Winter Blogfest: Cynthia Sax

December 27, 2017 By 10 Comments

This post is part of Long and Short Reviews’ Winter Blogfest. Leave a comment for a chance to win a $10 US Amazon Gift Card.

Put Your Name On Your Gift List

This is the time of year when we often think of others. We’re trying to make holiday dreams come true. We’re baking cookies for loved ones, giving to toy drives (something the Dear Wonderful Hubby and I LOVE to do), buying presents for the people and furbabies who matter the most to us.

One of those people should be you.

If you’re reading this, you’ve survived all of the challenges this year flung at you and, if your year has been anything like mine, there have been quite a few of these. You’re a little bit older, a little bit smarter, a little bit stronger. You might have done things and tackled situations you never thought you could. You might not have handled everything perfectly. You ARE human. But you handled it and that’s the important part.

After doing all of that, you deserve a present, a gift from you to you, a thank you for being so freakin’ awesome. This present doesn’t have to be huge. It could be your favorite hot chocolate topped with those tiny marshmallows or an hour on Saturday morning for yourself or a Wonder Woman ornament for the tree. The important thing is you show yourself the love and caring you show others.

It might feel selfish but it is often necessary. It takes energy to care for others, to turn holiday wishes into reality. We should ensure we are in the right place, have enough strength, to do this. If, for example, a quiet moment looking up at the stars on a snowy night gives us that strength; that’s a great use of our time.

Love yourself this holiday season. Put your name on your gift list.

Half Man. Half Machine. All Hers.

Rage, the Humanoid Alliance’s most primitive cyborg, has two goals—kill all of the humans on his battle station and escape to the Homeland. The warrior has seen the darkness in others and in himself. He believes that’s all he’s been programmed to experience.

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Joan, the battle station’s first female engineer, has one goal—survive long enough to help the big sexy cyborg plotting to kill her. Rage might not trust her but he wants her. She sees the passion in his eyes, the caring in his battle-worn hands, the gruff emotion in his voice.

When Joan survives the unthinkable, Rage’s priorities are tested. Is there enough room in this cyborg’s heart for both love and revenge?

FREE at all booksellers, my gift to you.

About the Author: USA Today bestselling author Cynthia Sax writes contemporary, SciFi and paranormal erotic romances. Her stories have been featured in Star Magazine, Real Time With Bill Maher, and numerous best of erotic romance top ten lists.

She lives in a world filled with magic and romance. Although her heroes may not always say, “I love you,” they will do anything for the women they adore. They live passionately. They play hard. They love the same women forever.

Cynthia has loved the same wonderful man forever. Her supportive hubby offers himself up to the joys and pains of research, while they travel the world together, meeting fascinating people and finding inspiration in exotic places such as Istanbul, Bali, and Chicago.

Sign up for her dirty-joke-filled release day newsletter and visit her on the web at www.CynthiaSax.com

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Winter Blogfest: Gail Koger

December 26, 2017 By 35 Comments

This post is part of Long and Short Reviews’ Winter Blogfest. Leave a comment for a chance to win a $25 Amazon gift card.

Locked Out On Christmas Eve!

I put the finishing touches on the tree, and noticed that the outside lights were off.  I flipped the switch for the porch lights, and nothing happened. Hmmm. Had I overload a circuit breaker?  I had gone a tiny bit overboard with the decorations.  Pulling on my slippers, I went outside to check the circuit breaker panel. Nope, everything was good.

Then it hit me. Those pesky gophers had chewed through my power lines again. I headed for the front door and turned the handle. Crap! The door was locked. My dogs looked out the window, and innocently wagged their tails.

Just friggin’ terrific. It was midnight, colder than a grave diggers’ ass, and I was wearing a ratty nightgown. Thankfully my friend, Chris, had a key to my house. The bad news was she lived several miles away.

My teeth chattering, I hurried down the sidewalk, and suddenly my residential street was busier than the freeway at rush hour.

A kid stuck his head out the driver’s window and hollered, “Hey baby, need a ride?”

I increased my pace and yelled, “No thanks.”

Another car slowed to a crawl and kissy noises emitted from the interior. Really? My granny gown wasn’t the least bit sexy.  I gave him the one finger salute.

Tires squealing, they took off yelling naughty words.

They were definitely getting coal in their Christmas stockings. Trying to keep to the shadows, I stepped on a beer bottle, and the next thing I knew I was face down in a prickly bush. Ouch!

I wiggled out of the bush.  God, I hated idiots who felt they had the right to toss their trash anywhere they pleased.  My hand closed over the bottle, and I was suddenly blinded by a brilliant white light. Shading my eyes, I waved the beer bottle at the nice cop.  “Hi there. Kinda nippy tonight, isn’t it?”

“Are you drunk ma’am?”

I babbled nervously, “Do I look drunk?”

Laughter in his voice the cop answered, “Yes ma’am you do.”

