I wish I were a bear (for the winter)

Posted on by December 16, 2013

brrr!It’s winter. Cold, cold, winter. Today, the temperature is going up to a balmy 14 degrees.

I’m already tired of winter and it hasn’t even officially started. I’m cold. I don’t like having to bundle in coats and hats and gloves and boots before I venture outside to scrape the ice and snow off my car. I don’t like worrying about black ice under the snow on the roads, or drivers who don’t realize they should slow down. In fact, I can’t think of one thing I’d miss about winter, other than an excuse to curl up in front of a roaring fire with a mug of hot chocolate and a good book.

Animals are smart. When the weather starts to get cool, the eat themselves silly, then hibernate until spring. We’re animals, right? So doesn’t it make sense that we should do that, too?

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Spotlight: Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes by Denise Grover Swank

Posted on by February 7, 2014

Welcome to another Spotlight Saturday. Each week, I spotlight a book I’m reading at the moment.

twenty-eight and a half wishes
 

 

 
Title:    Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes (a Rose Gardner Mystery)
Author:  Denise Grover Swank
Genre:  Mystery

 

 

 

Description:

“It all started when I saw myself dead.”

For Rose Gardner, working at the DMV on a Friday afternoon is bad, even before she sees a vision of herself dead. She’s had plenty of visions, usually boring ones like someone’s toilet’s overflowed, but she’s never seen one of herself before. When her overbearing momma winds up murdered on her sofa instead, two things are certain: There isn’t enough hydrogen peroxide in the state of Arkansas to get that stain out, and Rose is the prime suspect.

Rose realizes she’s wasted twenty-four years of living and makes a list on the back of a Wal-Mart receipt: twenty-eight things she wants to accomplish before her vision comes true. She’s well on her way with the help of her next door neighbor Joe, who has no trouble teaching Rose the rules of drinking, but won’t help with number fifteen– do more with a man. Joe’s new to town, but it doesn’t take a vision for Rose to realize he’s got plenty secrets of his own.

Somebody thinks Rose has something they want and they’ll do anything to get it. Her house is broken into, someone else she knows is murdered, and suddenly, dying a virgin in the Fenton County jail isn’t her biggest worry after all.

FREE: Amazon (free)      Barnes&Noble     iTunes

Vicki Batman and her *scientific* fruitcake poll

Posted on by December 12, 2013

Please help me give a big holiday welcome to Vicki Batman, author of The Great Fruitcake Bake-Off.

Thanks for visiting, Vicki. The blog is yours. Take it away1

The very best holiday dessert is…

 

Fruitcake! It contains colorful and sugary cherries, pineapples, and citrus rind. Nuts. Spices and enough batter to hold the confection together.

So why do people hate it? Why do some love it?

I did a *scientific* poll of friends and family and received these answers:

Likes the fruit.

I LOVE fruitcake! Love all the ingredients, the texture, and because it reminds me of my mom.

I am one of those people who does like fruitcake, especially homemade ones.  Not so crazy about the store-bought kind, though.  They tend to be too gummy.  But a good fruitcake with lots of fruit and big pieces of nuts, yum!

I don’t like the fruit in it. It’s weird. I love the nuts, but not the fruit.

The taste. It’s bad. *shivers*

Sadly, I can’t get specific – I only remember having a bite of what I thought should be a tasty treat and having a hard time chewing and swallowing and refusing to try again – I was an adult.

I think it tasted like rotten fruit!! Gag me with a spoon!

The only one I like is from Corsicana (I think that’s the fruitcake capital!). The others are too hard and the fruit isn’t real. Overall taste is bad.

I don’t like the fruit. It’s like hard jelly. 

In a perfect fruitcake world, I like it because it’s fruit and cake and nuts and alcohol and, if you’re lucky, chocolate.  What’s not to like?  A bite of fruitcake with a cup of hot tea after shopping on a REALLY cold winter day would perfectly hit the spot. In Texas climate reality, it is too, too, too – too dense, too gooey, too sticky, too chewy, too sugarsugarsugary, and toooo much.  It wears me out.

 

Hate them. They remind me of an aunt who I disliked immensely. She used to make them.

 

If I am going to incur the calories in any cake, it better be something that tastes really good. Fruitcake need not apply. Taste and texture

 

ha, ha.  I have never liked dried fruit.

DISLIKE fruitcake. Everything about it. Smell, texture, taste. And especially the density. I like my cake fluffy and light. Don’t much like carrot cake either. 🙂

 

I admit I’ve never tried it but the way it looks just turns me off.

I like a good fruitcake which is moist and has lots of fruit and rum in it.  Hard + dry = door stop.

I don’t like the way it tastes. 

I strongly dislike fruitcake – I don’t like all that stuff in it – green cherries, nuts – yuck!

