am a fangirl.

I knew that SEP changed her voice in writing this book and in this case, change is good. It did start out with that "Dark and stormy night feel." Annie travels to an island off the coast of Maine to check out the cottage her recently deceased mother left her. She is nearly broke and must stay there for two months as a specific part of a trust in the will. Unfortunately, her ex step-brother Theo Harp is also there, in the big mansion Harp House complete with turret, working on his next horror novel. He made her life hell when she spent the summer there when they were teens, even though she once had a crush on him.

At first, it seemed like Theo was going to continue to be the jerk. But then things begin to happen. Someone breaks into her house. Was it Theo? Other bad things start to happen and finally the two begin to talk. About secrets. About that long ago summer.

This story was a quirky read, in a good way. Annie hasn't found her nitch in life and is a puppeteer. Not you average heroine, but I found her refreshingly different. Theo begins to suffer from writer's block, especially when he becomes worried about Annie. Ms Phillips handled this perfectly, the pace of the story slowly building from nearly enemies, a wary friendship, and to the deep trust and love they both deserve. There is such a subtle change as the story flows from dark and ends with the humorous banter between Theo and Annie we all love from SEP. So yes, this book is more suspenseful, but still an intriguing and compelling read. Don't miss it!

Excerpt #2

The apparition came from nowhere.

A man clad in black flew across the bottom of the road on a midnight horse. She’d always had a vivid imagination¾witness her internal conversations with her puppets¾and she thought she was imagining this. But the vision was real. Horse and rider racing through the snow, the man leaning low over the horse’s mane streaming. They were demon creatures, a nightmare horse and lunatic man galloping into the storm’s fury.

They disappeared as quickly as they’d appeared, but her foot automatically hit the brake, and the car began to slide. It skidded across the road and,with a sickening lurch, came to a stop in the snow-filled ditch.

You’re such a loser, Leo the villain sneered.

Tears of exhaustion filled her eyes. Her hands shook. Were the man and horse indeed real or had she conjured them? She needed to focus. She put the car into reverse and attempted to rock it out, but the tires only spun deeper. Her head fell against the back of the seat. If she stayed here long enough, someone would find her. But when? Only the cottage and the main house lay at the end of this road.

She tried to think. Her single contact on the island was the man who took care of the main house and the cottage, but she’d only had an e-mail address to let him know she was arriving and ask him to turn on the cottage’s utilities. Even if she had his phone number¾Will Shaw¾that was his name¾she doubted she could get cell reception out here.

Loser. Leo never spoke in an ordinary voice. He only sneered.

Annie grabbed a tissue from a crumpled pack, but instead of thinking about her dilemma, she thought about the horse and rider. What kind of a crazy took an animal out in this weather? She squeezed her eyes shut and fought a wave of nausea. If only she could curl up and go to sleep. Would it be so terrible to admit that life had gotten the best of her?

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About The Author:

Susan Elizabeth Phillips soars onto the New York Times bestseller list with every new publication. She’s the only four-time recipient of the Romance Writers of America’s prestigious Favorite Book of the Year Award. Susan delights fans by touching hearts as well as funny bones with her wonderfully whimsical and modern fairy tales. A resident of the Chicago suburbs, she is also a wife, and mother of two grown sons.