Winter Blogfest: Pamela Woods-Jackson

December 20, 2022 By 6 Comments

This post is part of Long and Short Reviews’ Winter Blogfest.

Leave a comment for a chance to win a copy of the novella SUGAR COOKIES FOR BOXING DAY – either paperback or eBook.

Sugar Cookies by Pamela Woods-Jackson

It’s a happy coincidence that I’m able to write a Christmas-themed blog to help promote my just-released Christmas-themed novella, SUGAR COOKIES FOR BOXING DAY. I’ve written six full-length novels but had never tackled a novella, which was in answer to The Wild Rose Press’s call for Christmas stories centered on cookies. I accepted the challenge, and this is the result. My heroine, widow Merry Halliday, is facing a lonely holiday. Her sixtieth birthday is December 26 (Boxing Day in Canada and England), but her best friend is leaving town for the holiday, and worse yet, her daughter is off on a pre-honeymoon trip to Hawaii with fiancé Elijah. But when she meets Elijah’s father, professional and romantic sparks fly.

Then came the cookie part. I don’t really bake, so I wracked my brain for a recipe. When I was a child, my grandmother used to spend weeks baking cookies ahead of the holidays, and she always baked up a special batch of sugar cookies for each grandchild. Light-bulb moment! I decided to track down her recipe and use it as the centerpiece of the story. However, that proved to be a bigger challenge than I’d expected, since no one in my family seemed to have a copy of it. Finally, I asked my 92-year-old mother if she had it, and she did! She copied it, sent it to me, I was able to finish my novella, AND include the recipe at the end of the story. Interesting aside: Last year my daughter-in-law used the cookie recipe and baked up a sweet memory for the family.

A word about the black kitty on the cover. Although in the book her name is Spookie, she is based on my beloved 17-year-old rescue Molly, who passed away last summer. Seeing her captured on the cover of my novella is bitter-sweet.

Thanks for letting me be a part of this blog. My novella would make a perfect holiday gift!

 

Merry Halliday is staring down the barrel of her sixtieth birthday on December twenty-sixth, a daunting milestone for a widow of three years. Merry has always loved Christmas, and every year lovingly bakes her grandmother’s special sugar cookies for friends and family. But then she learns that the school where she teaches has insurmountable financial problems, and if that’s not bad enough, Merry finds out her adult daughter Robin is off to Hawaii with fiancé Elijah. It’s looking like a lonely Christmas and birthday, and worse yet, her career is now in jeopardy.

Merry’s friend and fellow teacher Donna convinces her to go to a sports bar for an end-of-semester get together with colleagues. To Merry’s surprise, a handsome man in his late fifties flirts with her. The next day at the school faculty meeting, Merry is stunned to realize that bar flirt Grady Williams represents the charter school poised to take over her high school. As if that isn’t shock enough, Merry soon finds out that Grady is Elijah’s father.

Faced with spending Christmas alone with her cat Spookie, Merry accepts an out-of-the-blue invitation to spend Christmas with Grady and his friends at a Bed and Breakfast in Indianapolis. With her birthday just two days away, Merry wonders what other surprises are in store. She’s about to find out!

Pamela Woods-Jackson is the author of seven novels: CONFESSIONS OF A TEENAGE PSYCHIC; CERTAINLY SENSIBLE; GENIUS SUMMER; EMMA WITH SOMETHING EXTRA; TEENAGE PSYCHIC ON CAMPUS; SOLE MATES; SUGAR COOKIES FOR BOXING DAY. She lives in Noblesville, Indiana with her rescue cat Molly.

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Winter Blogfest: Rachael Richey

December 20, 2022 By 4 Comments

This post is part of Long and Short Reviews’ Winter Blogfest. Leave a comment for a chance to win a digital copy of Practising for Christmas.

The Magic of Christmas by Rachael Richey

I think it’s very sad these days, just how commercialised Christmas has become.  I know, I’m only saying what everyone else says, but it seems to me that each year the shops start their Christmas promotions earlier and earlier.  For a long time now, even when I was a child, once Firework night was past, the Christmas decorations and gifts would appear in the shops.  I’d got used to that.  Then it crept a little earlier, starting before Halloween.  

