Spotlight & Giveaway: The Marriage Auction 2 by Audrey Carlan

Today, HJ is pleased to share with you Audrey Carlan’s new release: The Marriage Auction 2

Three women and one man put themselves up for auction in a high stakes game of marriage, money, and mayhem. The spice is high, the characters intense, and the plot will keep you guessing until the bitter end. This is the filthy, gritty, angsty soap opera you never knew you needed. Welcome to The Marriage Auction.

Meet the candidates:

Maia Rhodes – A twenty-four-year-old pickpocket with a tragic past and one goal: Do whatever it takes to secure enough money to save her family from the devil and his spawn back home…even marry a stranger.

Memphis Taylor – A college footballer who had big dreams of playing for the NFL but dropped out of college due to an injury. He needs to make enough money to help support his five sisters, his parents, and his sassy granny. What’s three years of his life?

Summer Belanger – A Californian cannabis farmer with an unorthodox family, a witchy faith, and a desire to find her life’s purpose. As a horticulturist, she finds solace and peace in plants and nature but doesn’t know the first thing about running a successful business. Her kookie parents suggest the auction so she can find a businessman who will help her succeed and also handle her pesky lack of orgasms.

Julianne Myers – Was raised in the lap of luxury, until her parents and their best friends were killed, leaving her brother and her childhood crush their empires. Her brother and his new fiancée attempt to take it all. Lost and utterly alone, Jules enters into the auction in order to make a huge amount of money fast. Only she didn’t expect her godmother, aka Madam Alana, to meddle and create a match she never dreamed possible.

Disclaimer: This serial can be read as a standalone but is best read after The Marriage Auction 1.

Enjoy an exclusive excerpt from The Marriage Auction 2 

Giovanni,
I’m deeply sorry to intrude on your time away. I understand and share in the great loss you’ve experienced. However, a situation has come to my attention I knew you’d want to be apprised of. As you know, I run The Marriage Auction. A candidate has entered who I cannot turn away for reasons that are my own. I will be hosting a private, five-bidder auction in two weeks’ time. Please review the attached candidate information.
Shall I save you a seat as one of the bidders?
Alana Toussaint

Was she delusional? The woman and her husband had been invited to my wedding to Bianca, for crying out loud. How dare she drive a knife into my heart by suggesting I’d want to bid on a new bride. And so quickly after what she knew had been a horrifying betrayal?
“The nerve,” I sneered as I clicked on the attachment.
A pop-up box demanding a password appeared on the screen. I ground down on my teeth as I typed JULIANNE in all caps the same way it was displayed in her message.
Instantly a headshot of Julianne Myers covered my entire screen with the words New Candidate Entered Into Private Auction typed above her head.
The fuck?
I snatched my phone up from where I set it on the desk, scrolled through my contacts, and dialed her number. She answered on the first ring.
“Bonjour, Gio,” Alana greeted in that melodic French lilt.
“What the fuck are you trying to pull sending me this?” I snapped.
“Ah, I can hear in the tone of your voice you have reviewed my email, oui?”
“Yeah, I got your fucking message. What kind of shit is this?”
“I’m afraid what you see is what you get, chéri. I couldn’t turn her away.”
“You’re her godmother, for Christ’s sake. You own the auction. Of course you can turn her ass away. You just say no! Or in a language perhaps you understand better, putain non!” Fuck no! I said in French to make my point crystal clear.
“You are angry,” she surmised.
“Yeah, I’m furious. What were you thinking?” I barked.
“Darling, I understand your frustration as it is shared by two. However, Julianne is her own person with her own mind. And she’s made hers up.”
I opened my mouth, closed it, opened it again, and growled. “Alana,” I grated and took a full, deep breath in to calm my wrath. “You cannot agree to this. She’s pulling something.”
“This I know. Our Julianne is a spitfire. She’s also very convincing,” Alana explained gently.
“Pull her ass out!” I demanded.
“Je suis désolé mon cher.” I’m sorry, dear. “It is done. Julianne will be sold to the highest bidder in two weeks’ time. I have saved you a very coveted seat. When the waitlist of suitors saw ma petite fleur, my little blossom, they went into a frenzy. Many know exactly who Julianne is and the reputation she will bring as a wife. I’ll leave you to your thoughts. It was good talking to you. Ta-ta for now. Au revoir.” Goodbye, she finished and then promptly hung up.
I sat very still, Julianne’s beloved face plastered across my laptop screen.
My Julianne.
The childhood partner in crime I’d climbed trees with alongside her brother.
The friend I’d shared my fears and woes with.
The girl I’d experienced my first kiss with, out on the docks at the very lake house I was hiding in.
The eighteen-year-old I’d deflowered on the best night of my life. One I later had pretended not to remember.
I’d shoved that experience so deep into Pandora’s box over the past eleven years, I was surprised when shame rose to the surface along with the sweet memory of our single night together.
Julianne was going to allow herself to be purchased in The Marriage Auction. Be bid on by strangers. My mouth dried out and bile rose up my throat.
“Over my dead fucking body,” I swore to myself.
I hit the response button on the email and typed out a three-word reply.
Save my seat.

Excerpt. ©Audrey Carlan. Posted by arrangement with the publisher. All rights reserved.
 
 

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Meet the Author:

Audrey Carlan is a #1 New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author. She writes wicked hot love stories that are designed to give the reader a romantic experience that’s sexy, sweet, and so hot your ereader might melt. Some of her works include the worldwide phenomenon Calendar Girl Serial, Trinity Series and the International Guy Series. Her books have been translated into over 30 languages across the globe.

Link to Series on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D42H7YXN?binding=kindle_edition&ref=dbs_dp_rwt_sb_pc_tkin