This man does not deserve the honor of bringing you flowers and seeing your face light up.

Hello ,

I hope you had a lovely week, filled only with surprises that brought you joy. Assuming, of course, you actually enjoy surprises.

Personally, I hate surprises.

I don't like surprise gifts (so I never complain when Mr. Bloom doesn't get me one for my birthday or Christmas). I don't like surprise visitors, be they a friend at my door or a spider in my shower. And I despise the kinds of nasty surprises that catch me when I'm drinking my coffee, reading email in the morning.

Another thing I'm not a fan of is thinking I'm special to a man, and then finding out that I'm just one woman in a whole string of dames he's been showering his love on.

Boy, do I hate that kind of surprise.

Well, this past week gifted me with two of my least favorite things in one single email. It was from a woman I've never met, but I've seen her name. She has a bit of a reputation around these parts as a sweet and salty talker.

As much as my inner second chance, romance writer would love to embellish this story, to tell you the email was sent to my husband, he's an innocent party in this incident.

Kayla Kelly, however? Phah! She's the woman who turned my day—nay my week—upside down.

And I can't even be truly angry with her, because I'm pretty sure she's also a victim of this heinous deceit by a no-good, cheating man.

I don't want to be the one to tell her that Landon, her Navy SEAL with a troubled past, has been lying to her; that he's really Josh, a video game developer in love with Paige, his high school best friend and former fiancée who got scared about how money might change their relationship when his game sold for millions of dollars.

The worst part? Both Landon/Josh are second chance kind of men.

But you can't have a second chance with two women!

And that's exactly what Kayla's email shone a light on. It showed me that the cover model representing my dog-adoring, Nana-doting, one-woman-only-loving Josh, sowed his seed beyond my book, Third Party.

(The irony of that title is not lost on me in this moment.)

And he didn't cheat just once. No, no, no. When I went looking, I found two more covers he shared this exact same pose with. For all I know, there are more.

But I had to stop looking.

I mean, once a cover model had cheated three times, the damage is done. My honorable hero, Josh's reputation has been ruined.

I debated whether or not to share the evidence with you, since it's hard to stare the proof of this sinful surprise in the eye—or nipple in this case since the rogue doesn't even have the decency to make eye contact.

In the end, I decided it was best that you know what Cover-Model-Josh / Landon / Paulo / Grant has done, in case you come across him flaunting his wares on another book cover.

He may try to fool you by wearing a pair of glasses or playing the, "Of course I'm a good guy! I have a dog!" card. Don't be tricked.

Sadly, I think the cover that would be the best fit for this monster of a man would be called, Deception.

At least I can say that Kojak, Josh's faithful golden retriever, has been a true friend... (but if you find evidence to suggest otherwise, please don't tell me).

If you like surprises, you'll love these 2 contests

If you don't follow me on BookBub yet, I have some great incentive to do so: a chance to win an e-reader filled with new adult romance books! Well, not quite filled. It comes loaded with 30 books. The e-reader can hold at least 3000.

And, in the spirit of second chances ...

Although you can't follow me twice on BookBub, you do have a second chance to win an e-reader by entering this different giveaway, and following more authors. In fact, that page has three contests with e-reader prizes and one with a six-month subscription to Kindle Unlimited!

The great thing about these contests is that you don't get added to any more email lists! Hooray! No more bad news coming from surprise emails...

Free books to surprise and delight you

Okay, I will admit that I have been pleasantly surprised by several of the free books I've read by new-to-me romance authors from these promos over the last six months. In fact, I've even developed some friendships with a couple of the authors, which is an even bigger surprise.

Not because authors are hard to be friends with! Because they happened so naturally... almost makes me believe in insta-love!

Each strip of book covers below is like wrapping paper since behind them is not one, not two, but at least two dozen free books. No Kindle Unlimited required. Just the ability to download free books and first chapters to your tablet, laptop or e-reader.

January Happy Ever After Romance - Free Books! - Ivy Hunt has a new book in her football series coming in a week or so. Get started with Book 1 now!

January Steamy Romance Freebies - Kaye Kennedy's firefighter romances are hot, hot, hot. And she have five of them is you love series.

More Romance Reads—lots of USA Today bestselling authors in this promo, including Gloria Silk and Stephanie McQueen.

January Romance Sizzle - If you've not read Lauren Wood or Stephanie Morris, now's a great time to meet these two great authors.

Well, that's all from my desk this week.

Although I do have a request, since Mr. Bloom would be a lovely cover model for an age-gap, MC romance, he's not a good fit the steamy, funny, new adult romance I write.

If you have a friend or relative who would like to be the cover model for the fourth book in The Mixed Six-Pack series, pass along my email address. But only if he's willing to commit to an exclusive relationship. At least for one HEA pose!

love & nosurprisingstuff,

Danika

PS—Follow me on BookBub, make my day, and maybe even win a new e-reader filled with new adult romance books, including Josh's story, Third Party.