He dangled a pair of handcuff in front of my face before I realized it was Chris’s husband. “You’re such a jerk, Ed.”

“So I have been told. You lock yourself out again?”

“Yes, could you give me a ride?”

He opened the back door on his patrol car, and gestured. “Climb on in.”

I let out a long sigh. “Why can’t I sit in the front seat?”

The fear of levitra 60 mg find for source swallowing tablet kept them far away from the treatment. It has become the most widely prescribed medication treatment for erectile dysfunction. on line levitra http://cute-n-tiny.com/tag/tufted-dear/ These herbs are order viagra levitra very much efficient in increasing the count of sperm or treating erectile dysfunction problem. This herbal formula is a good choice bulk generic viagra for you. Ed grinned. “Not while you’re wearing that god-awful nightgown.”

“Very funny.” I climbed in.

Before he shut the door, Ed quipped, “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can be used against you…”

“Shut up, Ed.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He shut the door and proceeded to drive all the way back to my house with the overhead lights flashing psychedelically.  Ed parked in front of my house, and hit the siren for a long ten seconds. “Whoops!”

Faces appeared in my neighbor’s windows. “You’re a real riot.”

Laughing, Ed opened the car door, escorted me up to my front door, and unlocked it for me.

“When did you start carrying my key with you?”

“Right after you locked yourself out of the house for the eighth time.”

“Oh. Thanks.”

He plunked a Santa hat on his head. “I live to serve. Ho. Ho. Ho.”

“Boring night, huh?”

“Yup, Merry Christmas.”

Tihar travels to Earth to find and claim a Jones’ female. He knows they are fearless, psychic warriors and talented in bed sport. Ten minutes after meeting Sarah, Tihar knows the feisty, little human is the one he has been searching for. Now he must convince Sarah, she’s meant to be his.

The first-time Sarah sees Tihar, she’s a bit freaked out. The Askole warrior has tentacles, snakelike features and black armored-plated skin. Even weirder she finds him strangely attractive. Tihar’s torso is sculpted perfection and his black scales are kind of sexy. Who knew challenging Tihar to combat would start the Askole mating dance. He thinks Earth girls are easy and he’s about to learn messing with a Jones female is never a good idea.

As the two grow closer, their romance comes to a screeching halt when Askole rebels attack Tihar’s home world. He tells Sarah she is his heart’s destiny and he will love her to the end of time. He abruptly severs their mental bond and disappears. Reeling from shock, Sarah won’t let a galactic war stop her from hunting him down. Can the two of them find their way back into each other’s arms?

About the Author: I was a 9-1-1 dispatcher for thirty-one years and to keep insanity at bay, I took up writing. Not to worry. The insanity isn’t catching – much. Other than the addiction to chocolate and the twitch in my left eye, I’m good. Next up in the Coletti Warlord series is Crossing Quinn.

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Winter Blogfest: Linda Nightingale

December 26, 2017 By 8 Comments

This post is part of Long and Short Reviews’ Winter Blogfest. Leave a comment for a chance to win Angel Wing Earrings: Ear crawler with crystal drop.

Southern Pecan Pie

As you get older, it feels a bit strange to turn over the holiday celebrations to your children. You’re accustomed to buying and preparing the turkey and other dishes for Thanksgiving and Christmas and hosting the holidays at your home. Then one day your son says that Thanksgiving will be at their house. You take a step back and think, ‘What?’ then perhaps ‘wow, someone else to stand up for hours and do the cooking and serving.’  Thoughts come fast ‘they won’t use the china and silver because they won’t want to hand wash them.

In the end, you relax into the idea and have a wonderful time: 1) with someone else frying the turkey; 2) making the side dishes (except of course they’ve requested you bring the Squash Casserole and Green Bean Casserole—well established staples for the holidays); and 3) sit down while someone else serves a delicious meal that refers back to item 1—you didn’t have to cook!

In the spirit of the holidays, here is the handwritten recipe my mother used for the southern pecan pie she always served at the holidays.  This delicious pie was as traditional to us as the Christmas Pudding is to my British former husband:

Southern Pecan Pie

Mix 1 cup sugar with 1 tablespoon of flour

Add 3 unbeaten eggs, 1 cup white Karo syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla, ¼ lb. margarine, mix well.

Do not heat – place pecans in pie crust and pour mixture over pecans

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My book has nothing to do with the holidays unless you count that it is about an angel:

Gylded Wings is a dark fantasy from The Wild Rose Press.