 

The consensus from the naysayers seems to be they don’t like the fruit and the gummy cake I don’t know where those people went shopping, but the cake I grew up with isn’t like this at all.

So…I wrote “The Great Fruitcake Bake-off” because I do like fruitcake (and saying the word makes everyone giggle). It’s especially tasty when dipped in chocolate, but then, anything with chocolate tastes great (except for bacon. No-no-no. Amend to all meat and veggies).

So if you are interested in a little fruitcake fun and romance, try “The Great Fruitcake Bake-off”, available at: http://bit.ly/HXeo7h

Find me—Vicki!—at: http://vickibatman.blogspot.com

Happy Holidays!

 

Guest author: Allison Knight talks about “Betrayed Bride”

Posted on by December 10, 2013

small portrait Allison KnightI’m happy to have author Allison Knight on my blog today. Welcome, Allison. Please tell us a little about yourself.

I began my career like many other authors when I read a book I didn’t like. My children scoffed when I announced I was going to write a book, but, after lots of rewrites and the support of the world’s greatest husband, I garnered a three book contract for my first historical romances. And from a big New York publisher at that.

Today, with my husband’s continued support and to the delight of my children, I write the genres I love to read, musing about my writing life on my own blog or as a guest blogger and eagerly praising the growing digital market and the convenience of an e-reader. In fact many nights, my husband and I spend the time in our recliners, listening to music and reading from our readers.

My first contemporary romance for Champagne Books, “Betrayed Bride” was released earlier this year. This kind of plot happens when a writer ends up in the hospital and wants to recall some of the sounds and commotion that go with a lengthy hospital stay. This writer will use just about anything to assist in plot development, from people watching to cooking disasters.

I’m glad to hear you found your hospital stay beneficial. Now, the blog is yours. Take it away!

I never dreamed I would one day be a novelist. Maybe a dancer, a singer, a movie star, all the kinds of things kids my age dreamed of becoming. As I grew older, I knew I wanted to teach and I wanted to teach what I loved – cooking and baking. But it didn’t stop there. I wanted to know what chemical reactions occurred when you cooked food. So I became a teacher with degrees in Chemistry and Home Economics. If I planned to write anything, it would have been a cookbook.

But teaching and raising a family is hard work, and to relax, I read. My reading choice was anything historical. When historical romances hit the shelves, I began to devour those books. I could forget all the trouble I might be having with a particular student, or one of my own children and descend into a world of make believe where I just knew I’d get a happy ever after ending.

But one of the books I read really bothered me. I stuck with it to the end, because the plot was decent, in fact a little different, but the writing was stilted, the characters poorly developed and toward the end of the book, several of those characters disappeared. I sat holding that book and thought to myself, “I bet I could do a better job.”

Several weeks later, as I drove the 150 miles to my parents’ home for the weekend, my husband asleep in the seat beside me, I heard a news broadcast naming a city in South Carolina as a sister city to a town in my home state of Indiana because they shared the same name. For years, I had known that my grandparent’s farm had been a stop in the underground railroad before and during the Civil War. At that moment a plot for a historical romance using those facts magically surfaced. I played with the idea over the weekend and when we got home, I pulled out my electric typewriter – there were no home computers back then – a package of paper and declared a corner in the dining room mine so I could write.

My daughter wanted to know what I was doing and I told her I was going to write a book. Of course, at fifteen, my daughter knew her teacher-mother couldn’t possibly do something like that so she laughed and said, “Yeh, Mom. When cows fly.”

Two years later I came home from school one afternoon to find a stuffed cow with added wings, hanging from the moving blades of our family room ceiling fan. I had just sold the first book I wrote to a publisher that had rejected that same manuscript the year before. It seemed “Cows could fly.”

The kid who wanted to be a dancer, or a movie star, even a singer is a published author. But guess what? It takes the same amount of dedication and discipline to be an author as any one of the other professions I considered as a child. Now, I proudly proclaim, yes, I’m a published author and I write romance novels so women just like me can escape into a world of make believe and forget their work or troubles for a bit.

I really enjoy hearing how authors began, and isn’t it strange how things turn out? Please tell us about your latest book.

BetrayedBride-smAllison’s debut contemporary romance, Betrayed Bride, is available now.

In the hospital they keep calling her Sam and telling her she’s married to Alex Porter but she doesn’t know this Alex. Then she discovers she’s lost more than a year of her life and Alex can’t, or won’t, tell her what happened. He refuses to let her see or talk to her father and there is also something very important about Samantha, she can’t remember.

Alex Porter can’t explain how Sam was either pushed or jumped from a moving car traveling away from him, or why Sam’s memory disappeared but he’s sure her father played a role. All he can do is offer support as she recovers and wait for her to come to him as she had before the accident, hoping against hope, Sam’s father has not ruined his marriage and driven away the woman he is starting to love.

Betrayed Bride is available now from Champagne Books and from Amazon.

