NEW RELEASE! Quarter Square by David Bridger

English carpenter Joe Walker thinks his life is over when he discovers his wife and best friend having an affair. Restoring an abandoned theatre offers little hope for a fresh start...until he follows a group of strangers through a hidden door into a world he never could have imagined.

In the haven known as Quarter Square, Joe encounters a community of supernatural street performers who straddle the mortal world and the magic realm known as the Wild. Here, Joe finds a sense of belonging he's never known before—and a chance to uncover the truth behind the frightening visions that have haunted him since childhood. He also meets Min, an enchanting singer who quickly captures his heart.

But as Joe settles into Quarter Square, he learns their haven is under attack, while an ancient enemy threatens to tear him and Min apart. Now, Joe must learn to wield his own powers in order to save the life he's come to love...

Buy QUARTER SQUARE at Carina Press!

It's a Wonderful Life!

Alexzander James Evans arrived at 6:33 a.m. on Thursday, June 16th weighing 6 lbs, 3 oz. Both Mommy & baby did great and spent this entire week with me. They're back home now, but I know HNM will be calling me on a more regular basis now with questions & observations.

I'm a very lucky woman. I have 3 great kids who have all found great people to share thier lives. And I have 3 awesome grandkids. Not to mention a wonderful husband & terrific best friend. I couldn't ask for more than I have right now!

NEW RELEASE! The Beta by Annie Nicholas

As the pack’s Beta, Robert needs to watch over the Vasi werewolf pack for a few days. He hates the responsibility, but his job is to dissolve any problems while his alpha honeymoons.

Nevertheless, trouble comes to town and her name is Esther. She's beguiling, beautiful and picks his pocket. Although Robert doesn’t trust her, he still wants to possess her.

Esther arrived in Chicago with the intention of slaying a vampire named Daedalus. While trailing her quarry, she encounters Robert who unhinges her world. He doesn’t know her trade, and she doesn’t know his connection to the vampire.

Disturbed by her attraction to this unusual werewolf, she can’t decide which prey to hunt. The one who’s stolen her heart or the one who’ll fill her bank account.

Hot graphic werewolf sex, growing body parts, and one pissed off Nosferatu.

For more information on Annie, visit her website.

To read an excerpt, click here. To purchase, click here.

Peace and Quiet

Well, KAM and the kids went home last week. I spent this weekend enjoying peace & quiet and maybe being just a little bored with nothing to do. The house is clean and there's nothing worth watching on TV right now so I sat in the quiet and read a book. It fell so good to do that.

Sunday was Mother's Day and I got a call from JAM in Afghanistan. It was great to hear his voice. He sent me roses, too. HNM bought me a rose necklace (see a pattern here? Obviously roses are my favorite flower.) and a beautiful card that made me cry. And of course I cried again when I got the card from JWM. He had to work all day but his girlfriend brought it over along with chocolate covered strawberries. All in all it was an awesome weekend.

This week will be more of the same. DH is going to play paintball all weekend and I'll be home alone. I have to work a little while on Saturday afternoon, but after that nothing but quiet. It'll be the perfect time to get some writing done.

Review: Living In Color by Trish Milburn

Book Description:
After the death of her father, Sabrina Bishop feels a sense of relief that he's gone. No longer will he be able to abuse her mother mentally or physically, and just maybe her mother might grow to see what he'd done to her was wrong. But with the death of Jim Bishop, Sabrina is now responsible for her mother's well-being since Ruby can't read or write and has lived a sheltered life. But Ruby has a very small comfort zone in rural West Tennessee, and that means she can't come live with Sabrina in Atlanta. Besides, Sabrina's job as an award-winning news photographer keeps her traveling around the globe most of the time. As she tries to make suitable plans for her mother's future, Sabrina offers to take Ruby on a road trip to expose her to a world she's never seen. As they travel to sites such as Mount Rushmore, Yellowstone National Park and the Gulf Coast of Florida, the trip becomes a journey of unexpected healing and self-discovery not only for Ruby, but for Sabrina as well.

Review:
A beautiful story of overcoming the past, Living in Color by Trish Milburn had me reading into the night.

As a victim of abuse myself, I could relate to the feelings and emotions of both Sabrina and her mother Ruby as they make their way through a difficult time.