Angels in slavery? Brit Montgomery cannot believe it, until she is sent on a rescue mission to another dimension and witnesses the cruel practice first hand. The angel, Gyldan, is the most beautiful being she’s ever seen. She is drawn to him but sometimes beauty disguises wicked secrets. This man who rocks her world seems more demon than angel.
Gyldan, born into slavery, has one desire—fly free. When he escapes to Earth, he faces an alternate self-realization full of dark glory…and disbelief. Gyldan is bent on experiencing his newfound powers unmindful of the harm to Brit or others.
Confused and hurt by Gyldan’s erratic evil actions, Brit turns away. While Gyldan’s journey of self-discovery pulls him further distant, Brit finds acceptance in a solitary, comfortable life of her own until she realizes the day of reckoning has come. Will Gyldan be her final ruin or has he come back to her with a gift more precious than life itself?

About the Author: Born in South Carolina, Linda has lived in England, Canada, Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Atlanta and Houston. She’s seen a lot of this country from the windshield of a truck pulling a horse trailer, having bred, trained and showed Andalusian horses for many years.

Linda has won several writing awards, including the Georgia Romance Writers Magnolia Award and the SARA Merritt. She retired from a career as a retired legal assistant, just joined the Houston BMW Club, and the stars in her crown—two wonderful sons. In a former life, she must have had to walk everywhere because today she is into transportation with fine taste in expensive horses and hot cars! She likes to dress up and host formal dinner parties.

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Winter Blogfest: Peggy Chambers

December 26, 2017 By 7 Comments

This post is part of Long and Short Reviews’ Winter Blogfest. Leave a comment for a chance to win a signed paperback copy of Secrets of Sandhill Island to a winner within the United States.

Stocking

Many years ago, my mother had a very “crafty” friend (one who enjoys crafts) who made stockings for my parents at Christmas.  They were already grandparents, and past the time for stockings, but it could have been they were enjoyed with too much eggnog. However it happened, the stockings were darling. The man’s stocking looked like a bare foot with an extra-large big toe, but the women’s stocking was a very lady-like boot.

Years later I found them in her sewing basket when I cleaned out her home.  They were too cute to throw away.

As life will do, my life changed dramatically after my parents died and my children married, divorced, and married again.  I inherited extra (and I will say fabulous) grandchildren.  They were half grown and had other grandmothers, but I still considered them mine.  And they were hard to buy for at Christmas. Then I remembered the stockings.

I used to sew a lot.  I made my wedding dress and my daughter’s wedding dress.  But the sewing machine had been gathering dust in the corner for some time and I was out of practice. I pulled the two stockings from the bottom of the sewing basket and made patterns from them.  Then I dug through the old fabric that was held captive in my grandmother’s antique dowry trunk sitting at the end of my bed.  I found velvets, satins, bits of fur, sparkles, ribbons, and other things to make four new stockings that I hoped the grandkids would think were their very own.

I cut, pinned, sewed, and graded seam allowances turning the tiny toes (now I know why the first one used felt and topstitched the stocking).  Some of the toes looked a little like they had arthritis.  But I tied bows on them and made one look like a court jester.  The two lady’s boots faired a little better.  It was fun dressing them up with pearls and sparkles.  I even added a high-heel to the pattern and the boots had only had one turn, not five toes.  When they were finished, I somehow imagined they would look better.

I THINK the grandkids liked them.  The older ones – from a big city – thought the handmade gift was precious, even if a little deformed.  They were not used to homemade (I mean handmade) items.  Maybe I made an impression as grandmother number three.
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But, I think my sewing days may be over. I used to have more patience.

On a tiny island in a ramshackle beach house, Meg, an heiress, is hiding from her family’s dubious past. Her true love, Evan, died thirty years ago in a storm at sea, she thought. Did her father really have her lover killed and if so does everyone on the island know about it but Meg?
Alex must try to befriend Meg’s son Jon if he is ever to win Meg over. And with his past problems with women, he wonders why he even tries. After all, he is just a starving artist and has little to offer her.
Now that Alex has warmed her heart again, Meg realizes she has friends and a life outside her vegetable garden. But, who is blackmailing her?

About the Author: Peggy Chambers calls Enid, Oklahoma home. She has been writing for several years and is an award winning, published author, always working on another. There aren’t enough hours in the day. She has two children, five grandchildren and lives with her husband and dog. She adores travel and the great outdoors, even if it is just taking the dog for a walk and once ate wart hog pizza for lunch when she followed her husband across deepest, darkest Africa. She even climbed the pyramids at Chichen Itza.

She attended Phillips University, the University of Central Oklahoma and is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma. She is a member of the Enid Writers’ Club, Oklahoma Writers’ Federation, Inc., and Oklahoma Women Bloggers. There is always another story weaving itself around in her brain trying to come out.

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Winter Blogfest: Deanna Wadsworth

December 25, 2017 By 3 Comments

This post is part of Long and Short Reviews’ Winter Blogfest. Leave a comment for a chance to win one ecopy of my first holiday erotic romance, SECRET SANTA.

A Cookie Recipe and a Giveaway!