You can learn more about Allison and her books by email at allisonknight@mchsi.com and by visiting her website
and her blog. You can also follow her on Facebook.

Thanks so much for visiting today, Allison. Best of luck with Betrayed Bride.

Spotlight: Black Mountain by D’Ann Lindun

Posted on by December 6, 2013

Shilo-Starla cover
 

 
Title: Black Mountain: Shiloh’s Song and Mending Fences
Author: D’Ann Lindun
Genre: Contemporary romance

 

 

 
 

Description:

Shiloh’s Song

All Shiloh Jamieson wants is a chance to make it in the country music business. Unfortunately, her mother—a bitter failure in the biz—stands in Shiloh’s way. So does Shiloh’s own fear of what she might have to do to succeed—sleeping her way around Nashville—is not an option.

Country music superstar Dillon Travers left Nashville’s bright lights and fame for Black Mountain, Colorado, craving peace, solitude and to run his rescue horse ranch. His wife’s death has left him disillusioned with the career he once loved.
Can a sassy newcomer and a jaded veteran each find their way together when one desperately wants what the other needs to forget?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mending Fences

Starla Jamieson owns a successful bar, and it’s enough for her. She’s never wanted a child of her own because between helping raise her younger brothers and a dozen half-sisters, Starla’s parented plenty. To avoid the motherhood trap, she walked away from the only man she ever wanted. But nobody else has ever been able to fill Trevor Lee’s boots.
Trevor Lee has never forgiven Starla for the lie she told him. He’s also never stopped loving her. His head tells him she’s not the right woman for him because he wants a traditional family… and that’s just not Starla. But his heart can’t forget her.
When the unexpected consequences of a night of passion forces them to examine their past, they have to decide whether to forgive and forget …or to let love slip away again.

Buy: Amazon

Guest post: Christine Warner and her latest release, Bachelor’s Special

Posted on by December 4, 2013

Author-Pic2-300x200I’m so happy to welcome my friend and fellow Entangled Publishing author Christine Warner to my blog today. Christine’s latest book, Bachelor’s Special, is available now.

Welcome, Christine. Thanks for taking the time to visit today. The blog is yours!

One of the most fulfilling moments I have as a writer happens about a week after I finish writing a story. I like to sit down with my newly completed book and slowly read through my words and let everything I’ve written sink in. The most memorable scenes make me smile and I can’t wait to share them with readers, wondering if they will smile as they read them too.

When I finished Bachelor’s Special there were so many scenes that I enjoyed writing, but more importantly ones I couldn’t wait to sit down and revisit.

There’s the scene in the kitchen when Jill attempts to teach Chet a lesson but her plan backfires. Let’s just say food can become a major aphrodisiac and fan the flames to an already sparked attraction. I get goose bumps thinking about Chet’s words to Jill— “I’m attracted to you, and after that zipper-popping kiss, I’m going to assume the feeling’s mutual.”

I also enjoyed revisiting several smaller scenes that showed Chet and Jill working through their attraction with communication and how that communication played into their forming a friendship. Simple scenes like the one where Chet had a bad day at work and arrived home to whisk Jill out for a burger. I loved their easy conversation as Chet teased Jill and helped her expand her food horizons by trying a burger out of the norm.

And of course I always love those first impressions—almost entirely based on looks only—but as time goes on they uncover the layers. I like that Chet was more entranced with Jill’s lips and voice as he tells us here in his thoughts:

He’d forced himself to listen as her perfect red lipsticked mouth enunciated each syllable in her throaty, sex-phone-operator voice.

Not to be outdone, Jill’s first impression of Chet:

Dressed to perfection in a black suit—his tie slightly askew—this man’s penetrating dark eyes would melt ice cream stored in a deep freeze.

I don’t know if I can pick a #1 favorite scene, but this one ranks right up there. Chet isn’t supposed to be home so Jill is relaxing in the pool on a floating raft and who should appear? You guessed it—Chet. Let’s just say they made the water bubble and boil.  Here’s an excerpt with a little snippet from both of their point of views:

Her body hummed as his smile wavered. Although he wore sunglasses, she’d bet her last dollar his gaze swept across her chest, lingering on the betrayal of her pert nipples pushing against the fabric of her suit.

Until this moment, shyness had never been a trait she possessed. Air stalled in her lungs, her palms grew sweaty, and she itched to cover herself with a towel. Even though her replica vintage swimsuit hid more than most sets of women’s underwear, she felt too exposed. She turned to the side slightly and folded her legs up. Not that it helped, but it made her feel a bit less exposed.

Chet slid his feet from his sandals, brushing a hand through his hair. The heat from the sun wasn’t the only thing scorching her skin. She trickled several droplets of water over her arms, but she couldn’t drag her focus from his toned flesh.