The love Sabrina has for her mother is obvious even through the anger she feels at Ruby for “allowing” the abuse. Their journey is not only a visit to places Ruby has never been allowed to dream of visiting it’s also a journey back to themselves and each other.

Living in Color is a great read.

NEW RELEASE! Friction by Kim Knox

Book 2 in the Planetary Bodies series.

A deal is a deal.

But when that deal includes appearing in Tomas Thorne’s office ready to offer herself for his…consumption, Shan Rayner runs, hides and has no intention of going through with it. That is until she’s hit by sheen, a turbulent force from the Uranian lower atmosphere. A force that brings her darkest desires to the surface.

Need swamps Shan and she finds herself outside Tomas’ office, all too ready to agree to anything he wants. Absolutely anything.

Buy here from Ellora's Cave

You can also read an excerpt here

At my website there's a little sneak peek behind the series, Planetary Bodies
Friction is part of a linked series. The first book, Magnetism, can be found here.

Rain Rain Go Away!

It's been raining off and on for days now. The temps are at least in the normal range, but come on. Do we really need to soak the ground again? Didn't we just go through this last year with the 100 year flood? Now, to me that means we shouldn't have another like it for 100 years, but the way things are looking we're heading in that direction.

Not to mention the tornadoes and high winds and hail and all kinds of other things flying around in the air. Poor KAM had a tree limb on her house yesterday. She got a call from a neighbor who told her there was a tree on her brand new, month old roof. Thank God when we got there is wasn't as bad as we thought. No damage to the roof and we got it pulled down, chopped up, hauled away and the gutters tacked back up for a mere $50 by a tree cutting service that just happened to be in the area taking care of other homes that were hit worse than hers. It's one of the few things that have been good for her the past two months where that house is concerned.

Mother Nature has been in a bad mood for a while so if anyone knows what to do to make her happy, please let me know.

NEW RELEASE! The Weaverfields Heir by David Bridger

When Kate Richards inherits a dilapidated English estate from her estranged grandfather, she finds herself thrust into a world full of hostile new family members, mysterious Romany tenants, and strange visions of "the net" - an invisible web that connects everything in the universe. Kate thinks she's losing her sanity, but the odd family stories and disturbing tales of locals convince her that something sinister is going on at Weaverfields, while the inescapable pull of the net draws her deeper into the secrets of her new home.

But with those secrets come danger, and an old evil that refuses to let go of its hold on the net - or on Weaverfields. The only person who seems to understand is Joe, a Romany street artist with his own ties to the land. Kate and Joe must master the net before the past intrudes on the present... in very ugly ways...

Read an excerpt and buy The Weaverfields Heir at Etopia Press.

NEW RELEASE! The Lost Soul by Carolyn Rosewood

The Last Soul
Carolyn Rosewood
Evernight Publishing
ISBN 978-1-926950-43-3
Heat Level 3
Be warned: light bondage and sex toys

http://www.evernight...n-Rosewood.html

Faina has been dead for one hundred and fifty years, but she's about to become human again. All she has to do is seduce Jace Blackmon,the most honest financier ever to grace the city of angels, into signing awayhis soul.

Jace Blackmon has fallen in love with his fantasy woman. But when he realizes she was tricked by a demon to bring about his ruin, including the revelation of a long-buried secret to the media, he must choose between his heart or life without her.

Excerpt:

Faina donned a Betsey Johnson flowered dress and wedge sandals, then materialized a few blocks from where Jace worked. It felt so good to be outdoors. The warm air was soothing, the traffic noises and bustling crowds reminding her of New York City. Faina didn't often getnostalgic for her human life, but today she did. If she succeeded in this mission, she'd be human again. Warm weather, noisy crowds and city life would be her reality, not simply the realm in which she was allowed to work.

Unless Mastema had tricked her. No. She wouldn't think about that now. She had a job to do. She took her time, peering in shop windows and trying to look like just another California trust fund babe out for a stroll on a bright summer day. The fact nearly every man pounding the pavement tripped over his own two feet as she strolled past wasn't lost on her. She didn't have the baby face, long blonde curls, and legs up to there for nothing.

She avoided eye contact. It was enough to leave them with her scent, they'd have trouble getting it out of their head for weeks, but to look them in the eyes would be downright cruel. Even when she'd been alive all she'd had to do was turn her baby blues in a man's direction and he followed her around like a dogin heat. She'd made more money for Madame Lily during her first six months than most of her girls made over the course of two years.