December is such a hectic time of year for me. As a professional hair stylist and nail tech, my day job is twice the workload as usual. So I don’t do the whole Christmas cookie extravaganza. I don’t even get as fancy cookie making as Daniel and Clay do in my latest book WELCOME HOME, SOLDIER. Thanksgiving is more my jam, I host it every year and pick up a lot of stragglers who don’t have family plans. I leave Christmas to the friends with kids.

But one thing I always do is make is my great-grandmother’s Scotch shortbread. Have you ever had shortbread? It’s kind of like a snowball but creamier. Probably because of the powdered sugar. I’m not much of a baker so I won’t pretend to know the science of why these cookies melt in your mouth, but they do. And this recipe is crazy easy! So from my home to yours, here is the recipe:

Scotch Shortbread

  1. Cream 1 cup butter and ¾ cup powdered sugar until light and fluffy
  2. Stir in 2 ½ cup flour
  3. Press into 8×8 pan
  4. Bake 300 for 25-30 min
  5. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and cut warm

I hope you try this recipe. Perhaps my family’s shortbread can become a holiday tradition for your family too. Enjoy this excerpt from WELCOME HOME, SOLDIER, one of the thirty holiday romances in the Dreamspinner Holiday Advent collection.

WELCOME HOME, SOLDIER

Clay and Daniel fell in love as enlisted men during Desert Shield, but Don’t Ask Don’t Tell meant they had to keep it secret. After Clay’s convoy was ambushed, PTSD changed him, and their relationship ended in a horrible fight on Christmas Eve.

Twenty-five years later, they’ve reconnected on Facebook, and Clay finds out Daniel will be alone on Christmas Eve. Impulsively, he sets out for Daniel’s hometown of Gilead, Ohio—where Daniel is now the mayor—to surprise him with a visit. But a blizzard strikes and Clay wrecks his car. All hope of seeing Daniel is lost—until a mysterious old man named Nick offers Clay a ride. The weight of past wounds and the scars of war might make their reunion awkward, but Clay is willing to take the risk to win back his lost love. Despite a lifetime of disappointing holidays, Clay hopes that this soldier is finally coming home for Christmas

EXCERPT

“Want some coffee?” Daniel said to avoid blurting, Damn the years treated you well!

“Sure, I’m freezing.”

“I can’t believe you didn’t know about the storm. It’s been all over the news.”

Clay grinned. “You know me. I never think things through first.”

He chuckled. “Since you’re here for the evening, do you want to help me make cookies? It’s sort of a cliché Christmas thing to do, but….”

“Sure.” The grin splitting Clay’s face was electric, and Daniel’s belly fluttered.

Daniel had not forgotten Clay’s toothy grin and those dimples. Back during Desert Shield, the dusting of a youthful beard had hidden his dimples, much to Daniel’s chagrin. But now Clay was clean-shaven, his cheeks a little pink from the elements. The long lean line of his throat, his solid Adam’s apple that bobbed when he talked—all exposed for Daniel’s viewing pleasure. He’d always had a thing for Clay’s neck. Weird, but he couldn’t help it. Clay had stayed in great shape too, unlike the twenty pounds Daniel needed to lose.

Making cookies isn’t helping that! And you were probably going to eat them all yourself!

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And here Clay was, looking like some sort of body-building Daddy.

Once Daniel got Clay a mug of coffee to warm up, he busied himself placing the fresh cookies on a cooling rack.

“What? No cutouts?” Clay said, startling Daniel with how close he stood.

He hadn’t realized Clay had come up beside him. Swallowing hard, he glanced over his shoulder and up. Clay was bigger, wider than he used to be. And damn, the gray hair looked good on him.

Daniel managed to sound calm, though Clay’s nearness made his heart race and his skin warm. “Nah, a cookie’s a cookie.”

“But it’s Christmas, Danny. Shouldn’t we make Santa or candy-cane cookies?”

“I just wanted cookies.” Call me Danny again, please! “No need for theatrics.”

“Theatrics? C’mon, you gotta have cookie cutters around here somewhere.” The hopeful glint in his expression tugged at Daniel’s heart.

“I don’t know. Maybe.”

“Come on, Danny.”

And then, just like old times, Clay took over, tossing Daniel’s practical plan out the window and making everything more complicated.

But definitely more fun.

With a mismatched collection of cookie cutters, and Clay armed with the rolling pin and leaving a flour mess all over the counters and floor—which George happily licked up—soon they had a tray of hearts, moons, and trees ready to go into the oven. Clay insisted Daniel add food coloring to the frosting, one bowl of green and another of red, which turned out pink. Though he didn’t think it necessary, it was impossible to say no to Clay.

Especially with those dimples and that sexy throat, and the way Clay called him Danny with his now-rougher voice.

You’re hopeless!

Thanks for hosting me and if you share a comment (or better yet a cookie recipe of your own) then you will be entered to win my first Christmas story: SECRET SANTA—Just who was it that came down Adam’s chimney? Find out in this superhot holiday story!