Jill soaked in his ripped abs and the obvious package of goodies covered by his brown swimsuit—the same sexy brown as his hair. Damn, did a man have a right to fill out a pair of swimming trunks like that? Flecks of hair, just enough to give him a manly appeal, covered the etched muscles of his long, tan legs. She licked her lips, hoping she could still speak. “Do you want some privacy?” Yes, say yes. She needed an excuse to make an escape without coming off like someone desperate to be making an exit.
…
Hell no, he didn’t want privacy. Through the shield of his sunglasses, he inspected her body from the tips of her pink-painted toenails to the top of her brightly flowered swimming cap. Did people still actually wear those things? “No, you look co mfortable. Stay and enjoy the day.”

“Oh…are you sure?”

“Sure.”

Amazed at his own ability to talk without his tongue hitting the cement, Chet turned to throw his towel and sunglasses on a nearby lounge chair. Damn. The red and white polka-dot halter-style suit featured a tight bodice, but her slender hips and shapely thighs hiding beneath a matching skirt grabbed his attention until all oxygen left his blood. Even showing less skin than the average girl on the beach, she far exceeded sexy and alluring.

Get a grip, Castle. She’s off limits, no matter how delectable.

He turned and stepped onto the diving board. He bounced along the surface as he made his way over the water. When he looked at Jill’s bathing cap covering her head, he held back his grin. The neon rubber flowers reminded him of something his
grandmother would’ve worn, but there the similarity ended. Everything beneath that cap was far from making him think of Grandma.

Okay, from a writer’s perspective I shared a favorite moment in finishing a book. As a reader, what is the best part for you after you’ve read that last page? Do you relive the story in your mind for days, think of the characters and their conversations, or wonder what they are doing now? Or something more? Please share 

bs 200 x 300BLURB:

Jill Adgate wants three things from life: a successful catering business, a family, and the love of an exceptional man. What she has is no job, a mounting pile of bills, and her outspoken best friend—who sets her up on a blind date with the man who inadvertently ruined Jill’s life.

Chet Castle is a businessman who has everything, except the ability to trust. Burned by a money-hungry fiancée, he refuses to get involved in any relationship that has a shelf life longer than a head of lettuce.

Intrigued by her ambition—and determined to get her in bed—Chet offers Jill the chance of a lifetime: work as his live-in chef and he’ll help her get her catering business off the ground. When sparks fly in the kitchen, Jill realizes what’s cooking is a recipe for disaster…

BUY LINKS:

Barnes & Noble
Amazon
Kobo
iTunes

A bit about Christine:

Christine Warner is living her dream in Michigan along with her husband, three children, one laptop and a much loved assortment of furry friends.

Besides laughing and a good round of humor, she enjoys spending time with her family, cooking, reading, writing but no arithmitic. A confessed people watcher, she finds inspiration for her stories in everyday activities. She loves to read and write about strong heroes and determined, sometimes sassy, heroines.

A girl gone wild, at least where social media is concerned, she enjoys meeting other avid readers and writers on facebook, twitter and her website.

Website: http://christine-warner.com/
Twitter under @ChristinesWords: https://twitter.com/#!/ChristinesWords
Facebook page : http://www.facebook.com/pages/Christine-Warner/143430882396013
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5763713.Christine_Warner

Thanks for visiting, Christine. Best of luck with Bachelor’s Special.

Love Historicals – launch day

Posted on by December 1, 2013

It’s launch day for Love Historicals, a brand new website (www.lovehistoricals.com) featuring thirteen authors who have a passion for writing the past. Here you’ll find romances from almost every time period in history, from the arenas of ancient Rome to the ballrooms of Regency England, from the barren Scottish Highlands to the raw and untamed American West.

We have lots planned for the future, so please stop by and check it out. Browse the gorgeous new website and see what your favorite authors are up to, or find a new author to love. Like our page on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

To thank you for stopping by and commenting on our blog, we’re having a giveaway.

                                   Thirteen lucky readers will receive a digital copy of one of our books
                                   One lucky reader will win a digital book from all thirteen authors

The fourteen winners will be announced here and on our Facebook page on December 7, 2013.

Each author has her own page on the site. On my page, you’ll find my two full-length romances as well as the Morgans of Rocky Ridge trilogy and a free short-short story.

EW - allromance

MN0530TetonRanch#3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Cade-200x300-72dpi3MargeryScott_Trey2_200pxMargeryScott_Zane_200px

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Each of the authors have their own page where you can browse their titles and learn about them: Sydney Jane Baily, Heather Boyd, Gina Danna, Claire Delacroix, Bronwen Evans, Jill Hughey, Catherine Kean, Anna Markland, Nancy Morse, Laurel O’Donnell, Margery Scott, Lana Williams and Cynthia Woolf. Just click on one of the e-retailer links if you see something you like.

I’d love to hear what you think of the new site, so please leave a comment.