As she made her way to the entrance of the 770 Wilshire Building, she caught a whiff of burned toast. She ducked into the nearest shop and pressed her nose to the plate glass window, scanning the crowd for a familiar face. She'd only seen Mastema appear once in human form. He'd looked ridiculous dressed in a long coat and cowboy hat on the streets of Aurora Nebraska, population four thousand two hundred and twenty-five as of last year. His bad-boy Western get-up would have been more appropriate for Arizona in the late nineteenth century.

Either Mastema hadn't been the demon she smelled or he'd already evaporated. The sidewalks were filled with six foot blondes and men who looked like they walked off the cover of GQ. Not a weird outfit or menacing swagger in sight.

"Help you, Miss? You need mani and pedi today? We have new summer colors look perfecton you."

Faina whirled around to face the ancient Vietnamese woman. She'd ducked into a nail salon. Her senses had been so focused on the burnt toast smell and Mastema's human form she hadn't noticed the acrid smell of nail polish.

"No, not today. I'm sorry. I've got to go."

Faina opened the door and strode to the parking garage entrance of the building. On the way a clock struck five. The smell of burnt toast wafted from a nearby taco stand. Had that been what she smelled? Tacos? She was jumping at shadows. That wasn't like her.

She made her way to Jace's sports car by visualizing it. As the flood of workers poured into the garage, she hoped Jace would stay calm when he saw her. She was taking a risk as there would be plenty of witnesses if he wigged out.

He was busy scrolling through messages on his phone as he sauntered to his car,and didn't see her until she stepped in front of him as he was about to open the door.

"Oh Jesus. Holy fu—" His warm brown eyes opened wide and he visibly swallowed. "How did you... you're real. Holy sh*t."

"Get in your car, Jace. People are staring. One of them looks like he's going to take a picture with his cell."

The lie snapped him out of his trance. He unlocked the doors and she slid into the passenger seat. "Start the car but don't move yet."

He stared straight ahead as the engine roared to life. Beads of sweat pooled at his hairline. She could hear his heart pounding. When she reached up to wipe his forehead he moaned. "It's all right, Jace. Just try to relax."

"I don't understand." His voice shook.

"You don't need to. Wait until the garage clears out a bit. Then we'll leave."

"I...I have a dinner date. A family friend. I have to go. I don't want to but… I… I should."

"Do you want me to leave?"

He looked into her eyes with the most desperate longing she'd ever seen on a human face. A flash of apprehension shivered down her spine, unbalancing her. She was going to hurt him. Badly. He'd lose everything. His home, the Foundation, his dinner date, maybe even this fancy sports car. And some kid wouldn't have a place to sleep on a cold, winter night, or a youth group to keep him off the streets.

The men she brought to Mastema were bad-to-the-bone to begin with. They just needed a little help to push them in the right direction. The inevitable direction, as he liked to call it. But Jace Blackmon was a good guy.

Then why does Apollyon want him? But what if he didn't want Jace? What if Jahi was right and Mastema had forged the contract?

"Faina." His whisper pulled her back to the present. Until she had proof to the contrary, it was Jace's soul or her eternal torment as one of Mastema's sex slaves. This was self-preservation. Nothing more.

Shelooked into his eyes and smiled "Yes, Jace?"

"Please don't leave, Faina."

Sick

Finally back at work today after being sick with strep throat all week. Let me just say "NO FUN!!!" My throat was on fire all day Monday & I had a temp of 101 - at work. It hurt to breath let alone talk, which is not a good thing since my job consists of answering phones and selling advertising. That requires both breathing & talking.

So, after work, I stopped at the walk-in clinic b/c I knew something was wrong. I never feel like that. And sure enough, strep. I hightailed myself home, crawled in bed (away from the grandbabies b/c that would have been a disaster) and stayed there until yesterday afternoon. I'm on antibiotics & ibuprofen and am feeling much better today although I wish I could have taken another day off.

At least it didn't happen this weekend to make me miss my writer's group or the Southern Women's Show. I would have been seriously bummed.

I Wish I Were Me

Ok. I don't know where this came from this morning, but here's a little poem I whipped up.

I wish I were me and only me
The only me I want to be
But I’m not me as you can see
I can’t be only me
I must be who you want me to be
You want me to be another me
Another me I try hard to be
I wish I were me and only me

Get Motivated!