But now – some shops have had Christmas themed items on the shelves since early September.  It’s far too early, and for me it takes away some of the magic of Christmas.  By the time December comes you’re fed up with it all and are ready to scream each time a Christmas song comes on.  

When I was a child, we didn’t get our Christmas tree until after I broke up from school, usually around the 21st of December.  Then on Christmas Eve we’d put up the rest of the decorations.  That made it exciting and magical – something to look forward to.  These days it’s considered normal to put up your decorations as soon as December starts.  To be honest ours have crept forward and we usually get the tree around the middle of the month, which is fine, but I know some people who put them up in November, and of course by then the shops are completely full of nothing else.  

I hope this doesn’t make me sound like a Grinch.  Far from it.  My grouse is that because it all starts so early, by the time Christmas Eve arrives (the most magical day of all), we are all weary and bored and beginning to wish it was all over.

But I do still have a little Christmas tradition that has hung on since childhood.  Even now, at my advanced age – my youngest child is twenty-two – when I go to bed on Christmas Eve I look up at the sky.  Just in case.  I hope I never lose that sense of magic.

Merry Magical Christmas everyone!

 

A remote coastal cottage; a group of old friends; the Christmas holidays. It’s just the break Olivia needs to help her relax and forget her worries. What could be more perfect? But that was before she found a handsome unconscious stranger on the beach. Add in a case of mistaken identity, a lot of kissing practice, and an inquisitive best friend, and things begin to get more than a little complicated. The large bump on Adam’s head hurts, but he refuses to go to the hospital—or back home—and eventually accepts Olivia’s offer of hospitality. When her friends arrive the following morning, a chance remark catapults them both into a bizarre and amusing situation that promises to make it a Christmas to remember.

Rachael Richey lives in Cornwall with her family. She writes Women’s Fiction and Romantic Comedy. She has been writing since she was a child, starting with stories about her teddy bears and dolls.

She lived in the Hebrides for nearly fourteen years, having originally gone there to work for the summer season. She met and married her husband David whilst there, and had two children, before moving to Cornwall at the end of 2000.

There are currently four titles in the NightHawk Series; Storm Rising, published in February 2015; Rhythm of Deceit, July 2015, Cobwebs in the Dark, February 2016, and The Girl in the Painting, July 2016.

Breaking All The Rules, a standalone romantic comedy, was released on 5th May, 2017, and Practising for Christmas, a seasonal romcom on 12th November, 2018.

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Winter Blogfest: Zelda Benjamin

December 19, 2022 By 6 Comments

This post is part of Long and Short Reviews’ Winter Blogfest. Leave a comment for a chance to win a $25 gift card to Bed, Bath, and Beyond. Recipes/baking tips cards.

Let’s Bake Some Memories: Holiday Glitter and a Kitchen Renovation by Zelda Benjamin

T’was 2 weeks before Christmas/Chanukah several years ago. My kitchen renovation was almost complete. New countertops would arrive any day.

As things happened, I was asked to bake dessert for a family holiday party. Most people would explain the situation and offer to bring a store-bought treat. Not me. After all, I had a working oven and a refrigerator. The missing countertops were a minor inconvenience.

I called my usual assistances, my grandchildren. They agreed on mini cupcakes with all the trimmings. Not a problem. To save time, I would bake the cakes and have them ready for them to decorate.

We cleared the coffee table in the family room and decorated two-dozen little cupcakes with glitter and sprinkles. The tiny space versus my soon-to-be beautiful spacious counter was no problem.  

The slight dilemma was a lesson that proved anything is possible.

My grandchildren are older and off to college and take what they learned from our baking experiences.

Baking is precise and reinforces the importance of reading directions carefully.

Math is involved. It’s not all basic like teaspoons to tablespoons. Sometimes you need to convert grams to ounces.

Everyone brings something to the table. My granddaughter has an eye for color and style. Her attention to decorating details works for me. Unfortunately, I’m a better-than-average baker but a terrible decorator.

My grandson’s attention to detail is precise and orderly. He’s the best assistant when working with Puff Pastry. Perfectly cut and aligned corners and edges make the pastry look professional.