Clay and Daniel fell in love as enlisted men during Desert Shield, but Don’t Ask Don’t Tell meant they had to keep it secret. After Clay’s convoy was ambushed, PTSD changed him, and their relationship ended in a horrible fight on Christmas Eve.
Twenty-five years later, they’ve reconnected on Facebook, and Clay finds out Daniel will be alone on Christmas Eve. Impulsively, he sets out for Daniel’s hometown of Gilead, Ohio—where Daniel is now the mayor—to surprise him with a visit. But a blizzard strikes and Clay wrecks his car. All hope of seeing Daniel is lost—until a mysterious old man named Nick offers Clay a ride. The weight of past wounds and the scars of war might make their reunion awkward, but Clay is willing to take the risk to win back his lost love. Despite a lifetime of disappointing holidays, Clay hopes that this soldier is finally coming home for Christmas.

About the Author: Deanna Wadsworth might be a bestselling erotica author, but she leads a pretty vanilla life in Ohio with her wonderful husband and a couple adorable cocker spaniels. She has been spinning tales and penning stories since childhood, and her first erotic novella was published in 2010. She has served multiple board positions at her local RWA chapter and is the current President-elect 2017 for Rainbow Romance Writers of America. When she isn’t writing books or brainstorming with friends, you can find her making people gorgeous in a beauty salon. She loves music and dancing, and can often be seen hanging out on the sandbar in the muddy Maumee River or chilling with her hubby and a cocktail in their basement bar. In between all that fun, Deanna cherishes the quiet times when she can let her wildly active imagination have the full run of her mind. Her fascination with people and the interworkings of their relationships have always inspired her to write romance with spice and love without boundaries.

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Winter Blogfest: C. J. Anthony

December 25, 2017 By 10 Comments

This post is part of Long and Short Reviews’ Winter Blogfest. Leave a comment for a chance to win a $20 Amazon gift card.

My Favorite Time of the Year

The End-of-Year Holiday Trifecta (Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s) is my favorite time of the year—except for the weather being colder and wetter (depending where you live). But this is the one time of year I will forgive Mother Nature, even for snow; in fact I have even been heard to say snow is pretty during the holidays.

The year is winding down, but we have all these celebrations to get in before the very end. It can be a very rushed stressful time for a lot of folks. Not matter what is going on for me at the time, the holidays always lift me up. They are something to look forward to, to bring some cheer and light into my world.

Christmas is obviously the big holiday but I combine the three together because let’s face it, they do kind of run together.

Thanksgiving gets saddled with the kickoff. These days with stores bringing out the Christmas decorations and sales as soon as Halloween is over, quite frankly the poor holiday almost gets swept aside.  But Thanksgiving has its moments. For me, it is the Peanuts Thanksgiving special—I know, EVERYONE loves the Christmas special, but the Thanksgiving one is my favorite. Not sure why, other than I love that Snoopy helps serve a feast of popcorn, toast and jelly beans to Charlie Brown’s friends, then turns around after they’re gone and shares a full turkey feast—including pumpkin pie—with his little buddy Woodstock.

My other favorite of Thanksgiving is making my mom’s pumpkin pie. It is the BEST and most yummiest. If you like a spicy pumpkin pie then this would not be the one for you. The spice is much lighter and the pie more creamy than a traditional pie. (It’s actually the recipe from the Libby pumpkin pie can, minus the cloves and substituting real milk for the condensed milk)

On to Christmas…well, I have to say I start getting in the mood early. As I write this, it is the middle of November and I am ready to start breaking out the Christmas music! I do keep it to myself; I try not to annoy those who aren’t quite in the spirit yet. And I don’t put my tree up until Thanksgiving weekend. But I have already done a little shopping for new Christmas ornaments and such.

Most of my family Christmas traditions are pretty low key. I do make a few varieties of Christmas cookies, and some fudge. Christmas dinner is at my aunt’s house. It’s my mother’s side of the family and we’re Italian so no turkey or stuffing. We have pasta and sauce and a few other family dishes. The rest of Christmas Eve/Christmas Day I like just doing nothing…relaxing on the couch with the tree lights glowing, watching Christmas movies or reading a good book (usually a good M/M Christmas story.)

And then we have New Year’s bringing up the rear, literally the Trifecta Hangover, LOL. Everyone’s kind of done with the holidays, but not quite. Some folks start taking down their trees and decorations. (I always wait till after New Year’s Day.) Some people go all out for fancy New Year’s Eve parties and others stay home in their P.J.s and watch the ball drop.

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I hope everyone reading this has a wonderful holiday, however and whatever you choose to celebrate. But most importantly I hope everyone finds their own piece of happiness this season.

Share your thoughts on the holidays in the comments below, and if you feel like a fun holiday read check out my book Falling for Santa Claus.