I spent yesterday at a Get Motivated! Seminar in Memphis, TN. There were awesome speakers & great prizes such as a flat screen TV, an Ipad, a Disney vacation to Orlando & $10,000 cash (none to me unfortunately). It was a great day & I enjoyed it very much.

The trip to get there, not so much. I rode down with my BFF and we spent the night so we wouldn't have to leave by 4 am to get there in time. The drive was good, we spent it talking and just enjoying each other's company.

We had booked a hotel room that was just down from the venue. It was much cheaper than other places we looked at, which should have been a clue. But the reviews weren't bad & the photos looked really nice of the neighborhood & the rooms. When we drove up to the place, the surrounding area was completely deserted. Not a soul was walking around or standing outside; and this was downtown Memphis. So, we started to worry a bit.

We got inside & checked in, got our things from the car and went to wait for the elevator. We waited and waited and could see it was moving, but very slowly. It finally got down to us and we got on. We stopped on every floor until we figured out that if you hold the button of your floor down it would bypass every other floor. Not exactly my idea of a safe ride. But we made it to the 10th floor and found our room. The room wasn't bad & it was clean so we felt good about that at least.

We decided to go get something to eat & maybe check out Beale St to see why it's "World Famous". It was raining a bit so we took the car & drove the few blogs to the restaurant where we wanted to eat. No parking. And the prices were jacked up to $10 to part because the Grizzlies played the Spurs that night. Needless to say we didn't stop & just headed on down to check out Beale St. Only the roads were all blocked and the ballgame had just let out. We got caught in traffic and couldn't seem to get out of it.

We finally got through and decided to just head back to our room. We parked in the hotel parking lot and walked to TGI Friday's a block away to eat. After that we were exhausted and went back to the room to sleep.

The seminar itself was awesome! Great speakers such as Steve Forbes, Terry Bradshaw, Krish Dhanam, Laura Bush, Colin Powell, Rudy Giuliani and more. I enjoyed every second of their sessions and can't wait to attend another one.

Lunch break was another lesson in disaster. Thousands of people at the seminar and the food vendors ran out of things to serve. The BBQ place ran out of buns, the sandwich shop ran out of coldcuts and the hot dog vendors ran out of hot dogs. Not exactly great planning on their part. After an hour of standing in line for food we made it to the counter and were able to order Chicken Alfredo & cheesecake. Not bad, for a sandwhich place.

We finally made it home about 9 last night and I'm back at work today. I'm exhausted, but I enjoyed the adventure even with all the issues.

How about you? Any misadventures of your own lately?

Follow Your Dreams

Unfortunately following my dream is not something I've always done. My dream when I was a teenager was to go to college and become a reporter. Instead I got married, had kids and quit writing altogether.

I let my insecurities and an abusive husband tell me I wasn't good enough to be what I wanted to be, so I gave up my writing and I didn't go to college. I am glad, though, that I didn't become a reporter. I don't think I have the get-the-story-at-all-cost mentality and wouldn't have made it far. Perhaps I could have been a columnist, and probably still could if I wanted to. And since I still haven't decided what I want to be when I grow up, maybe I will. Who knows?

But I do know that I wouldn't trade my life for anything else. There have been a LOT of hard times and I've gone through things that no woman or mother should have to go through. But those things have made me the person I am today. And I happen to like that person.

And now it's time for me to finally follow my dream. My dream has changed over the years, but it's still basically the same beneath it all. I have always wanted to write. And now that's exactly what I'm doing. I'm not very good at it yet and sometimes I get so blocked and insecure that I don't write for days or weeks at a time. But I'm still following my dream every time I sit down at the computer (or notebook) and write even a single sentence. And that is the greatest feeling in the world.

Never, never give up on your dreams. Put them aside for awhile if you must, but never give them up completely.

What a great weekend! Saturday was MCRW with Mike Breedlove of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation giving us info on crime scene investigation and relaying stories about cases that he's worked. Fascinating! I was engrossed the entire time. Then we all went to lunch at O'Charley's. The group goes out for lunch every month, but this is the first time I've gone with them. After two years of being a member. I really need to get out of this whole can't-talk-to-people-I-don't-know thing. It's nuts and it's holding me back.

Sunday I had to work. With furloughs finishing up this week there are several people out in our group so I helped cover the obit department. Thankfully it was slow and I didn't have a hard time keeping up, but it would have been nice to be out in the beautiful weather. On the bright side, though, I got overtime!