We still find time to share new baking experiences. I look forward to this year’s holiday baking with enthusiasm. They may want to bake a fancy cake or cookie trending on social media. I’m open to any suggestions.

Bake your memories.

Zelda

Sophia MacLennan Porter grew up in an environment of wicked duplicity with a stepmother who was nice to dad and mean to his daughter. A series of events brings her to the upstate New York town of Highland Falls and her late aunt’s bakeshop. Highland Falls is a town of Scottish descendants, well-kept secrets, and the best shortbread cookies for miles. No one in this town is immune from the secrets of their ancestors or greedy developers.

When Ian Campbell, a handsome Scottish research professor appears in her life, she struggles with the chance to put romance on the menu. Sophia is more concerned with the future of her bakeshop than the lives of her dead ancestors. Reluctantly, she finds herself drawn into his investigation of the history of her family’s clan.

Zelda Benjamin writes sweet, sassy romances. She has a passion for baking, chocolate, and traveling with family.

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Winter Blogfest: Kathleen Buckley

December 19, 2022 By 9 Comments

This post is part of Long and Short Reviews’ Winter Blogfest. Leave a comment for a chance to win an eBook edition of A Peculiar Enchantment. NOTE: Despite the cover and the title, this is a traditional romance, not a fantasy or paranormal.

Memories of Meat-and-Cinnamon Stuffing by Kathleen Buckley

For holidays most of us want the dishes we grew up with, and those traditions change slowly. When I was growing up, the basics of our Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners were always the same: turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, mince and pumpkin pies. A very middle-America dinner…except for two things. The first was that my father cooked it because he loved to cook. The second was the stuffing. My mother hated it, having grown up with turkey dressing consisting of soggy seasoned breadcrumbs. I preferred his stuffing, which he said was more like what was used in the eighteenth century.

It was not a dish for the cholesterol-conscious, consisting of cooked ground beef and bulk pork sausage. The breadcrumbs and sauteed onion played a minor supporting role. The spices included cinnamon: a lot of cinnamon.

I still make my father’s meat-and-cinnamon stuffing,forcemeat as it would have been called two hundred years ago. Now it warms up in a casserole instead of in a turkeybecause the last few years the main course has featured a turkey hindquarter. But the rest of the menu has altered, too. Hold the mashed spuds and gravy as neither I nor my roommate care for them. Gelatine salad? Ummm, no. Waldorf salad instead. The pumpkin pie contains chile (yes, here in New Mexico that is the correct spelling) and chopped candied ginger, not pumpkin pie spice. The mincemeat pie has not changed.

I’ve added a couple of recipes for holiday treats: first Russian tea cakes and then, since moving to New Mexico, bizcochitos. They’re the state cooky and by long tradition they contain lard, brandy or sherry, anise, and cinnamon in addition to the usual cooky ingredients.

 

What can you look forward to when your only relatives call you ugly, unbalanced, and a scandal? What would you do if your only friend was threatened? Dependent on her half brother, the Earl of Lamburne, Adelaide knows. She wants to escape.

Gervase Ducane, invited to Lamburne’s home to court his daughter, is torn. He needs to marry well and soon but not this spiteful chit. Should he buy a commission instead? Seek a wealthy merchant’s daughter? As a marquess’s brother, he has at least a noble connection to offer an heiress apart from his good manners. And why is he only now meeting the earl’s delightful half sister?

Ordered to stay away from the house party, Adelaide rebels. She will make her unwelcome, embarrassing presence known to avenge herself and her pet. Sometimes when you least expect it, magic happens.

 

Kathleen Buckley has loved writing ever since she learned to read. After a career which included light bookkeeping, working as a paralegal, and a stint as a security officer (fascinating!), she began to write as a second career, rather than as a hobby. Her first historical romance was penned (well, word processed) after re-reading Georgette Heyer’s Georgian/Regency romances and realizing that Ms. Heyer would never be able to write another (having died some forty years earlier). She is now the author of eight published Georgian romances: An Unsuitable Duchess, Most Secret, Captain Easterday’s Bargain, A Masked Earl, A Duke’s Daughter, Portia & the Merchant of London, A Westminster Wedding, and A Peculiar Enchantment.

