News Coming Next Week.....
And for the cat people: Here's Cats 101: The Bengal.
Friday, June 28, 2013
Thursday, June 27, 2013
SBB: Spring's Surprise
BLURB:
Sara Michaels is single again. And she’s
celebrating her thirtieth birthday with a complete spa makeover and a day of
boutique shopping with her two best friends. After a ten-month battle for freedom,
a long weekend in Nashville, Tennessee is just what she needs to erase the
memories of a broken heart.
Jack Tanner is the soon-to-be new partner at Chester & Dorsey
Development Firm. Jack’s love life has been on the back burner for years as
he’s built a successful career. But the moment he meets Sara, he takes a hard
look at his life and his priorities.
Sara steps out of her comfort zone and spends an unforgettable
weekend with Jack. She’s never felt so carefree. Until she realizes too late
that three days can change everything.
EXCERPT:
“So, were you surprised?”
“I don’t think surprised is the
right word. I was speechless. What did he tell Nick?”
“Not much. Just that you had called
and the two of you were talking again. He didn’t give any details. He was in
his car, on the way to the airport. He wasn’t sure if you would be mad or glad
to see him this morning, but he said he had to take a chance.” Beth paused. “So
I guess you were glad?”
“Yeah. When we talked last night, I
told him all of the reasons why this wouldn’t work and, of course, he had an
answer for every one of them. I finally wore down and told him that I’d try.”
“And . . . how do you feel today?”
“Is it possible to be terrified and
excited at the same time?” Her hands shook as they held the phone to her ear.
Her eyes were beginning to burn again. “I don’t know what to do.”
“There’s nothing to do. Just enjoy
spending time with him. Give it a few weeks to settle in and see if you still
feel the same. I know you care about him or you wouldn’t have been so upset
when you left here two weeks ago and you wouldn’t be stringing him along with
your pitiful text messages.”
“That’s the problem. I think I care
too much.”
“Don’t you think he’s just as
afraid? But he’s not going to let fear stop him. You shouldn’t either. You’re a
stronger person than that. Nothing worth having is easy, Sara. Give him a
chance and some honest time.”
AUTHOR
Bio and Links:
My husband and I live in the suburbs of Nashville, Tennessee with
our eighteen-year-old son and three dogs. When I’m not working or writing, I
can be found with family and friends. I love to bake in the winter, grill in
the summer, and on occasion, I sneak away from everyone and curl up with a good
book.
I hope you enjoy my stories. Each one touches on modern day issues, fears,
and challenges that women face every day. And each one illustrates that love is
within reach if you let down those walls and allow your heart to open. Our
lives and experiences are so much more meaningful when we have someone to share
them with.
Cynthia
will award one $25 Amazon GC to a randomly drawn commenter and a $15 Starbucks
GC to another randomly drawn commenter.
The tour
dates can be found here: http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2013/05/book-blast-springs-surprise-by-cynthia.htmlWednesday, June 26, 2013
Weak In The Knees
I've also discovered lettuce wedges.
A lettuce wedge and iced tea, followed by a brownie bite and coffee. Ah...It's a perfect summer meal.
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
VBT: Ennara and the Fallen Druid and SBB:The Esposito Series
BLURB:
Eleven
year-old Ennara Gaern has a serious grudge against the dragon on her right
hand.
Born
with a caul—a mask that foretold magical powers—she was immediately inked with
the fiendish, fire-breathing tattoo that forces her to study boring texts,
cover her hand continuously, and worst of all, keeps her from visiting the
beautiful capital city, Dordonne. But her quiet life changes when one night she
is attacked by a shadowy demon.
Tork,
an old friend and wizard, is enlisted to help. But when he arrives, he informs
Ennara’s parents that she is her world’s only hope of finding the legendary
Sword of Gisilfrid, which is needed to destroy the curse that is creating the
demons. Ennara doesn’t want to leave on the dangerous quest, but when she
learns the curse threatens her world, she reluctantly agrees.