Tired

It's Monday again. Minus an hour. Daylight savings time is kicking my butt today. Not to mention CDM was up sick last night & I got up to help clean her up & get her back to sleep, KAM was depressed because my son did/said something he shouldn't have. And MAM was just plain cranky (so was pawpaw, but that's another story).

So all that means that today I'm cranky & not feeling up to snuff. But it's my job to make sure everyone else is taken care of. Of course, who's gonna take care of me when I'm not feeling it?

My babies are home!

I'm so excited to have KAM & the kids back home now. She's always so miserable when she goes to visit her mother & it drives me nuts. I don't understand how a mother can treat her child that way. It just doesn't seem normal to me.

But they're back home now & I'm so happy to have them around. CDM & MAM are the most adorable babies ever. Of course, they can get loud & messy & just plain fussy, but I love it. It's good to have babies in the house.

HNM will have one to add to the mix in June. I can't wait. But boy could I use a bigger house!

Ok. I'm an Idiot!

Called the Home Warranty company & got a repairman to come out & check the stove to see if it could be repaired or would need to be replaced. He pulled the whole thing apart & checked every wire & every connection and nothing was wrong with it.

He finally checked the breaker box for a tripped switch and guess what. The switch was tripped just enough to allow enough electricity to power the lights & clock, but not enough to power the elements for cooking.

So, I paid $50 for someone to flip the switch on my breaker box. Can you say stupid? Why didn't I just check the darn thing to begin with? Because I'm an idiot that's why!

Oh, well. At least my stove works now.

New Kitchen

Well, looks like I'm getting my new kitchen. Piece by Piece. We had to buy a new refrigerator last year. This year it's a new stove. I got home last night and found the stove was completely gone. Oh, the lights were on to show we'd turned a knob, but nothing got hot. Not a single burner burned & the oven stayed cold. Grrr...

Luckily, we renewed our home warranty last month & upgraded to include the appliances. Now I'm waiting for them to come check it out and see if they'll actually cover the cost or if I'm going to have to buy it myself.

If I have to buy it myself I want the solid cooktop so I don't have to clean those darn burner plates. It's such a pain when food gets underneath and you have to take everything apart & clean it. With the solid cooktop that won't happen. I hope.

Maybe we'll indulge & go ahead and get the dishwasher to match everything else. Then I can concentrate on the granite countertops & new cabinets later in the year. Then I'll finally have a really nice kitchen. If only I could make it bigger!

New Release

NEW RELEASE: The Summoning by Tatiana Caldwell, from Liquid Silver Books.

Everything comes with a price …

Gailyn Bridges is a psychic who is ready to end her troublesome career as a private investigator. For the last time, she summons a powerful spirit to help her close a final case.

However, the mysterious entity who answers, Malak, is no ordinary spirit. He’s more than willing to help Gailyn save the would-be victim of a violent crime.

But who’s going to save Gailyn when Malak returns to collect payment for lending her his power?

Read a free excerpt and buy the book here.

I Am A Romance Writer

It’s not uncommon for me to climb into bed at night with my husband while thoughts of another man still linger in my head. But it’s not an issue between us. He understands that my heart sometimes belongs to someone else. He has even been known to ask me “Who was it today?” to which I smile and whisper “Talon” as I drift off to sleep.

I am a writer of Historical Romance. I fill my life with Medieval Knights, Scottish Highlanders, English Lords, and Civil War Soldiers. I see myself in every lady fair and I fall in love with every handsome prince. I sigh at every first kiss. My heart beats faster at every gentle touch and breaks each time it looks as if all is lost. And each time happiness reigns I know love conquers all, in life as in fiction.

When someone asks me what I do I tell them, “I am a Romance Writer.” And they often smile and give me that look that says, “Oh, you’re not a real writer.”

But the way I see it, I use the same words as Faulkner, Shakespeare or any winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature. I simply string them together so that my characters fall in love and live happily ever after.

I don’t consider myself any different than any other writer in any other genre, whether Romance, Mystery, Women’s Fiction or any on Oprah’s Book List. I sit myself down, work on character and plot, agonize over each word and pray that what I wanted to say shows in each sentence.

And when someone tells me that what I wrote gave them pleasure I know without a doubt that I am proud to be a Romance Writer.