Warning: no bodices are ripped in her romances, which might be described as “powder & patch & peril” rather than Jane Austen drawing room. They contain no explicit sex, but do contain mild bad language, as the situations in which her characters find themselves sometimes call for an oath a little stronger than “Zounds!”

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The Doc’s Holiday Homecoming by Virginia McCullough – Spotlight and Giveaway

December 15, 2022 By 4 Comments

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Virginia McCullough will be awarding a $50 Etsy Gift Card to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Could her closed heart…

Still have room for him?

Olivia Donoghue’s life has turned a corner. The radiologist’s eleven-year-old daughter is finally healthy, and she just moved to her best friend’s dreamy hometown of Adelaide Creek, Wyoming. If only her friend’s prodigal brother, Jeff Stanhope, wasn’t complicating matters. It’s clear Jeff’s kindness knows no bounds, having taken in his late roommate’s teenage son and also offering her a cabin to stay in, but Olivia’s heart is already full…and safe. Is the former rancher worth the risk?






Enjoy an Excerpt

Olivia nodded toward the window. “Jillian and I have seen Carson out back practicing at the hoop. If he makes the team, I promised Jillian we’ll go to the games when I’m free to take her.”

Jeff turned to face her. “If you’re working, and you’re all right with it, she can come with me. I plan to get to every single game.”

Same as an attentive dad. That thought popped up, and equally fast, Olivia resisted it. Jeff wasn’t Jillian’s dad. Carson wasn’t her brother. Olivia was presuming something she wasn’t sure she was ready for. “I wouldn’t want to impose. That’s taking on a lot.”

“Not really.” Jeff frowned. “Those two are growing up friends. They’re creating memories that include each other, right down to picking out Christmas trees.”

“Yes,” Olivia said, not adding the part about their appearing to be siblings. Some days, a life with Jeff was so possible, so real, it left her shaky with fear.

About the Author:


Virginia McCullough is thrilled to share her eighth Harlequin Heartwarming release with readers. The Doc’s Holiday Homecoming, available November 29th, is the second book in her Back to Adelaide Creek series. Like all of Virginia’s romances, this holiday story comes straight from the heart and features characters who could be your neighbors and friends struggling with everyday life issues.

Born and raised in Chicago, Virginia spent years as a ghostwriter, producing more than one hundred books for physicians, business owners, professional speakers and many others with information to share or a story to tell. She’s moved around a lot, and a few years ago she landed in Green Bay, Wisconsin, where she enjoys hanging out with other romance writers, walking on trails, and downing mugs of dark roast at local coffeehouses. Her other award-winning romance and women’s fiction titles include The Jacks of Her Heart, Amber Light, and The Chapels on the Hill. Virginia is always working on another story about hope, healing, and second chances.

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The Wedding Laughbox by Julia Kent – Spotlight

December 9, 2022 By Leave a Comment

Long and Short Reviews welcomes Julia Kent, who is celebrating the recent release of The Wedding Laughbox.

The Wedding Laughbox contains FIVE full-length novels and ONE ALL NEW NOVELLA! – from a variety of New York Times bestselling romantic comedy author Julia Kent’s series.

It’s wedding season, and what’s better than a wedding in rom com style? Julia Kent’s madcap style, that is.

How about a campground double wedding with three grooms and two brides? (What? Yep…) Or a billionaire and his betrothed escaping their own wedding to flee to Vegas? Paparazzi galore and a stubborn father of the groom ruining a CEO’s planned nuptials until he takes matters into his own hands and does love his way? A disgruntled older sister watching her sister find wedded bliss and maybe, just maybe, finding her own love with a rival billionaire?
With five different stories you get bridezillas, momzillas — even a billionaire dadzilla – with over-the-top fun and lush, luxurious settings, all wrapped up in community, connection, and loads of fun.

This boxed set includes:
Shopping for a Billionaire’s Wife
Shopping for a CEO’s Wife
It’s Always Complicated
Random Acts of Love
Hasty
And Tasty, an ALL NEW novella featuring Will and Mallory from the book Fluffy, as they go on their honeymoon and discover that life is nothing but a series of coincidences as their past comes back to haunt them with hilarious results.