Ennara
and the wizard begin a perilous journey to the Sunken City, pitting them
against dangerous oceans and pirates intent on claiming Ennara’s magic as their
own. With only her friends at her side, including the intelligent, aquatic cat
Smoos, Ennara must defeat monsters guarding the sword and servants of the
Fallen Druid. When her world is covered in darkness, will she know how to
dispel the curse?
Excerpt
“Is it true she is….” Gevin blushed. “I mean, you are… magic?”
Ennara fumbled the wand as she turned it in her fingers. She scooped
it off the floor. Her stomach knotted and her cheeks burned. “Oh, um, I guess.”
She nervously twirled the wand again, this time accidentally tapping
the case of trinkets. A lavender light shimmered across the panes, and behind
them the objects began to twitch.
“Eeep!” Ennara jumped as the severed hand crawled toward her and
tapped on the glass. A long finger uncurled and poked the case open. The
appendage leapt from the shelf to the chest, then the floor, and scurried to
the door.
Smoos crouched on the lower bunk, wiggled her haunches, and pounced on
the hand. She shook it back and forth in the air. It grabbed the cat’s snout
and flicked her hard on the nose. She dropped the hand and snorted, rubbing her
muzzle with her paw. The hand scampered away and hid behind the girl’s legs.
“You seem to have a penchant for necromancy, young lady.” Tork flicked
his curvy black wand at the case. “Merta
perape.”
The hand and other charms returned to their lifeless state.
Smoos, the Marine Cat
Early on while
drafting Ennara and the Fallen Druid
I started looking at online catalogs of monsters from Dungeons and Dragons that might fit with the environment where most
of the story took place: the ocean. I compiled a long list of strange creatures
in my notes, and happened upon the marine cat (shown here).
In D&D lore,
marine cats are slightly larger than a housecat and behave in every way similar
to your average feline. They protect the ship by sounding the alarm when
intruders come aboard or by batting the earrings of a sleeping watchman,
breathe water, and can magically pass through locked or barricaded cabins. I
kept the cat in my notes and as I wrote, I wondered how she might fit in to the
story.
Ennara and her
friends secured a voyage to the Sunken City with Captain Anaru, a merchant
shipper who was an avid collector of magical trinkets for safe voyages. In the
world of Lan, the seas were especially dangerous. The world was made up of
islands and oceans with huge tidal waves and storms. A rare species of marine cat seemed like an
ideal pet for Anaru. She could protect the ship and his merchandise.
As I wrote more
scenes with Smoos, it became apparent how active and important she was to the
story. Smoos transformed from the lucky cat described by Dungeons and Dragons. She became an equal member of the team, yet
kept her cat-like individuality. Highly intelligent, she understood every
situation Ennara found herself in, and in some cases had her own ideas about
how they should be remedied. Extremely loyal, brave, and strong, she saved the
group more than once.
Smoos became
larger, too. From being slightly larger than a housecat, she grew to the size
of a full-grown lion. She looked less like a kitty and more like a panther. She
gained powerful muscles and sharp claws with which she could fight and pull
large objects.
As a marine cat,
she also gained a couple traits that distinguished her further from regular
cats. She became able to speak with marine mammals, using that ability to
convince porpoises to help the stranded group to the shores of Creagh Island.
Her long tail grew thick and her paws webbed, helping her to swim powerfully
and quickly. With her ability to breathe under water, she was no longer a
simple cat with a luck charm.
Soon after being
introduced to the story, Smoos quickly became a critical ally. She brought strength,
wit, comfort, and comedy to many scenes. Smoos started out as one of Captain Anaru’s
many luck charms and ended up a major character of the novel. And isn’t that
just like a cat?
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Like many writers, I have a full life in
which I juggle many duties and joys. I love to cook, garden, and play with my
twins. As a mother to toddlers, I write whenever I am not helping them navigate
I was twenty-two when writing became a
passion of mine. I've been doing it in one form or another ever since. But it
took me a very long time to follow my heart's desire to tell stories.