When Jack Frost’s aunt dies and leaves him her house in the tiny town of Great Falls, Jack seizes the opportunity to escape the rat race of Chicago for the quaint village he loved as a child. On his first night he’s welcomed by a baseball bat and a trespassing warning from Nick St. James—longtime Great Falls resident and infamous curmudgeon.

Jack wants to give Nick the benefit of the doubt—he can’t deny his attraction to the big man—but after several run-ins with Nick’s grumpiness and closed-off heart, he’s ready to give up. Only after discovering the secret Nick’s been covering up for years does he vow to break through Nick’s walls to find the loving man hiding behind them.

About the Author: C. J. Anthony grew up watching soap operas and reading piles of books. She attributes her love of reading and romance to her mother, who not only taught her to read but also made countless trips to the library lugging piles of books home for her. It wasn’t a far jump to start writing her own stories, early childhood tales about flower families and traveling to the moon with her best friend.

C. J.’s favorite stories to read and write include “opposites attract” pairings—couples who appear to be an odd couple to the rest of the world, but fit together perfectly, finding their own happily-ever-after with a little hard work and a whole lot of love.
Not surprisingly, C. J. is a big lover of rom coms—she’ll gladly take Julia Roberts standing in front of Hugh Grant asking him to love her over car crashes and shoot-em-up movies any day. She also watches way too much TV and every singing reality show there is. She loves music of all genres and attending live concerts.

She spends most of her time juggling a day job and a commute and freelance and falling asleep on her couch, dreaming of a day when she can write all day in her pajamas while living in a house by the beach.

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Winter Blogfest: Pam Binder

December 25, 2017 By 5 Comments

This post is part of Long and Short Review’s Winter Blogfest. Leave a comment for a chance to win a Matchmaker Cafe coffee/tea mug filled to the brim with chocolate.

Welcome Brownies – Or – How to Bridge Story Lines

This is the first entry in my blog series that combines chocolate and the craft of writing. The first topic is how to bridge story lines.

As I celebrate the release of the third book in the Matchmaker Café series, Falling in Love with Emma, about a French baker who wonders if she will ever get out of the friend-zone with the man who owns a fish market, it seemed appropriate to write a food-themed blog that combines chocolate and the craft of writing. Chocolate because it’s mentioned in every book I write, and the craft of writing because I teach writing and am always pushing myself to improve. I also wanted this blog to be about writing tips, so what better place than to talk about the “Welcome Brownies,” and what they mean.

As the story opens, we see both of our characters in their element. Bjorn has just returned from fishing in Alaska, and Emma is up at dawn, baking for a big event in the town where they live. But they are in the friend-zone, with no hope of breaking out of the rut. I also have two story lines. The first involves Emma and Bjorn, and the second is the reoccurring story about three sisters from Scotland who own a matchmaking business. The trick was how to get these two stories together.

I needed to create a bridge between story lines. After an event with Emma’s grandmother that left Emma in charge of the bakery, I opened my cookbook and found the perfect recipe I could use to create the bridge. The recipe page was frayed at the edges, torn and scotched taped together. It was a recipe for brownies and was my family’s favorite. It brought back a wave of warm memories. I’d bake these brownies for all occasions, including when new neighbors arrived in our neighborhood, or to bring to a friend. It was the perfect solution. Emma’s grandmother, and one of the story’s mentors, tells Emma to bring over a batch of “Welcome Brownies” to the Retail Village’s newest tenants, the three sisters, who own The Matchmaker Café. Welcome Brownies was the perfect solution. Naturally, the sisters invited Emma inside…and the story takes off…

Please check out book three in the Matchmaker Café series, Falling in Love with Emma and let me know what you think. I have posted the recipe for Welcome Brownies below.

2 sq. unsweetened chocolate (2 oz)

1/4 cup butter

1 cup sugar
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2 eggs

3/4 cup flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt (I use 1/4 tsp. salt)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a square pan 8x8x2″. Melt chocolate and butter over hot water. (It says this in the recipe, but I never have. I melt in a saucepan and just watch over it). Take the pan off the stove and beat in the sugar and eggs. Blend flour, baking powder and stir in. Spread in pan. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until slight imprint remains when touched lightly with finger. Cool slightly and cut into squares. Makes 16 2″ squares.

Falling in Love with Emma – A match made in time.
Ever since the sudden death of her mother left Emma in charge of caring for her grandmother and the family’s French bakery, she has survived by rejecting change. The last thing she want is an ex-boyfriend with commitment issues.
Bjorn has made a mess of things. He returned from fishing in Alaska believing his relationship with Emma would go back to the way things were, only to have Emma smash a pie in his face. but when Bjorn learns she is in danger, he leaps at the chance to save the woman he loves, even if she wants nothing to do with him.

About the Author: Pam Binder is an award-winning Amazon and New York Times Best-selling author. Pam believes in smiles, Irish and Scottish myths and like Wonder Woman, the power of love. Pam writes historical fiction, contemporary fiction, young adult and time travel fantasy.