Sink into SIX humor-filled books that pour you into wedding planning, bachelorette and bachelor parties, give you all the wedding jitters and proud family moments, all wrapped up in a huge boxed set you can sink into and find your way to long-term love.

Note: each of these books can be read as a standalone, but they are part of larger series. All of my Laughbox boxed sets are designed to give readers a taste of my books, centered on a specific concept (in this case, weddings). Full disclosure for readers.

Enjoy an Excerpt from Shopping for a Billionaire’s Wife

“Seriously, Dec? We just fled a thousand-person wedding in our honor and all you can think about is getting above the garter?”

His confusion just increases. “Yes,” he answers honestly.

I throw my hands in the air, whacking some sort of strap that stretches behind my shoulder. It begins to flap in the wind as we race toward whatever landing strip we’ll use to disembark. As it fut-fut-futs against my veil, I realize the wind isn’t whipping the long, white lace behind me. When we crawled into the helicopter and Declan put on my harness, he tucked my veil in.

I love him so much.

About the Author: New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Julia Kent writes romantic comedy with an edge. Since 2013, she has sold more than 2 million books, with 4 New York Times bestsellers and more than 21 appearances on the USA Today bestseller list. Her books have been translated into French, German, and Italian, with more titles releasing in the future.

From billionaires to BBWs to new adult rock stars, Julia finds a sensual, goofy joy in every contemporary romance she writes. Unlike Shannon from Shopping for a Billionaire, she did not meet her husband after dropping her phone in a men’s room toilet (and he isn’t a billionaire she met in a romantic comedy).

She lives in New England with her husband and three children where she is the only person in the household with the gene required to change empty toilet paper rolls.

She loves to hear from her readers by email at julia@jkentauthor.com, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Visit her at her website.

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Love You More by Julia Kent – Spotlight

December 8, 2022 By Leave a Comment

Long and Short Reviews welcomes Julia Kent, who is celebrating the recent release of Love You More, the third book in her Love You, Maine series.

Colleen Luview’s love life is cursed. No—really. The small-town nurse is notorious in her touristy mountain community. After every third date she’s ever had, the guy ends up in her emergency room.

She’s untouchable now, and it’s not her fault.

Resolved to branch out and find a way to have a life with a partner, children, meaning, and free from being a love pariah in a town devoted to it, she decides to leave her beloved Love You, Maine—where every day is Valentine’s Day—to find a bigger dating pool.

And a better nickname.

Moore Mottin hates feeling like damaged goods. Married and divorced twice before thirty, he has a fourteen-year-old from a teenage pregnancy, was cheated on during his second wedding, and now even his best friend, Luke Luview, considers him the butt of every bad-luck joke when it comes to love.
When Luke’s sister, Colleen, picks him up from the airport and a freak snowstorm forces them off the road, he rescues her from an icy pond and finds an old hunting cabin for shelter and safety. Vulnerable and shaking, the two give in to long-simmering feelings for each other, but when they’re discovered in the worst way possible, what seemed like a new lease on life turns into a life-altering mess.

Can Moore and Colleen overcome all the obstacles holding them back from a love that’s been in front of their faces all this time?

If you’re looking for a story featuring two star-crossed lovers doomed by unfair reputations, featuring a smooth-talking single dad who runs a jewelry store and his best friend’s sister, set in a small town in New England, with a calico cat named Sandwich, a heroine with a dry wit and a can-do attitude, and a hero who just wants a good relationship with his estranged child and the chance to find permanent love…then this is your book.

Grab a cup of coffee or tea, and maybe some peanut butter for your burger (what? It’s a thing…), and get your happy meter ready as you read the third book (a standalone!) in the Love You, Maine series—where love isn’t just a feeling…it’s a way of life.

✓Standalone
✓One-night stand
✓Forced proximity
✓Best friend’s sister
✓Single dad
… and a calico cat named Sandwich

Enjoy an Excerpt

Colleen’s crush on her brother’s best friend had started in eleventh grade and ended, well…

Never.