For years, I simply journaled. I delved
into writing articles for newsletters and grant proposals. I settled into
technical writing, often finding myself a one-person writing, editing, design,
app development, and publication team. I learned the basics of journalism, and
finally, when on maternity leave with my twins, I turned to writing fiction.
I am grateful for every reader I have.
Writing can be a solitary pursuit, but it can also be a dialog, a meeting of
the minds. I invite you to connect with me:
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/AngelaMyron
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/myron.angela?fref=ts
Website: http://www.angelamyron.com/
Join my street team! Email
me at [email protected] to subscribe to my
newsletters.
Angela
will be awarding to a randomly drawn commenter during each week on the tour, a
wall calendar print from http://www.cafepress.com/ennaraswag
(Items can be exchanged for other equal or lesser value items from Ennara Swag
on Cafepress.), and will award a t-shirt from http://www.cafepress.com/ennaraswag to
one randomly drawn commenter during the tour (US ONLY).
The tour dates can be found here:
Angela will be awarding to a randomly drawn commenter
during each week on the tour, a wall calendar print from http://www.cafepress.com/ennaraswag
(Items can be exchanged for other equal or lesser value items from Ennara Swag
on Cafepress.), and will award a t-shirt from http://www.cafepress.com/ennaraswag to
one randomly drawn commenter during the tour (US ONLY).
The tour dates can be found here:
http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2013/05/virtual-book-tour-ennara-and-fallen.html
It
was so quiet, the town ghostly in its seemingly deserted state. Sundays were
always lazy days in Scituate, once church was over. With a glance up and down
the street of the small historic Rhode Island village, neat colonial homes
stretched along the sides of the road in both directions. No one came into
view.
BLURB:
The Esposito Series Box Set:
Now you can own the first three books in the sassy and suspenseful
Vinnie Esposito Series by J.M. Griffin!
By day, Lavinia (Vinnie) Esposito is a criminal justice instructor
at a college in Rhode Island. By night Vinnie is an amateur sleuth, solving
murders while trying to avoid getting yelled at by her Italian father, her
hunky protective boyfriend Marcus Richmond, and her sexy upstairs tenant, the
mysterious Aaron Grant.
For Love of Livvy (Book 1)
Vinnie investigates the death of her beloved aunt, and a
mysterious box is left on her doorstep.
Dirty Trouble (Book 2)
Someone is stalking Vinnie and that’s just the beginning of her
troubles.
Dead Wrong (Book 3)
Vinnie is out to save her brother from being framed after a
valuable painting is stolen.
The
front door knocker rapped twice after the door bell rang. I hustled from the
rear deck of the gargantuan house to answer the summons. Someone seemed
impatient, and I was curious as to who it was. My watch read just after eight
o’ clock. I swung the heavy door open to find my prospective visitor absent.
It
was so quiet, the town ghostly in its seemingly deserted state. Sundays were
always lazy days in Scituate, once church was over. With a glance up and down
the street of the small historic Rhode Island village, neat colonial homes
stretched along the sides of the road in both directions. No one came into
view.
On
the doorstep, a package addressed to my recently deceased Aunt Livvy sat
wrapped in brown paper. Again, I gawked up and down the street, but only empty
sidewalks and barren roadway appeared in the waning light. The idea of a jaunt
along the main drag entered my mind. I figured it would be senseless since the
street was visible for about two hundred yards in either direction. Whoever had
left the package was gone, long gone.
An
eternity passed, or so it seemed, while my gaze locked onto the square, little
box. Reluctant to touch it, I decided to call the local fire company to come
take a gander. Call me paranoid, but as a criminal justice instructor, a recent
audit of a class on bomb components remained fresh in my mind.
J.M.
lives in rural New England with her husband and two very mysterious cats
Website:
http://www.JMGriffin.net
Twitter:
mycozymystery
Blog:
http://mycozymysteries.blogspot.com
Buy
Link:
J.M. will be
awarding Tea and Chip Nuts to three randomly drawn commenters (US/CANADA ONLY)
during this tour and her Reviews Tour.
The tour
dates can be found here: http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2013/06/virtual-super-book-blast-tour-esposito.html
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