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Winter Blogfest: Becky Lower

December 25, 2017 By 7 Comments

This post is part of Long and Short Reviews’ Winter Blogfest. Leave a comment for a chance to win an E-book copy of Winning Violet and a $5 Amazon gift card.

Warm Memories

I grew up surrounded by siblings. Four girls and one boy were crowded into a tiny house in the middle of nowhere, Ohio and money was always tight. Despite our circumstances, we always looked forward to Christmas and our presents. Mom and Dad managed to stretch every dollar and interspersed practical gifts like a new lunch pail and saddle shoes with a doll cradle and a baby carriage. I don’t remember much about the presents, but I do remember the warm family that surrounded me. Here’s a picture of us digging into our gifts.

Mom and Dad are gone now and the five of us children are nearing retirement, but we lean on each other in adulthood to continue our family traditions. We’re located all over the country now, so we have Thanksgiving whenever we get three or more of us together and Christmas presents can happen any day of the year. It may not be the same nuclear family that was such a staple as we grew up, but it’s as warm as I remember and each visit from a sister or brother is poignant.

Most of the stories I write are about families, the larger the better. My first series, the Cotillion Ball Saga, features nine upper-class children in America in the 1850s and 1860s. My next work, the Flower Girl series, is about four sisters in Regency England who work for their father at his nursery and landscaping business. The girls–Iris, Violet, Lily and Poppy–are eager to tell their stories. Winning Violet releases on Christmas Day, with Losing Lily being planned for release in June, 2018.

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Everything’s coming up roses for an English miss and an American gentleman in this delightful new series from the author of the Cotillion Ball saga!

After British soldiers killed his wife and child during the War of 1812, Parker Sinclair vowed to never set foot on English soil. But as Thomas Jefferson’s landscaper, one must sometimes make the ultimate sacrifice. The last thing Parker expects to find is an educated English beauty who can teach him so much more than how to plant a magnificent garden.

An expert at cross-pollinating roses, Violet Wilson’s dreams of becoming the first woman recognized by the Royal Horticultural Society are fading because she’s afraid to leave the quiet solitude of her family’s nursery. Distrustful of men after a traumatic encounter, she’s not keen on disrupting her routine to help the American landscaper, but she soon blossoms under his kindness and respect.

As they fall in love, can this shrinking Violet take the risk of leaving behind all she knows for a new life with Parker? Or is he considering a different ending altogether?

About the Author: Amazon best-selling author Becky Lower has traveled the United States in search of great settings for her novels. She loves to write about two people finding each other and falling in love amid the backdrop of a great setting, be it in America on a covered wagon headed west or in Regency England. Her Cotillion Ball Series features the nine children from an upscale New York family prior to and during the Civil War. Her first Regency, A Regency Yuletide, received the Crowned Heart and has been nominated for the prestigious RONE award from InD’Tale Magazine. A regular contributor to USA Today’s Happy Ever After section, her books have been featured in the column on eight separate occasions. Becky loves to hear from her readers at beckylowerauthor@gmail.com. Visit her website at www.beckylowerauthor.com

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Winter Blogfest: Ravon Silvius

December 22, 2017 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 The Storm Lords.

Christmas Without Snow 

Ravon Silvius here, author of The Storm Lords. You may have heard of it as that fantasy M/M romance that revolves around the weather. So today I want to talk about the weather a little bit, and how it can set a mood—even if it doesn’t quite seem to fit the mood at first glance.

I love Christmas time, but where I grew up, it was a little different from what you see on TV.  The iconic image of a Merry Christmas is a blanket of snow over everything, with a warm fire burning in the hearth and gifts piled under a pine tree. Check out most Christmas logos—chances are, they’ll have snow or a wintery theme. I distinctly remember an old cartoon where the child character was very worried that Christmas wouldn’t happen without snow. The episode resolved with a magical snowstorm that made it a white Christmas.

But it doesn’t snow where I grew up. In Northern California, we were lucky if it even rained. And there are plenty of places where the weather is far from Christmasy—I spent a week before Christmas last year in Mexico. The hotel had a huge Christmas tree in the lobby, but outside it was 80 degrees and there were cacti everywhere. People don’t ordinarily think of Christmas time as being good for a beach vacation, but it was certainly enjoyable!

In my writing, I love using the weather to set a scene and enhance the mood. It’s a fairly common thing for writers to do—after all, nothing makes a spooky scene spookier like a thunderstorm, and a nice soft blanket of snow makes everything feel cozy when two characters are intimate.  But sometimes, like a desert Christmas, it can be fun to have a setting not quite match the mood. The contrast can somehow, paradoxically, make things even more intense. A scary storm can make a few grabbed moments of intimacy feel even sweeter. Maybe there’s a nice layer of snow, but the angry conflict between two characters is hot enough to melt it. Having the setting not fit with the action can enhance the scene and make people pay close attention to what the character are doing and thinking.