It had ended never.

Which was why she drove two hours and ten minutes each way, totally out of her way, to pick him up at the Manchester airport today.

“Doesn’t matter,” she muttered to herself as she made the big loop around the arrivals section of the airport, half an eye out for him, the other half on her phone, waiting for Moore’s text. “Tim’s an anomaly. Not getting my hopes up,” she added, as if being down on herself would magically make some other part of her life work.

Like Moore appearing so they could get home ahead of the big snowstorm the radio announcers couldn’t shut up about.

Ever since she was a junior in high school and he was a freshman, she’d found herself transfixed by the sight of him, complete in his presence and yet in a constant state of yearning for more.

For Moore.

About the Author: New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Julia Kent writes romantic comedy with an edge. Since 2013, she has sold more than 2 million books, with 4 New York Times bestsellers and more than 21 appearances on the USA Today bestseller list. Her books have been translated into French, German, and Italian, with more titles releasing in the future.

From billionaires to BBWs to new adult rock stars, Julia finds a sensual, goofy joy in every contemporary romance she writes. Unlike Shannon from Shopping for a Billionaire, she did not meet her husband after dropping her phone in a men’s room toilet (and he isn’t a billionaire she met in a romantic comedy).

She lives in New England with her husband and three children where she is the only person in the household with the gene required to change empty toilet paper rolls.

She loves to hear from her readers by email at julia@jkentauthor.com, on Twitter, Facebook, and on Instagram. Visit her at her website.

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Blood of the Hunted by Marc Micciola – Spotlight and Giveaway

December 6, 2022 By 1 Comment

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Marc Micciola will be awarding a $25 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

The Resistance Is Rising

Weylyn, Olwen, and other members of the marginalized and subjugated group known as the Tóráin are trying every day to gain equality and freedom. Their enemies, which consist of vile human monarchs, their soldiers, and a masked witch assassin known only as The Dove, continue to tighten their grip around the necks of the Tóráin.

Leading The Resistance, Weylyn and Olwen endure many trials that test them physically and mentally, relying on their loved ones to keep them from losing hope. They both wish to see a time of equality and peace, but to achieve that requires more than what they have. Desperation leads The Resistance to find new allies all across the continent of Kosavros with the goal of finally defeating their oppressive overseers.

Their fight for freedom and respect leads Weylyn and Olwen down paths that open their eyes to new dangers, both involving themselves and the rest of the world. However, they do not waiver. For the Tóráin are known for their resilience, and they have already endured much. What comes next will be hard, but they’re ready to fight for their lives. Together.

Enjoy an Excerpt

Tears started to fill my eyes as I watched the soldiers bark out instructions to the witches, the women casting spells to torment the brave lycan they had restrained. I was mad at myself for doing so, but I looked away. I looked up, blinking away the water from my eyes as I stared at the looming image of the Sainte Mère Cathedral. I inspected the spires and the stained-glass window high above us as I tried to gather myself. The gothic church’s shadow stretched over nearly the entirety of Dame Square, swallowing the crowd in darkness despite the sun shining brightly in the afternoon sky. After taking a deep breath, I forced myself to look back down at the stage. The image I saw would give every single Tórán who had braved the crowds today a great pain in their heart. The lycan before me meant a lot to our community. He was always empowering those who were deemed devils simply because they were different. We all knew we were hated, but that lycan made us feel like we were worth something. He made me who I am today, and now I had to watch someone take him from me. Today, they were executing the most important person in my life: my father.

About the Author:

Marc R. Micciola lives in Ontario, Canada with his two dogs Rielly and Ace. He has a great passion for hockey, movies, and books. He possesses a book collection consisting of a multitude of fantasy stories. Many of these novels are from his favorite authors: Mark Lawrence, George R. R. Martin, Tom Lloyd, and J. R. R. Tolkien. His prize possessions are his two replica swords from the Lord of the Rings films and his growing number of fountain pens. When Marc isn’t writing, he’s spending time with his dogs, his family, and his friends. Photography and wood art are other things that Marc enjoys doing. Marc’s goal when writing any book is to put together a story that is enjoyable, emotional, and intriguing. If the words on the page make you feel something, then this author feels he’s done his job.