Think of it this way—a family is opening gifts in a nice warm house and a roaring fire is offset nicely by snow falling outside the windows. It’s a picturesque scene that you’d find on a hallmark card. But what if outside the windows there was a bright sunny day, and the people inside opening gifts were wearing swimsuits after just getting back from the pool? That was my Christmas as a child. Its still a nice, happy family setting. But its unusual, and that can tell a story by itself and make readers take notice.
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The heat took everything from Rowen: his parents, his voice when the local cure for heatstroke poisoned him, and the trust of his fellow villagers, who branded him a water thief. It would have claimed his life when he was deemed unworthy of precious resources and left in the sun to die, had not a strange man named Kristoff ridden in on the wind and told Rowen he had power.

Rowen works hard to become a Storm Lord, one of a secret magical group that brings storms to break the heat waves overtaking their world. But Rowen is starting his training at a disadvantage since he cannot speak and is much older than the other novices. The desire to please Kristoff inspires him to persevere even more than the threat of being sent back to his village to die should he fail. Still, he cannot gather rain, and when his abilities manifest, they are unlike anything known to the Storm Lords. Unless Kristoff can help him control his deadly powers, the entire world will be in danger.

Kristoff might be among the mightiest of the Storm Lords, but he’s never been a mentor before. For a chance to be with Rowen, he’s willing to risk everything.

About the Author: Ravon Silvius lives in a tiny apartment with two tiny cats in a tiny town in the United States. Despite the cramped living quarters, Ravon enjoys coming up with big ideas for novels, with some plots coming from Ravon’s findings as a neuroscience researcher and others coming purely from Ravon’s imagination.

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Winter Blogfest: Ginger Dehlinger

December 22, 2017 By 2 Comments

This post is part of Long and Short Reviews’ Winter Blogfest. Leave a comment for a chance to win a digital copy of my short story, “The Black Silk Stockings”.

Christmas Blues

Although the Christmas season basks in Macy’s red, angel white and evergreen, I’m drawn, like a kid to Toys R Us, to the color blue. Not just any blue. It has to be that captivating shade of cobalt blue that’s found in Christmas lights.

I grew up in Klamath Falls, Oregon in a house so small we had to move two living room chairs to the garage in order to put up a Christmas tree. We adorned our tree with one string of lights—an assortment of bulbs that didn’t blink, twinkle or bubble, and only one of which was blue. To protect the pine needles we put star-shaped aluminum collars around the bulbs before screwing them into their sockets. No matter where I sat, I’d make sure the collar of the blue bulb didn’t hide the mesmerizing effect its color had on me.

On the rare evenings our parents weren’t home, my sisters and I would darken the living room and take in the magic of this gleaming, tinseled tree that prettified our modest home a few weeks each year. No one spoke, each sister absorbed in her own thoughts, mine soothed by the one blue light that held my gaze.

I still live in a small house, this one in Bend, Oregon. The artificial Christmas tree my husband and I bought came with clear mini lights, and since people our age shouldn’t climb ladders, we no longer hang lights outside. Sarah Street, a few blocks away, is a virtual Disney light parade during the month of December, and for many years, one of the properties on that street was, for me, a blue fantasy. Nothing but blue lights bordered its windows, outlined the roof, and decorated the branches of every tree in the front yard. After dinner sometimes, while my husband napped, I’d drive over there and sit in the dark like I did as a child, filling my soul with blue serenity.

Last year there wasn’t a single light on the house I hoped to see. I drove home in a funk, feeling low as the lyrics in “Blue Christmas.” At least I wouldn’t be spending Christmas alone like Elvis, I told myself, and when I got home, I shared my blue light disappointment with my husband. The next day, while I was running errands, he bought a string of blue lights and wrapped it around the trunk of the tree outside our kitchen window. During dinner, he made some excuse to leave the table and turn them on. After we finished eating, I carried our dishes to the sink, and the minute I entered the kitchen, my heart swelled at the sight of our pine tree lit in blue. What a glorious way to get rid of my Christmas blues!
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Colorado. 1885. Sparks fly as two young friends become ex-friends after one secretly marries the other’s widowed father. Overnight, fourteen-year-old Clara’s world crumbles when she learns her best friend Geneva, only two years older than she is, has become her stepmother.

Feeling betrayed by a father she adores and her only friend in the remote San Luis Valley, Clara wants nothing to do with her stepmother. Geneva pushes back, beginning a clash of wills that lasts until the flu epidemic of 1918.

About the Author: Ginger Dehlinger writes in multiple genres including two published novels–Brute Heart and Never Done. She writes for women in general and nature lovers in particular, focusing on lesser known aspects of the American West. She’s a member of Women Writing the West, Central Oregon Writer’s Guild, and a small, but fastidious critique group.

Ginger lives in Bend, Oregon with her husband Dick and a cat named Kiki.

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