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What Would I Tell a New Author by Natalie Cross – Guest Blog and Giveaway

December 5, 2022 By 8 Comments

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Natalie Cross will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

“What would I tell a new author?”

It may be presumptious of me to give advice to a new author, as I still consider myself a newbie. Even though only two of my manuscripts are published, I have actually completed five or six manuscripts, in various stages of editing, over the past two years, so let me offer my two cents.

When I started my writing journey with the first draft of Ballroom Blitz, I wondered constantly whether it would be “good enough.” Good enough for who or to what standard, I never quite clarified to myself, but it was sufficient to halt my writing multiple times. I wasn’t finishing the book because I kept going back and trying to perfect my sentences.

That’s when I realized that the first draft isn’t meant to be perfect. It’s a very detailed outline, destined for rewrite after rewrite. Those bare-bones first drafts will evolve and morph into something beautiful and “good enough,” but if you never finish them, they’ll languish. I swear some of my unfinished manuscripts sit there laughing at me. And stories shouldn’t languish like browning bananas. They deserve to exist.

That’s not to say I’m not a mood writer. Should I sit down and complete a full three-book series in one go? Maybe. Do I do that? Absolutely not.

I have the first books in several different series lying around on my laptop. Once I get these competing stories out of my head and into a raw first draft, I skip around to complete other series. I’ve had to accept that’s the way my brain works.

That might not be how yours works, and that’s fine. That’s wonderful. Respect what works for you. We should all be different because we will create different and wonderful stories. They will be good enough for someone if they are good enough for you. I can’t wait to read yours.

In the glamorous world of ballroom, love and dancing do not always mix.

Professional dancer Anita Goodman has learned that lesson the hard way. With her studio and her reputation on the line, she has to take a chance on the last person she ever wanted to partner with: her best friend.

Patrick O’Leary has loved Anita since high school, but he has languished in the Friend Zone for long enough. He will take this last chance to prove to her that love is greater than winning.

Neither of them realize that conquering their rising attraction won’t be their biggest obstacle. Someone does not want them to be together, and will stop at nothing to get their way.

Love, dance, and danger. It’s a Ballroom Blitz.

Enjoy an Excerpt

The ballroom still thrummed with the clack of heels and the slide of suede, though its last inhabitants had vanished over an hour before. Applause and cheering from the final night party echoed across the hallway. The tables were strewn with hair pins, empty water bottles, and sweaty towels tossed with exhilaration before another heat. The perfume of sunless tanner and hairspray drifted toward the apex of the ballroom’s ceiling, and it almost seemed that a few notes of a Viennese waltz still clung to the utilitarian white hotel tablecloths.

Rapid footsteps broke the waiting silence. Stilettos from the click click click, glimmering with crystals, a few of which scattered from the shoes with a brackish clatter as the heels struck the parquet of the ballroom floor. Heavy breathing, panting. “No!” A stumble as one heel of the red satin crystal-encrusted stilettos snapped. Sobbing.

Then another pair of footsteps, flats, fashionable. Something hard, with an edge that might draw blood. These footsteps were measured. No panic. No anxiety. Calculating.

The sobs intensified. “Please, please, please, no, I didn’t do anythi—”

A gurgle, a grimace, a thud. The wash of silk from a bone-white evening gown susurrated along the cold parquet floor. The scent of copper flooded the air.

A grunt, a vicious exhale, an audible sneer.

Then the ballroom closed upon itself again. The tables, the cloths, the chandeliers, the lights. All waiting for its new secret to be discovered.

About the Author: Love is an adventure.
Natalie writes romances and cozy mysteries featuring women who want to be seen and the men and women who cannot look away from them.

Natalie lives in Los Angeles, where writing is an acceptable way to avoid sunburn. She is mom to two lovely young munchkins who despise brushing their hair and eat way too much cake. She is unapologetically terrible at taking selfies.

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Love Tools by Isobel Reed – Q&A and Giveaway

November 30, 2022 By 5 Comments

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. One randomly chosen winner via rafflecopter will win a $50 Amazon/BN.com gift card. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

What are four things you can’t live without?

Books. I think it would seriously affect my wellbeing if I couldn’t read. They are not only a much-needed escape sometimes, but they are my main form of relaxation. Travelling. At least once a year I try and go somewhere I’ve never been before. Home. My home is my safe space. It’s where I write, read, and spend time with the man I love. Chocolate. I feel like this one is self-explanatory.

What is your favorite television show?

Hart of Dixie. It’s everything I look for in a TV show. It’s got the romance, humor, and it’s against my favorite back drop – a small town!

If you could be any character, from any literary work, who would you choose to be? Why?

Probably Lucy from The Chronicles of Narnia series. Like me she’s the youngest sibling and she’s the first one through the wardrobe. Having spent most of my childhood making up imaginary worlds, I definitely dreamed of finding one. Also, who wouldn’t want a talking lion as a bestie and to get crowned Queen of Narnia?

What have you got coming soon for us to look out for?

Love Tools is book one of the Bluestone series. It’s the first series I’ve ever written, and I must admit I got really attached to the place and the characters. If Bluestone County existed in real life, I would pack my bags and be over there in a heartbeat. My favorite characters (and hopefully the reader’s) of course got treated to their own love stories. In total there are four books in the series, and you don’t have to wait long for book two. Expiry Dating will be released in February 2023. Book three will be published May 2023 and book four in August 2023. I’m also in the midst of writing a brand-new series which will be published later on in 2023.

What books or authors have most influenced your own writing?

It makes sense that I write contemporary romance because it’s my favorite genre and what I spend most of my free time reading. Maisey Yates’s small-town romances are a strong influence as is anything by Tessa Bailey and Sarina Bowen. Even though I don’t write romantic suspense, authors like Susan Stoker and Riley Edwards are also an amazing source of inspiration. All of these authors, like myself, enjoy writing strong female character leads and pairing them with often overbearing alpha male leads.

What happens when the king of casual meets the queen of picking the wrong men?

Lily is running. From a dead-end job, a neurotic mother and all the losers she dared to date. Moving halfway across the world to Bluestone County seemed like a good idea at the time. So did reopening her estranged father’s hardware store. But now she isn’t so sure.

Small town living has its perks though. Wide-open space, clean air, and sexy cowboys. Well, one sexy cowboy. Jake. Who also just so happens to be the new bane of her existence. At least when he’s not talking, she can admire the view.

Jake is the king of casual. The love of his life has always been his ranch, and that was fine with him. He never really saw the point in long-term. But all that changes when a mouthy, blonde sasses him into oblivion. He should have known she’d be trouble as soon as he laid eyes on her. Now it’s too late. She’s all he can think about. All he has to do is convince her that he’s finally the right man.

Enjoy an Excerpt

Lily stared at the boarded-up windows and took a deep breath. There was no turning back now. Pulling the keys from her handbag, she unlocked the door and followed the creaking sound of the floorboards into the dimly lit store.

To her surprise the shelves were still stocked and brimming with power tools, each item covered in a layer of dust that had already started to make its way up her nostrils.

“What the hell are you doing here Lily?” she muttered to herself as she ran her fingers across the counter.

To get this place up and running, it was going to be more work than she ever imagined. She just hoped the apartment upstairs was in better condition.

After exploring the shop floor, she went to find out. She followed the beige hallway into the living room, taking a seat on the squeaky leather sofa and looking around. The space was depressing. Habitable but depressing nonetheless.

How could he have lived here for so long, and it still feel so empty?

Furniture was sparse, and other than the chair she sat in, the only other items that remained were a flatscreen TV, a scratched wooden coffee table and a small shelving unit scattered with a few books and a couple of picture frames.

She looked over at the kitchen adjoining the living room and noticed some basic appliances. It felt strange to be in his space. His home. Surrounded by his things. Was there a right way to feel?

About the Author: Isobel was born and raised in London. She still lives along the River Thames with her husband and her substantial book collection. Ever the hopeless romantic, she fell in love with the genre from a young age and was inspired to write her own stories. When she’s not feasting on romantic comedies or binge reading her hoard of contemporary romance novels, Isobel is writing.

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